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{
    "id": 142672,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/142672/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, while working on those two reports concurrently, we are also working on two special audit reports. The first one is the Report on the Privatisation of Telkom (K) Limited and the Special Audit Report on the sale of Government Shares in Safaricom Limited. We have also just directed the Controller and Auditor-General to undertake special audit on De la Rue. This is the company that the Government gave a contract to print the Kenyan currency. Out of interest, I will look at the accounts of two Ministries. I would like to look at the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). The year 2005/2006 is the year when substantial funding was given to the CDF. In the first year of the programme only Kshs6 million was given per constituency. This was the first year of the programme. During this period, the structures of CDF were still being developed, members of staff were being recruited and similarly, due to lack of proper systems, there were delays in disbursement of funds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important to note that in spite of these initial teething problems, which is true for any institution, generally the CDF was well utilized and it served its intended purpose. However, I just want to pinpoint one particular case. This was in Mbooni Constituency. CDF paid Kshs432, 000 to one student who was pursuing a Doctorate degree in Philosophy (PhD) at Maseno University. This was done from the emergency allocation. The disbursement of almost Kshs500,000 to one individual out of emergency funds, surely, showed that something was at stake. When you talk of an emergency under the CDF structure, it should be something that is unforeseen. It should be sudden like fire, floods or drought. Payment of tuition fees for a university student and for this matter, a PhD student, for sure is not an emergency. This is about prudence. Due to the policy which was not well formulated, that easily passed. For Members of Parliament who are custodians of the funds, this does not augur well. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a case of a Member of Parliament favouring a friend, supporter or an individual. I really hope that as leaders, we will be able to use CDF for intended purposes and be prudent in how we manage these funds so that it serves all our constituents. Secondly, I would like to look at the Ministry of Education in terms of irregular award of tender for a school broadcasting programme. In 2006, the Ministry found that paying Kshs33 million to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) to be very expensive, yet paying Kshs88 million to another firm called World Space (Kenya) Limited, was not found to be too expensive. The Ministry opted to use the services of World Space (Kenya) Limited costing the taxpayer Kshs88 million while they did not take the services being offered by KBC at Kshs33 million. Instead of negotiating with KBC, the Ministry entered into an agreement with World Space (Kenya) Limited. This new package was to provide satellite service for broadcasting of information to schools all over the country. This was done without undertaking any feasibility study to see whether the particular programme would work. At the end of the day, this programme did not work and taxpayers lost a hefty Kshs88 million. The Government procurement procedures requiring competitive tendering were not followed. When it came to signing these contracts, the PS at that time did not seek any legal service from the Office of the Attorney-General. The agreement was not also countersigned by the Treasury as required by the law."
}