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{
    "id": 1442760,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1442760/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Oburu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 194,
        "legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
        "slug": "oburu-odinga"
    },
    "content": "step aside until investigations are completed; if you are cleared, you could come back. If not cleared, you do not come back to the office. Madam Temporary Speaker, there was a time when my own Minister, Amos Kimunya, declared that he will not resign even though he was being mentioned in some cases of corruption. He said he would resign over his dead body. The President insisted that he must step aside and Amb. Muthaura was in our office from morning to evening telling him, ‘if you do not step aside, the President will sack you.’ I can tell you, he did it. He called me to join him in the press. We sat there and he told me not to answer questions from the press. We just bowed. It is doable if we can clean ourselves and be very strict that if you have been mentioned in corruption, do not wait to be sacked, but step aside and allow for investigations. If the investigations are done and you are clean, you can come back. Not a system where people accused in court whose cases are going on, somehow behind the doors are cleared and given public offices. This is unheard of. When you are in court and witnesses have already given evidence up to a certain level, and the case is almost coming to an end, how can the DPP come to clear you and give you a clean bill of health when witnesses have already pinned you down? Why not let the judges do their job and say whether you are innocent or not because evidence has already been presented? I also want to talk about our public institutions. Our public institutions are not doing what they should be doing. In our days, everybody wanted to go to a public hospital because public hospitals were offering better services than private hospitals. What happened? The public schools were offering better quality education than private schools. Everybody wanted to join public schools. However, nowadays, everybody wants to go to a private school if they have money. They only go to public schools if their parents cannot afford private schools. This is because the way of appointing and training teachers is not proper. I cannot speak more on this vice called corruption. It has deeply embedded our society and it is almost everywhere. You go to education, it is the same thing. You go to health and even roads, it is the same thing. I was asking a contractor in my constituency why he was doing a shoddy job in constructing a road that was wearing out and almost creating such big potholes that you could even bury a small child in them. This contractor told me, “Dr. Oburu, you are my friend. I have to give so much money to many people. Where do I get it from?” We agree that I remove one layer of the contract from it. We agree that we do something about what they call the Erection All Risk (EAR) policy. We do something about the drainage. So that is why these roads get depleted and destroyed very fast. I know that this happens not only with roads, but also with health and all the other departments. I do not want to continue to speak much more than this. However, I want to say this. I can see my friend, Sen. Cheruiyot, has come back. I wanted to talk to him straight and tell him that what he said today impressed me so much. I would like you to continue like that. If this thing could be sustained, so that we can continue in this line being together. Today, when you spoke, I thought I was not going to say anything. You spoke what we thought should be spoken by a leader from our side. I hope that when an issue arises, we are not going to be held at ransom with the people who are leading our parties and the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}