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{
    "id": 1503234,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503234/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 474,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Irene Mayaka",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Bill. We are a country that rarely celebrates our people. Hon. Wamuchomba reminded me of a young man called Richard Turere who, in 2013, was honoured at the TED Conference because he discovered the lion light that enabled him to chase away lions from humans and cows without interfering with the environment. This particular young man was discovered and celebrated outside our country before we even celebrated him. So, Bills like this one enable us to protect our own local resources. Kenyans often speak about ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’, but we do not have laws in place to protect it. The first clause that I really like in this Bill is Clause 14, which seeks to amend Section 9. I like this clause because it speaks about technology. We cannot protect our knowledge and skills without technology because we are rapidly moving into a space where technology is a very important aspect. Therefore, if it were up to me, I would ensure that each and every law in this country includes a component for protecting the technology space. But unfortunately, we do not have enough time for that. Clause 9 which amends Section 14 states that debarment of international agencies recognised by Kenya shall be considered to have been debarred in Kenya as well. This is very familiar because it speaks to a recent issue in the news about the Adani Group being banned in another country while we were in the process of onboarding them in Kenya until the President cancelled their contract, which was very magnanimous of him. This clause seeks to protect against such scenarios so that foreign investors who have been debarred in another country are not allowed to operate in our country. Clause 11 which amends Section 53 states that any procurement of less than Ksh1 billion shall be awarded to a local firm. This is very progressive because many local firms have been affected by past laws that saw them competing with foreign companies. It further goes on to say that any foreign firm must enter into a joint venture procurement with a local firm for no less than 30 per cent. This reminds me of the Worldcoin inquiry. One of the issues we were grappling with was that this particular foreign organisation had procured the services of Kenyan organisations, but they were still the ones that were fully benefiting from it. We did not have laws in place to protect the spaces of local investors and so, this is another very good clause. Clause 14 which seeks to amend Section 83(2) of the Act, speaks about due diligence and the evaluation committee of any procurement that has been done. It speaks about visiting the contractor’s offices, inspecting of plant, equipment and completed works. In most cases, people do not go out of their way to ensure that they have done a proper inspection of jobs before payment is made. This will ensure that before you are paid for a job you have been contracted to do, there must be field site visits and proper documentation before that payment is made. Clause 15 which seeks to amend Section 86 prohibits citizen contractors who become successful tenderers from subcontracting to foreign companies unless the knowledge, skills, goods, and services are not available in the country. On this particular one, I will probably bring an amendment because, in my opinion, it should also apply the other way around. It should not be just one way. In cases where a foreign company has been given a contract and they need to subcontract another foreign company for some skills and knowledge, they should not be allowed to do that. This amendment only works one way; it does not focus on the foreign company that has been awarded a contract beyond Ksh1 billion, which seeks to look for services from elsewhere."
}