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{
    "id": 1503238,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503238/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 478,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nandi Hills, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Bernard Kitur",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much. I support the Bill brought by the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, having been previously sponsored by the Chairman of the Committee who is Hon. Kimani Kuria. I feel the Bill is extremely progressive. The Bill is of its own kind. It will have a great impact on the business people of this nation. In line with the recent State of the Nation Address, the President mentioned that he wants procurement systems to go online. Part of the proposals in the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (Amendment) Bill are so progressive and wide. Their impact will be for the benefit of Kenyans, particularly business people and the manufacturing community of locally available products. The Bill is wide. I will just pick a few clauses. Clause 3(4) ensures that procurement contracts subjected to international provisions adhere to local procurement laws. In overview, that domesticates most procurements or institutions that want tenders to favour them because they are from foreign jurisdictions. Secondly, Clause 4 and a couple others talk about the monitoring and evaluation of technology and knowledge skill transfers. They tend to say that tenders that include transfer of knowledge must have annual reports. This is good. It will provide a mechanism to know some of the benefits we can get through procurement processes made. There will be a list or something that shows the benefits that came to the country from a procurement process or service ordered from abroad since we did not have the local knowledge but we now have. This is a very good one. Clause 5 also captured my attention. There is an expansion of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). There was an inclusion of the Law Society of Kenya. I also noticed there is the representation of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya and Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM). This continues to widen and bring in a diverse knowledge and persons from every quarter of our nation. The entire place widens. Clause 6 seeks to amend Section 33. It has really captured my attention. For procurement in a particular county, precedence goes to manufacturers or products manufactured in the county. This is incredible. If there is anything that we can celebrate, it is this Bill. In fact, one of the sections I will capture also mentions that we should give bidding preference and jobs to businessmen in a particular county. Section 44 captures what I mentioned—the aspect of technology, knowledge and skills transfer from foreign firms as we continue to prioritise locally produced products. I think the Bill has asserted that as much. Clause 11 that amends Section 53 is the most radical. It is on penalties awarded to persons that register firms on behalf of foreign firms to profit from procurement that falls within the prescribed thresholds. Of course, it talks about that. We raised the threshold from Ksh500 million to Ksh1 billion for the local contractors. In my view, I feel that the sponsor of the Bill needs to tighten it even more. The Ksh5 million for me is low. Let it be made very tough. We could even do Ksh10 million so that it becomes a deterrence. Everybody must follow this law because it is going to empower us as a nation. For anything above Ksh1 billion, 30 per cent of the extra services, one must demonstrate what the locals are getting."
}