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{
    "id": 1521704,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1521704/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 264,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "probably in the Parliament Library. The 398-page report is rich just like the Sessional Papers that were written by amazing patriots like Tom Mboya. There is a part of that report that has been seriously disastrous to our country. In that report, it was suggested that civil servants can do business while employed by the Government. Despite the good intentions of the report, that is our biggest problem as a country. The report was written by some of the best professors. I find it extremely rich in terms of rethinking the public service structure as well as remuneration of public servants. Before 1971, public servants in this country used to earn the lowest amounts of money. Alongside that, they were not allowed to do business because service meant service. You were called on duty to serve as a public servant of the nation, but the remuneration was very shallow. The moment this country opened an opportunity for public servants to do business and create great wealth for themselves, it did not just stop at the idea of participating in the free market economy. It also meant that public servants would go ahead and engage in doing business with the Government and that is where the rot in this country started. Years later, it has now become an endemic problem in our budget-making process, especially when you think about Parliament and the Executive. This problem is not only in the national Government, especially Parliament which comprise the Senate and the National Assembly. It is also becoming a serious replica even in the county structure or devolved units of this country. The budgeting process is done by civil servants, having secured a number of procurement opportunities that defray the public from services that they need in various ways. They have become synonymous with the porosity of serious resources getting into Government. However, the public can just never see where this money is going. It is easy today for Gen Zs and the younger generation to fight the symptoms of why our country is hemorrhaging in terms of serious taxation, but without service. However, we can never get to the root cause of that problem if we do not give life to this report. I see it as the first attempt to undo the wrongs of the Ndegwa Commission Report. Look at other countries, including Nordic countries today where our young people admire the quality of a good life there. You will find that they have the highest form of taxation. However, people there do not riot against taxation. Citizens of those countries, never complain about any taxation because tax raised by the government goes to provide services for the population. Today, if you are in Norway, Denmark or Sweden, some services are provided by the government, but there are also what we call tax benefits. Even women in those countries today can go to work knowing very well that the government will even invest in the aftercare for their children when they are at work. Madam Temporary Speaaker, in our country today, the tax that is raised finds its way into the pocket of individual because civil servants are doing business with the Government. This is the crust of what I call a conflict of interest. Others are not as bad as this. Today in Parliament, individuals have perfected the art of scavenging for what will be put in the budget tomorrow. Which road will belong to who? Which pseudo company The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}