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{
    "id": 1521707,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1521707/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 267,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "President, on us legislators and on the judges in this country, starts with making sure that the Conflict of Interest Bill is given life. It is not simply passed by mere action of Parliament. Nevertheless, it is given life and make sure that the idea of enterprising in Government that people are scared of confronting and the Members of Parliament are scared of facing, can come to an end in this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you go to a place like Britain today and you are a public servant, you have to give the private sector the opportunity to serve the government as the first market in an economy. Let the private sector thrive in making a stronger market economy that can truly give jobs to people. Jobs that will not only be quality in scale, but also vast and diverse in scale. Consequently, the idea that public service has become a place where people come with the concept of ghost workers is now becoming a menace in our country. Why is that possible? It is only possible because of conflict of interest. People in Government have become very comfortable with the idea that if I am in a place of power, I can create jobs that don not exist. Therefore, pay money where there is no value for that money and be okay that I am protecting my own. If I am a Kikuyu, Kalenjin or Luo, I am protecting people from my tribe because I have an opportunity to employ them for jobs that do no exist. Spending money that is hard earned by Kenyans where I do not need to spend it, when I could as well easily stop the conflict of interest of employing my own and simply empower and endorse a market economy where the private sector can not only to create good jobs, but also go ahead and build an economy that works. Today I was looking at the Budget Policy Statement (BPS) before us in the House. I can see the inflation has gone down. However, I cannot relate the inflation with the cost of goods and services in this economy. I am seeing the current account of Government is looking very positive. Nonetheless, that current account is not because of export increase in our economy. It is because of import decrease in our economy, meaning that the economy is not thriving. There is no production that is happening in this economy. Nobody sees where the tax is going because it is not empowering businesses or providing services. Right now, we have had a big scare with United States Agency for International Development (USAID). If you look at Official Development Assistance (ODA) in Government, the services that are supposed to be done by ministerial agencies that we get grants for are not in Government. For instance, where USAID comes in place to give a few grants to do things like providing water in the slums and Medicare for people who cannot afford it, most of that money ends up going to the pocket of individuals in terms of administrative costs. Madam Temporary Speaker, I want you to think about it if you give me a minute. With the pronouncement of Donald Trump, the President of the United States, that USAID will not give us any money. Have we imagined as a country where we will go to with services that were being rendered by this---"
}