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"id": 1524017,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1524017/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important matter. At that particular moment, I was a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. When this matter came, it was a very serious matter. I give my thanks to Prof. Anyang’-Nyong'o, the Governor for Kisumu, when we invited him to come and share his insights; he came, and he did not support this corruption issue. In fact, he wanted it investigated. He was very disappointed. This money had come from the Japanese government. The Japanese Government even provided tractors and all the equipment, which could make sure that rice growing thrives in Kano. Then there were cooperatives, very well organized cooperatives, but highly frustrated by individuals when it came to this. Some of the accused people, when they were brought before us, they pretended that they cannot even speak Kiswahili. They can only speak Dholuo and we have to translate and waste a lot of time. You could see clearly, these were the thieves, and they were pretending. My big disappointment goes to EACC. When they came to preside over this matter, they were the ones who were to investigate and recover the money, and they really looked very uncooperative to the committee. They looked like they did not know. In fact, it is around that time when some people were trying to amend the law to remove the Chairperson of the EACC. The Chairperson of the EACC is a very forthright gentleman, his track record is known. He has presided over many funds and projects over a long time. As an architect, they have been successful. He is one of the most honest people I can trust in that commission, the moment you do that to the Chair of EACC, maybe the CEO could also perform. Below that, everybody frustrated the fight against corruption in this particular case, and it was very frustrating even as a committee. Having invited EACC, they were uncooperative, and you could see. Hon. Mundigi was there. The EACC was really defeating the ends of fighting corruption. I knew and I said, one day, we shall overcome as a country. This is because if you have an EACC which, first of all, has its own fights, and then suddenly, when there is such a serious, glaring corruption case of money donated by the Japanese government - if you mishandle this - you are telling other agencies not to help our farmers; you are telling other people not to make donations to Kenya; you are telling other countries that we have no structures to protect the money. Similarly, was the National Irrigation Board. Very frustrating. In fact, the National Irrigation Board behaves in a similar way to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Authority (EACC). You may have a good chairperson and a good Chief Executive Officer (CEO), but have employees who squander, collude and become part of the scheme to steal from Kenyans and international funders who are sympathetic with our case. The worst of it was Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which I believe should be investigated thoroughly. As a bank, you cannot allow proceeds of theft of public resources to be channelled through and hidden in your bank. The bank managers and the people who dealt with that were aiding the thieves. That could be seen from the evidence adduced. 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."
}