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"id": 196132,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196132/?format=api",
"text_counter": 74,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. ole Metito",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Regional Development Authorities",
"speaker": {
"id": 199,
"legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
"slug": "judah-ole-metito"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. From the outset, I want to support the recommendations and the adoption of the Reports. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Reports adopted by this House yesterday for the years 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 are actually not different from the reports that we are debating right now. The recommendations and findings are the same. What is actually lacking is just the implementation. We have heard these recommendations year in, year out. We have heard about corrupt and even irregular allocations in all the past reports. But the recommendations have never been implemented. But, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to believe that, this time round--- Maybe, there has been lack of a mechanism to implement the recommendations of these reports. But this time round, since we have, for example, the Office of the Prime Minister, which is in charge of co- ordinating, supervising and even implementing all the Government reports, I want to believe that they are going to be implemented. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, all these reports have really unearthed a lot of misappropriation of public funds and irregular allocation of public land. I want to just cite a few examples because a lot has been said in yesterday's reports. I have said that they are very similar. They show excesses in spending that are never sanctioned by this House. For example, there is corruption in road construction and maintenance. Yesterday, we heard about a road that was given four contracts! The same, same road was awarded contracts four times! That is the Kisii-Chemosit Road. We have another one in the Report that we are debating today. It was actually awarded contracts twice or even thrice. That is irregular! We have heard about irregular allocations of land. It has even been mentioned in the Ndung'u Land Report. We have heard about compensations that are not genuine and ex-gratia payments. I think it is high time that all those irregularities were actually brought to an end because misappropriation of public funds has been on the rise. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, let me talk about a specific case that is in my constituency. My constituency borders Tanzania. There are two entry and exit points that link Kenya and Tanzania; one being Namanga and the other being Loitokitok. There is a big facility that is mentioned in this Report. That is the Customs offices and staff houses at the Loitokitok Control Border. That is a very massive project that was undertaken at a cost of Kshs603,778,890 as at 30th June, 2001. That is a big facility. I want to thank the Committee because it paid a visit to the facility. So, it has a hands-on experience. It has 86 housing units that are all self-contained and modern. It has a police division and a health centre inside. It is a facility that is built on 20 acres of land. It was meant to be one of its kind in East and Central African region, as far as the Customs rules and regulations are concerned. But what has happened is just total corruption! The budget for the facility in 2001 was Kshs419,482,812. But what was spent amounted to Kshs603,678,890! Mind you, that was an election year - 2002. So, you have a budget overrun of Kshs270,559,179.52. That is actually 64 per cent of the original budget. There is no corruption bigger than that in just a facility at one border point! Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this additional Kshs101,838,752.60 was actually paid to six different firms. That was a way of syphoning out public money. It was paid to six different firms that were involved in various works and installations. The Committee should have elaborated that the six firms were meant to do electrical wiring, plumbing, telephone networking, drilling a borehole and construction of a high level water tank. It is very surprising, because they were paid for that work, but the facility is not operational as we speak now. Out of the 86 housing units only 16 are in use. The remaining 70 units are not being used at all. They are just gathering dust and cobwebs. The main reason for this is because there is no water. In the whole facility, covering 628 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 23, 2008 about 20 acres of land, there is no water. But a firm was paid Kshs101,838,752.60 for drilling a borehole and constructing a high level water tank, yet there is no water. The other thing that was just done without planning was the capacity of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to use that facility and utilise it properly. I want to believe that even if they were to use all the 86 units today, they would not have the capacity or the need to maximise the potential of that facility. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended to the KRA that a committee be appointed to look into the issue of the full utilization of this facility. That was done by the KRA. They formed a committee. The committee recommended to the Ministry of Finance that the facility should be made a training institute, for example a medical training institute, a teacher training college or even a KRA training institute. The Ministry of Finance issued a no-objection note to the conversion of the facility to a training institute. But what has happened? Just like with all the other recommendations in this Report, that recommendation has not been implemented. The KRA even went further and said that a half, or 70 per cent, of the facility should be turned into a training institute that could benefit the locals, and also so as to protect it from vandalism and the deterioration of the equipment in it. I am not sure whether that facility can be valued at that the amount of Kshs603 million that was spent on it. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Committee has also recommended - I really want to support their recommendation and urge the Government agencies that they do take up the recommendations very seriously and implement them - that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) should investigate and prosecute those involved in these irregular transactions. That project was over-valued by 64 per cent of the original budget. The contractor by the name Donwoods who undertook the project, and whom I believe is still getting Government contracts, was recommended to be precluded from future Government awards in addition to being deregistered for this massive corruption. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, finally I want to highlight some of the Committee's recommendations. First of all, there is this Civil Contingencies Fund (CCF) that has always been used by Government officers to fund contingencies that were not budgeted for in the original Budget. The expenditure is then authorised through the Supplementary Estimates. I would like to say that this facility is being abused. It is a den of corruption. All issues from this Fund, whether they are of a contingent nature or not, should get parliamentary approval. It is not fair for the officers to use the Supplementary Estimates to seal a hole by creating another one. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Committee recommended that we need to have live coverage of both the House and Committee proceedings. That is long overdue, especially at this time when we do not have an Official Opposition in Parliament. The chairmanship of the Committee, as per the Standing Orders, is reserved for the Leader of Official Opposition. For it to be a real Watchdog Committee now that we do not have an Official Opposition, the composition of this important Committee may be compromised. As a check and balance measure, we need to have live coverage of the proceedings of this Committee and open it to the public for them to give their contribution and see how the proceedings are conducted. That would actually serve as a good scrutiny measure in the absence of the Opposition. Another way of the Government losing a lot of money, as the Committee established, is through ex-gratia payments. It is very sad that the Government rarely, or never, wins cases in court. I really do not know what is happening. This is where a lot of Government money is being misused. In the Report, the Committee says that the Attorney-General does not communicate to Ministries about court decisions in time. So, because of delaying that communication, these payments keep on accumulating interest, and we end up paying a lot of money. So, what is everybody is asking, which is in the public domain is: Why does the Government always lose cases in court? Is it that we lack competent officers to do thorough investigations? Is it that we lack April 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 629 qualified legal experts to represent the Government in court? Is it that our legal experts get poor remuneration, or is it just corruption by State Counsel? In the Report that was passed yesterday, we heard of some cases where the State Counsel refuse to attend court cases and then rulings are given in favour of the other party. We should also take action on that. Those State Counsel, who reluctantly attend these court cases, or who do not do enough homework, should be acted against to avoid further loss of public funds. I want to commend the KACC. In the Kenya Gazette Notice of 11th this month, the KACC has listed what it has done for a very long time. They have listed the properties that they have recovered and their value. They have also listed the cases that are pending in court, their nature and the individuals who have been taken to court. In fact, if some of the recommendations of that Committee were to be implemented, you would be surprised. Just look at that list! It includes names of people who were former Members of this august House. There are also sitting Members of this august House. They have corruption cases in court. They have illegally acquired property. If some of the recommendations of these reports were to be implemented to the letter, actually some Members here would not be in this House. One of the recommendations is that nobody should hold any public office, undertake any public contract or represent the public in a court of law until cleared of any graft charges or allegations by a court of law. So, I think it is high time that we took the right steps by implementing the recommendations in these reports. Otherwise, if we keep on forming Watchdog Committees and spending a lot of public money--- You realise that they had 77 sittings, almost the same number of sittings that are held by this august House in a Session. If we keep on having them facilitated by Parliament and we do not implement their recommendations, I think we will also be doing corruption in another way. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}