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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to thank Members of this House who have contributed positively and favourably to the Reports of the Public Accounts Committee. We are all in agreement, hon. Members. I am happy that hon. Members have appreciated the role played by this Committee on their behalf. I know that there were many Members who were willing to contribute. Some Members even borrowed my initial notes. They wanted to read them, so that they could contribute effectively to the Motion. I appreciate that. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it does not augur well for the output of this Parliament, given the fact that the relevant Minister, who was present at the time I was moving this Motion is not present to see its conclusion. Even if she is not present, there should have been a deliberated designated Assistant Minister or any other Minister to respond to this Motion. With due respect to the newly appointed Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development and his brilliant legal mind, he does not do service to this nation by just coming here by virtue of a portfolio to reply to this Motion. This Report has made specific recommendations on the Treasury as a big responsible Ministry which grants Permanent Secretaries authority to incur expenditure. This is done in writing by the Treasury. The Treasury has failed to perform its duty. The Permanent Secretary (PS) Treasury is supposed by law, to appoint Permanent Secretaries as Accounting Officers. If I would have an opportunity to serve in this Committee, I would be chasing away those PSs who do not come with appointing letters. We can start implementing the law by ensuring that from the very beginning, these recommendations are implemented. These Reports also made specific instructions to the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission. This House would expect the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs to be present or her designated substantive Assistant that would take this particular recommendations seriously. The beginning of the implementation of this Report starts from this House. That is why we, as a Parliament, are uniquely placed. We can enjoy the benefits of the Executive and the Opposition sitting together and that was then. In the new Kenya of coalition Government, we have actually done the full marriage. We are just waiting for the consummation of the marriage through some bona fide children that can claim inheritance because they were born out of a proper marriage. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, after berating the Executive and, of course, the definition of our bloated Cabinet, I want to go to the specific contributions. I want to start with the contributions by Mr. Bahari when seconding the Motion. The Member made reference to the National Population and Housing Census, where specific items were bought at hundred times their value. This Committee noted that the Civil Service was hiding under the tendering procedures. I do not understand why the tendering procedures would fail their very basic principles. The whole idea of tendering is meant to attract as many suppliers as possible. We should be able to procure an item at the least competitive cost. Sometimes, you can walk into a supermarket and look at a price of items such rubber, eraser or a pencil. For instance, you find that the price of a biro pen is Kshs10. You would be surprised that when these items are tendered, that biro pen of Kshs10 would cost Kshs15. I think our Ministers have powers to act. When tender prices exceed what obtains in the markets, that tender must be revoked. I am sure that power is there. It has to be used properly. Dr. Mwiria made very incisive contributions in terms of the environment in which Parliament and watchdog committees work, specifically targeting mega corruption. The fight against mega corruption must start from this House. I want to see Government Ministers and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission in future using the Reports of the PAC as the basis on which they would fight this vice. We want to see more action put to support the language of zero tolerance to corruption. We want to see more commitment to fight corruption. In fact, in the feelings of this hon. Members, it would be appear to me that, may be, we need to model something like the Serious Fraud Office, like in the United Kingdom (UK), that would be specifically 580 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 22, 2008 targeting certain levels of corruption. In this Report, we have discussed Government shares in Safaricom and lack of dividends. Now, we have a Safaricom Initial Public Offer (IPO) that will be concluded tomorrow. There is the question of the Mobitelea Ventures' shares and nobody is looking into it. Is this not a good basis that this Report should have looked into these issues? The Minister has, of course, conveniently decided to be away. These are the issues we are talking about. The hon. Member from Kisumu is here. I think the people of Kisumu--- Unless you are tall enough, your chances of coming to represent them in this House are extremely limited. That was why he did not speak from the Dispatch Box, but from the speaker above him. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we need an implementation Committee. It used to be in our Standing Orders. We scrapped it. It must come back as part of the Constitutional review process. This leads me to the points made by Mr. Mungatana. I want to thank him for exhausting his time. It is important to pick out those things. A constitutional review process should not be an excuse for a Coalition Government. A constitutional review, on its own, merits immediate attention, whether we are in a coalition, or otherwise. We have nice things like zero-tolerance to corruption and the constitutional review process. We will not just get lost in the good work of resettling the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)! I am not under-estimating the value, but I can see a possibility of certain major issues being forgotten just because there are things that are more convenient. Kenyan politicians are very good at that. If they were not, we could have resolved all the matters that came to haunt us many, many years ago. When you raise the profile of about Kshs1.8 billion spent on a road that is yet to be completed - the Kisii-Chemosit Road--- Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the road from Kapenguria to Lodwar in Turkana only requires half that amount. We will have tarmac on that road! The Kisii-Chemosit Road requires that same money or less. The initial cost was Kshs146 million and it would have been completed. The road hon. Elias Mbau was talking about today is only 34 kilometres. If you even allocated a conservative estimate of Kshs10 million per kilometre, you only required Kshs340 million and that road would have been finished in 2006/2007. That is when it was supposed to have been done. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the Report, there are cases of impunity. Hon. Mungatana made a specific call for action! If all of us took our responsibilities seriously, this country would not require more laws! This country requires more management of the existing framework! It requires supervision! You pay Kshs26 million to someone to supervise, but nothing is done! There is something wrong with us! Prof. Olweny commented about corruption in the private sector. This House is at liberty to discuss any form of corruption, but the big thing about the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is that it has a responsibility to the taxpayers who elected us. That is why we are looking at corruption in the public sector. But he has invited all of us to think about it. Who is that Kenyan who is very good, offers exemplary leadership in the private sector and does proper accounting? But the same Kenyan who is working at the Kenya National Examination Council cannot do the same. His or her work cannot just add up! The difference is the working environment. It is not the Kenyan! Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have had the opportunity to serve in both sectors. We go to the same schools. We learn from the same teachers. We can work if we can create a conducive environment in the public sector that makes productivity an issue. It is not enough to adopt performance contracting and bringing the President to see Ministers signing them. Then, once a year, we go on with the public ritual of naming Ministries which have performed better. Maybe, when your Ministry is at the bottom, you should take a reduction in your salary. That way, you will know that if you do not perform, you should go home! Members have raised the following question: Is the African in Kenya different from the African in Tanzania? In Tanzania, after being accused of corruption, a Minister and a Prime Minister resign. But, in Kenya, we act with impunity. This House has people whose record you April 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 581 cannot really trust. I did not say it. It was said just this afternoon. I can only confirm. We have made recommendations that so and so should not hold a public office. But when appointments are made to the public offices, their names will appear very prominently. They are even displayed. Even when we go to our churches with ill-gotten wealth, we are always the chief guests. Even the local priest will bow to you for God has blessed you with sufficient riches. You are just giving back what God has provided. We saw it just the other day with regard to the Grand Regency Hotel. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, with those remarks, I want to thank each and every Member who has shown interest in this Report. Really, the words used by hon. Mungatana in appreciating our work--- I really want to think that when you are 11 Members and only three survived, that rate of attrition is extremely high! It is over 70 per cent. It means that the good work that has been dedicated to particular individuals does not get recognition back home. Since the Speaker has started this tradition, I do not want it to be ad hoc . In fact, even today, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker should have used Standing Order No.1 to invoke live coverage. That way, Kenyans will know that the PAC was trying to save billions of shillings on their behalf. That way, I will not be working so hard next time to retain my seat. At this rate, you never know who will come and who will not come. So, I think the recommendation for live coverage, particularly for Committee work, cannot be gainsaid. I know that the Speaker is doing something about it. We need press coverage, not only in the Chamber, but in the Departmental Committees. That will not only be just for our publicity, but it will be another serious deterrent to anybody misappropriating public funds. When you know that you are going to appear before the PAC, you will not want to run that risk. That is because you will be grilled in public. The whole nation will be watching. I can assure you that these days, Kenyans love watching television. They love watching the proceedings of Parliament. They will always give you instant feedback. I am sure that, at that stage, if there was a recall clause in the Constitution, maybe, many of us would have to go home. With those many remarks, I beg to move."
}