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"id": 202008,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"legal_name": "Gor Eric Sungu",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Allow me, with a few words, to support the 15th Report of the PIC. Before I do so, allow me to congratulate the team, particularly hon. Justin Muturi, who has been the Chairman of this Committee for sometime, for the excellent work they have done and the commitment to ensuring that they fight corruption at all levels in our public corporations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the corporations we are talking about were established using money from public coffers and money from poor taxpayers. Majority of Kenyans are poor people and when their money is used to start a company, it is not right and proper. It is not good 4274 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 2, 2007 that a few fat cats, who are given the responsibility of looking after these corporations, should enrich themselves at the expense of wananchi. The Mover of this Motion, hon. Justin Muturi, has talked quite a lot, for example, on the issue of Safaricom Limited and its shareholding thereof. This is a very serious matter. I wish to urge this Government to forget about the politicking and come out clean on this. Who are the real shareholders of Safaricom Limited? We know that the Government has a shareholding. We know that Vodafone PLC has a shareholding and we also know that a company whose directors are not known to us, Mobitelea Ventures Limited, is also a shareholder. Let us know, for sure, that Safaricom Limited is a strategic company. It is a company with security implications for this country. Anybody with knowledge or control of Safaricom or any other mobile telephone or telecommunications company with a national outreach ought to be known publicly. We ought to know if it is not the Government, who then is it? This Government does not come clearly on who Mobitelea are. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know for certain that Mobitelea, under questionable circumstances, and there is evidence to that effect, bought 10 per cent shareholding of Safaricom when it was started. We also know that, thereafter, when the previous Government handed over power to the current Government, of which I am a member, then that shareholding suddenly reduced to 5 per cent. Who is the other holder of the 5 per cent that had been given out and for what purposes? Is it protection money? Is it shareholding given to protect certain interests, so that we can continue to be ruled by cartel after cartel of corrupt individuals? The people with questionable backgrounds who amassed wealth at the expense of taxpayers, grabbed property after property, land after land and company after company continue to collude at the expense of Kenyans, and this is not just. It is written there that this Parliament is for the welfare of society and just government of men, and we are in it. I would like to say that this Parliament ought to be at the forefront in making sure that this kind of thing cannot happen. Therefore, I want to ask this Government to open up the Registry of Companies, so that we know who the shareholders are. The question of some companies and their shareholding being secret, some files missing and some being kept in some secret folders, because they belong to who-is-who in this country, should never arise. That is why when we approve the Estimates and allocate money for computerisation of the Registrar's Office, the Pensions Department and others, that money ought to be used properly, because it is important and imperative that we ensure that we have transparency, not just by words but also by action. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are a number of issues that I will just mention in passing. There is the example of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). I have been an hon. Member of this Committee. The question of the stalled housing project is a shame to us, as a country, a people and a Government. It has been going on for too long. It started in the previous Government. So many people in the previous Government were involved in it, and it has continued up to now. The houses continue to rot, yet there is a shortage of housing in this country. The KEMRI staff continue to live somewhere else. I want to agree with the Committee, wholeheartedly, that these houses be now revamped. If someone has committed a crime, whoever it is, let him be taken to court. I sat in this Committee then when we discovered - in fact, I am one of those people who discussed this - that a law firm, or law firms, obtained false receipts from the Ministry of Lands showing that they had paid rates of up to Kshs27 million. When Commissioner of Lands was brought before the Committee, she confirmed that those receipts were fake. There were two things here. First, there was loss of Government revenue, and secondly there was an obvious forgery. Thirdly, there was alteration of documents, which is a crime. Someone should have been charged. What is Makhandia and Makhandia Company doing as advocates? They are still registered and practising! Some of them have even been promoted! What are we doing in this October 2, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4275 country? That is why I want to agree with the Chairman of the Public Investments Committee (PIC) that we ought to blacklist some of these fellows, so that they should never hold public office. If the person who was in charge of Makhandia and Makhandia Company Advocates - I want to say here now that the Standing Orders do not allow me to name the names - is currently a Judge of the High Court of Kenya, what kind of judgement do we get from that kind of a person? My heart bleeds when I have to go to such people for them to judge over me, when we know what they have done, and we have looked at their cases in the PIC. It is wrong!"
}