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"id": 202012,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"legal_name": "Gor Eric Sungu",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand corrected; I would not want to name the name because I know and respect the Standing Orders of this House. But I want to say that there are even others like the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), where a lot of money was lost; up to Kshs500 million was paid to individuals. Some of them sit with us here. This money was paid with the connivance of the then company secretary, who later on became a judge. I do not want to name names but these are facts, which will stay with us forever! Indeed, these people are the ones who are going to judge you and there can never be confidence. I am talking about the judges in the courts only. Everywhere, you name it, people have been promoted. It appears that in Kenya, if you want to be promoted, you need to be corrupt first. You need to have stolen some money first then you are promoted. I want to urge this Government to appoint people like the young Minister for Finance, who has a clean background in private practice, and others because there are many Kenyans who are qualified. Kenya is full of highly-qualified and competent people who can do the job. You do not have to go forever to the corrupt to man positions. At this rate, we will never end corruption, because some of these things will go to them and they will be the ones to decide where to take them. So, I want to urge this Government to ensure that this housing estate for the KEMRI is completed, as recommended by the Committee. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I used to be an insurance man and know the importance of insurance. Insurance is a service! No insurer uses his money to do anything. They get money from the public, the so-called policy holders and they use this as a pool. Out of that pool, they pay claims. So, essentially, money handled by insurance companies, whether owned by the Government or privately, is public money. That is the kind of business that cannot work if there is no confidence in it. When you find that at the pinnacle of that industry, the Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya-Re), which is owned by the Government, and which receives a mandatory 25 per cent ceding from any business done in Kenya, automatically, therefore, they do not even need to do any marketing. This company goes to a private audit firm. It is audited, the audit is not certified, and then it turns out that there are losses to the extent that this very Government sacked the CEO only the other day. This is a very sorry state of affairs. If we want to help this country, we need to create confidence of the people in the public institutions that we run, so that in the event that there is money lost, somebody is prosecuted. That is why I am saying that we need to put our house in order, because some of these actions can lead to monumental losses. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is evidence of gross mismanagement of some of the corporations as evidenced in this report by the PIC. It is imperative that we make sure that this does not become just a yearly exercise, where we read, debate but nothing is done about these reports. The element of taking action to make sure that, at least, somebody answers to something is clearly wanting. It is necessary for the Government to take action. This Parliament, under the 4276 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 2, 2007 Powers and Privileges Act, can summon, talk about a lot of things and question people, but does not have the power to implement recommendations. It is only incumbent upon the Government to do that. Therefore, I want to recommend that those CEOs who have been proved to owe money to the firms that they were entrusted with the management of, for example the Capital Markets Authority, there is no a reason why those they should not be compelled to pay that money. I do not see what the Attorney-General is waiting for in the face of this report. This report will continue to exist until action is taken. It is important that we deal with some of these issues. We will never get anywhere, as a nation, if we do not get into these issues and deal with them accordingly. It is like saying that we must hold the bull by the horns. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}