HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 202021,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/202021/?format=api",
"text_counter": 313,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
"slug": "amos-kimunya"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I will be very brief because the Committee has been very thorough in its work. I wish to commend them from the outset and support the Report and the good work that the Committee has been doing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think the only thing that I need to put into proper perspective is the timing we are talking about. A number of things that have happened are historical. But there is a temptation, especially when people hear about them, to actually think that they are happening now. Those are issues which happened in 1997, 1998, 1999 and up to the year 2002. I would like to encourage the Committee to actually come up to date and look at the current reports. I am talking about the reports of 2005 and 2006. It will become very clear that, within the last four-and-half years of the Kibaki Administration, the management of our parastatals and State corporations has greatly turned around. An example was given of Kenya Airports Authority (KAA). We could give many examples like Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). Despite the problems that we are having at the Port, it is one of the best performing corporations. Indeed, the congestion problems have nothing to do with corruption, as was alleged earlier on. It is actually due to the improvement of the economy not just in Kenya, but within the hinterland. I mean in all the other countries. There is more cargo coming in through and yet, the rate of uptake in terms of railway and road transport. We have not done any new railway. We have not expanded the roads. So, there is congestion at the Port because of the uptake of the cargo and not because of inefficiencies at KPA. Just to assure the House that, indeed, there have been measures that have been taken to avert 4278 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 2, 2007 that crisis, we have been pushing some of the cargo to two of the dry ports. I think the story is very clear, literally, about every parastatal. As you look at it, you will see improvements with performance contracting. There is now more accountability. But, more importantly, and I think this is very significant, not just in terms of what the Kibaki Government has done, but in terms of setting the standards for what other Governments should be doing, not just here, but in the region. This is the delinking of the politicization of the management of parastatals by ensuring that there are no more \"orders from above\" and that parastatals heads are not waiting for a call from State House to determine when they should call a board meeting or to determine whether they should procure something. That has greatly changed the way things are being done and we are seeing profitability. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, from where I sit at the Treasury, I am very encouraged to see what our parastatals are doing. Instead of coming for subventions or grants from the Treasury, they are actually calling and asking: \"When can we deliver a dividend cheque to Kenyans?\" We have seen that happening. Safaricom is, probably, the best example. The Kenyan public has 60 per cent ownership. It is the most profitable company in East and Central Africa. That, basically, shows you what giving people the latitude to actually manage as they should without political interference can lead to. We are very happy to actually move one step further and share those great benefits with the Kenyan people. But, obviously, some people have not been happy with that. I do not want to discuss that because there are matters in court. I believe there will be a ruling tomorrow on that issue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of Safaricom IPO has been raised here. It is not safaricom that is issuing shares. It is the Kenyan Government that is divesting part of its shareholding. Part of the 60 per cent that we own on behalf of the Kenyan people, 25 per cent is what we are saying that we do not have to own on behalf of Kenyans when they can own it directly. So, I think that is the important thing. We should distinguish between---"
}