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"speaker_name": "Eng. Okundi",
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"legal_name": "Philip Okoth Okundi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the sector of State corporations is where I worked for almost all my life. I am fully aware of the various issues concerning how they have been run. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to go into a little bit of history of how the State corporations came about. At the Independence of this country, the Government assumed the running of a number of enterprises and had to convert them to public-owned enterprises, without necessarily contributing to their share capital. This is the first opportunity which this country had to involve the Government in commercial operations in running the various enterprises in the postal, harbour and railway services. They formed various corporations and a number of them eventually were enabled by an Act of Parliament. These include such corporations as the Industrial Commercial and Development Corporation (ICDC). It was formed in this country to create risk capital to enable Kenyans and the Government to invest in the various resources in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have come through a very exciting period where August 8, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3039 Africans and their independent countries understood what it was that was so good in running State enterprises and making profits for their countries in the various things the Government controlled. Some of our State corporations were run so well. This is because, if you look at the Acts that set them up, they were basically to be run as commercial enterprises. They were to be run, purely, on commercial basis, raise their money, budget and get things approved within the Government programmes, through their parent Ministries. Even some of their programmes were approved by this Parliament. A number of parastatals became very successful, so much that a number of Kenyans, who saw the avenue of making even bigger profits, tried to persuade the Government to privatise them, so that they could also make profits. We know very well that a large number of Kenyans became very rich and, really, super-rich, because they inherited some of these well-run State corporations; either by running them badly or actually persuading the Government to release them in order to be run by the private sector operations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lately, through pressure from the World Bank and other multinational financing bodies, the Government was urged to free the economy. So, the economy of Kenya has been freed by an Act of Parliament, so that one can invest and do whatever he or she likes. One can also compete in terms of prices and acquisition of goods on a free private sector basis. This has moved to looking into all the other areas which can also be put aside for people to look at, and then insist that they be released. I think this is the main subject that this Motion is trying to look at. As a result, we know of a large number of very good enterprises which have been released for privatisation. We know also of some hotels, under the African Hotels and Lodges Limited, which was under the Kenya Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), which were more or less sold, basically, for nothing, just because people put pressure to have these things run by them. The result is that we have done what I would call false economy, basically, in some cases, because one would inherit a well-run organization and become a very rich Kenyan. Basically, that organization employed very many Kenyans and, also, huge sums of money would go to the Treasury, because it was owned by the Government. That does not mean that the Government must run and own everything. The Government should continue to concentrate on governance and setting up the right policies to run these parastatals. But I think it is important - what is sought in this Motion - that Parliament must analyze these parastatals well before they are released for private sector management. Even last week, the Kenya Re-insurance Corporation was freed for the public to buy shares. It has now gone to the hands of wananchi. That is good, but it must be preceded by the right policies which have been cleared and looked into. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I duly support this Motion. I feel that, when a State corporation is to be released from the Government so that it can be privatised, we need, in this House, to tell Kenyans very clearly the kind of policy framework that has been considered by the Government, in order to make them decide that, that enterprise should be released. We must set up the framework and say how the parastatal has been performing. We must also say the opportunities that we can seize, if it goes to the private sector. We should also determine whether those opportunities can be got for our people. Can the parastatal benefit our economy better than when it was being run by the Government? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that we look at the assets that have been created. This can only be done so that everybody becomes aware. It is this House that speaks on behalf of all Kenyans. What is passed here is what, really, Kenyans want. That is why they pay taxes, which are used to run the Government. So, when we release a Government asset or property to a private individual, group of private sector operators or sell the shares, I think this Parliament can set up some policies which will allow Kenyans to have the first opportunity to buy the shares. 3040 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 8, 2007 This is because you will find that these Initial Public Offers (IPOs) are done very quickly. Then, you will find that some shares are held, while some are released. The whole process is not clear. I think that if we have a well-set-up policy within Parliament, then it will, really, state what actions to be taken. For example, it will state who are going to be the new owners of the new enterprise. If that enterprise is run very well as a State corporation--- Like we all know, the Postal Corporation was run very well. We also know that the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has been known to run very well. These are major assets which we cannot just let go. Another example is the liberalisation of the airwaves. So, we can decide and clearly say that this part, may be, will remain a Government-run operation or that part can be released; what is to be got is this and that, and we are seeking this kind of efficiency to run it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important to put our own people into private sector operations. The Government must aid their hands into becoming successful business persons. We can do this by deliberately giving them certain jobs which are bogging down the Government's activities which they can do themselves. But this must be done within a very good framework which will assist the Government in the end, and which also allows more taxes to be collected, in order to run the operations of the State. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I really support this Motion. I also hope that it will help to stop the cheap sale of State corporations. I find some people who have failed in running their private businesses persuading certain sectors of Government, in order to be able to buy certain Government parastatals, so that they survive by just using--- Many times, they have bought them very cheaply, but have ended up also running into losses, because of poor management. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion and I am sure that the other hon. Members will also support it. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}