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{
"id": 221709,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/221709/?format=api",
"text_counter": 319,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Muchiri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 225,
"legal_name": "Muchiri Geoffrey Gachara",
"slug": "geoffrey-gachara"
},
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is some kind of thinking that when the Government procures goods and services, you must pay for those services or goods expensively. This is something that we need to discourage in this country. The Government has no money to give for free. It has to get value for its goods and services. Therefore, even where tendering is being done, we must be able to scrutinise and analyse what we have received from the tenders so that even contractors and professional firms do not inflate their tender sums just because they are providing services to the Government. Even where tendering is a good system of procuring goods and services, that should also be subjected to a lot of scrutiny. A lot of money has been lost, in many instances, because of improper procurement and sometimes through what we call single sourcing. This has been the problem in this Report. We must encourage tendering, but at the same time discourage single sourcing or direct procurement so that we do not continue incurring a lot of losses when procuring goods and services. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you look at parastatals such as the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), you will realise that they were unable to concentrate on their core business. They went on a frolic of their own to invest in properties and at exorbitant prices. In that process, they are now left with properties that they cannot even dispose of. That is the same case with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). It is important that our parastatals restrict themselves to their core business so that they do not deviate to other matters or ventures that are not part of their core business. So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said earlier on, I would like to encourage hon. Members to go through this Report and I am sure they will read a lot of things that will, perhaps, amaze them. However, I would like to assure this House, that from the Government side, we shall do what it takes to make sure that the recommendations of the PIC are followed up and anybody who has been incriminated or involved in malpractices with regard to finances will be dealt with. But I also want to tell the Attorney-General, because a lot of recommendations here are directed at him, that he has to work overtime to ensure that the recommendations of the PIC are implemented. Most of the recommendations call upon him to take action, that is, prosecute. In that regard, therefore, the office of the Attorney-General should be facilitated to undertake all these recommendations. There are cases where the Report has recommended surcharges on some Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). Most of them may not be in service currently, but I am sure they live somewhere in this country. They should be able to pay for the mistakes they made while in office. In fact, this is the challenge, that those who are in service must be able to do a good job so that the long arm of May 16, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1419 the law does not follow them to their houses or graves. This is a challenge to all our CEOs in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if our parastatals were properly managed, we would not need to start looking for funds to develop this country. Why can our parastatals not provide some of their profits? The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) is a cash cow and it can give this Government a lot of money and so is the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and the NSSF which keeps people's money. All that money should be looked after. There is no reason why our State corporations cannot be able to give some dividends to the Treasury. In terms of finding out whether they are doing well or not, we want to see a cheque from them because, for us, other than service delivery, they are also supposed to give the Government some dividends to undertake other development pursuits. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support this Report. There are some instances where matters have gone to court, for example, the case of KPA procuring services for some project. Since the matter went to the High Court and later to the Court of Appeal, the Report has recommended that the Attorney-General should look into that file and either close it or otherwise--- I believe that when matters have been through court, sometimes it is good to say that they have been dealt with satisfactorily and they are, as they say, less judicata, that means that you cannot go into the matter. Even issues to do with companies like Triple A and so on, are all mentioned in this Report. I do not want to bore this House with narrations of what hon. Members can read for themselves in this very useful and voluminous Report. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I must thank the Chairman of the PIC, hon. Muturi, for how he has conducted the hearings in that Committee. I would also like to reiterate that, and I am happy that you are the Chairman of the Standing Orders Committee, we need to have hearings of both the PIC and the PAC made public. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support."
}