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{
"id": 221720,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/221720/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak, having requested to do so on behalf of Government to respond to some of the issues that have been raised by our Members. First and foremost, I would like to record my appreciation for a job well done by the Chairman of the Public Investments Committee, the hon. J.B. Muturi, the Vice-Chairman, Wafula Wamunyinyi, and the entire team. They were given a mandate to examine the reports and accounts of public investments, and to see whether public investments, basically the parastatals, are being managed in accordance with proper and sound business principles, and prudent commercial principles. I think they have excelled in carrying out that mandate. What I have observed on behalf of the Government is that, many issues have been raised with regard to public investments that were made in 1999 and before. What one notices - and it is a fact - is that, a lot has changed since that time. I want to submit to hon. Members that we have made various changes in terms of policy and approach towards the management of public institutions. Those institutions will be happy to learn that we have taken care of most of their concerns. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the areas that this Report has dwelt on, to a large extent--- It has enumerated various incidents of irregular disposal of land belonging to state corporations. I entirely agree with this Report with regard to what has been enumerated here on the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC), the amounts of land parcels that were sold irregularly and the recommendations that followed. Hon. Members will be happy to note that, having learnt from the experience of previous administrations and, of course, from many recommendations that have been preferred by this Committee and other Committees of Parliament--- Indeed, having had the benefit of hon. Members putting in their recommendations in various committees and task forces that were set up by the Ministry of Lands, a new policy on land has come up. Indeed, it will now not be possible for a corporation like KNTC or any other corporation in this Republic to dispose off its properties at a throwaway price. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, indeed, we hope that when the new land policy comes to this House, the law that we will be put in place will prevent any such malpractices from taking place. Hon. Members will be happy to note that, principally, action is being taken at the policy level to prevent those malpractices from recurring in the current Government or in other governments that will come in future. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the same breath, I would urge hon. Members, when we finally bring the policy and law that will set up the tone for future and sound economic management of the asset called land in this country, whether held by corporations of the State or by the State itself, it will be properly utilised to the satisfaction of Parliament. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, one other area that has featured tremendously in this Report is the May 16, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1423 escalation of construction costs and escalation and variation of tender sums. That has been pointed out very well by Mr. Sungu, who has enumerated one instance. Other hon. Members have enumerated other instances where, although the provision for variation of tender sums covers only up to 10 per cent, what has been happening, according to this Report, has been outright misappropriation of public funds. Hon. Members will be happy to learn that all parastatal chiefs involved in misappropriation of public funds will be prosecuted. These things will not happen again. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the House will also be happy to learn that all parastatal chiefs are now on performance contracts. They are supposed to manage our public investment in a prudent manner and earn profit. There is no way, under the current Government, that there could be a variation of a tender sum to the tune in excess of ten per cent and the managing directors get away with it. As a result of the performance contracts we have put in place, we will ensure that public investments are well taken care of. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Public Procurement and Disposal Act is among the very many achievements passed by the 9th Parliament. Now, we have a law that will prevent any greedy- mouth appointed to positions of authority from engaging in malpractices in tendering or procurement of services on behalf of the public. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, hon. Members will be happy to know that even the Treasury has put up guidelines in terms of mid-term performance and implementation of budgetary lines. We are sure that none of the parastatals, keeping to these mid-term budgets, will be involved in misappropriation of public funds to the benefit of a few individuals. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, many hon. Members who have contributed to this Motion have talked at length about the failure of the Attorney-General to take action against people who misappropriate public funds. Many times, the Treasury or the Government has asked the Attorney- General to investigate and take action. However, he has not responded to some investigations or taken action. Parliament, through its report, has voiced its total unhappiness with that state of affairs. We have taken that into consideration and will make sure that it changes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the same time, we would want the House to assist us in these matters. We have the Attorney-General who has security of tenure. Maybe, there are some things that need to be looked into afresh in creating some of the laws. This is particularly the case with the Constitution that we will be debating in this House. We need to see what should be done to exert pressure where necessary. We should make sure that action is taken when this House says so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also heard a clear insinuation that there has been misappropriation of public funds in the past. It has grown from millions of shillings to billions of shillings in the current administration. I would want to state that nothing is further from the truth. I would urge hon. Members to give credit for purposes of this Report; there was a lot of misappropriation. However, as I have said, we, as the Government, have learnt from our past mistakes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have learnt that without proper laws, proper structures and administrative controls, we cannot function as a country. So, we have embarked on a lot of changes which, as hon. Members know, having participated together this year in putting in place the correct laws and administrative controls, the Government has been able to tidy up some of the losses that we were incurring. Public tendering, as I have said, is now truly transparent. We are also improving on what we now have. Revenue collection has increased because we have tidied up some of the loose ends. What we are saying is that it is not correct, because the House must give credit for the fact that changes have taken place; the Government has made progress. Indeed, that is why we are able to raise our revenue collection from Kshs140 billion, which we inherited from the previous regime, 1424 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 16, 2007 to close to Kshs500 billion per annum today. So, my prayer to this House is that we need to take responsibility as a House, in the sense that we serve a higher ideal. As a House, we are the ideal of the entire country. The Government supports some of the suggestions that have been made. For instance, the suggestion made by Mr. Muchiri Gachara that, maybe, we need to make the Public Investments Committee hearings public. I wholly support that suggestion. The Government would support the suggestion, because some of these people were holding public offices. If they appear before Committee proceedings that are televised, so that it can be seen that they have big tummies because they are thieves, in future, even our children who watch such proceedings, will fear to associate themselves with fathers who are thieves."
}