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{
    "id": 223699,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/223699/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 195,
        "legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
        "slug": "raila-odinga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I would like to pay tribute to the Committee for the work that it has done, which has shed some light on an issue which was fairly opaque to most of us. This is basically because of the manner in which contracts of this nature were handled in the past. When the alarm was raised over the Anglo Leasing scandal, it appeared that a blanket cancellation was effected on a number of projects that had been contracted at that point in time. This project was one of the victims. However, we have learnt the hard way that without having some kind of transparency in negotiations and contracting, particularly in procurement in the Department of Defence (DoD), this country ends up losing a lot of money. In the past, everything was labelled \"security\", and procurement was very opaque in the DoD. So, we ended up with officers retiring from the DoD as millionaires. People would be recruited as cadet officer. They are trained. They just do exercises. They fight no wars, but end up as multi-millionaires, basically because they were put there to purchase equipment for this country. The prices of that equipment were very inflated because commissions were being earned by the officers handling the purchases and by members of the political class of the time. Time has now come, therefore, for us to tighten our belts and ensure that this country is not fleeced the way it has been fleeced in the past. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, from the Report itself, and all have to believe what we are being told by the hon. Members of the Committee, this is a genuine contract. The Government signed the contract. The vessel is also there. They have seen it. Whether we are actually getting value for money or not, is another matter. It appears that an officer of this Government was present from the very beginning when the foundation of the vessel was being laid, as it were, and supervised her construction until it was about 90 per cent complete."
}