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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. It is unfortunate that we are ending this debate when we are just a few of us on this side. Some hon. Members are, probably, still taking their tea leisurely out there. They might have wanted to contribute to this very important Motion. April 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 755 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a reason to say that I was member of that Committee, but only partially. What happened is that, after the General Elections, and after some of us fought very vigorously to get this Government in power and have His Excellency the President elected--- Although I consider myself a very important hon. Member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which was part of the coalition, I was left floating for about one and a half years. The short time I was a Member of the PAC, I took it to be a very important Committee for the development and economy of this country and, indeed, even for other areas, like the security and good governance. However, what surprises me, and I think hon. Kipchumba and other hon. Members said, is that no action has been taken on the recommendations made by the PAC. Even the small things that we recommended have not been acted upon. This Report talk about mega financial scandals. It also talks about individuals in parastatals and public service misappropriating funds. However, no action has been taken against them. We have been talking about variation of contracts. We can only vary a contract by following the regulations of procurement. We are only allowed to vary a contract up to only 24 per cent of the original value. However, when Chairman of the PIC was contributing to this Motion, he said some of these contracts were varied by up to 200 per cent. If these things are happening, then it is really serious. I do not know why the Government does not take action on these things. We all know that the road system is actually our lifeline. Although most of the contributions for our roads is from the donors, we need to scrutinise everything. We should not bury our heads in the sand in the hope that our development partners will do a good job for this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I still think that we have lost the war on graft. I have said so, many times in this House. It is a pity that a major scandal, for example, Anglo Leasing, has disappeared into thin air. Members of the public are still waiting to see what action this Government will take against perpetuators of this mega scandal. We want to see those people prosecuted. It is sad that, so far, no action has been taken against them. The Goldenberg scandal has also disappeared into thin air despite all the billions of shillings that were lost. I believe that there is always a cartel in these scandals which involves senior public servants in the Ministries and the Judiciary. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even the ineptitude of the office of the Attorney- General has been alluded to by many hon. Members when contributing to this Motion. One of them is that he does not even inform the Ministries of the decision of the courts and how it should be implemented. It shows very clearly that there is a well established cartel that is involved in all these scandals. For example, the so-called cowboy contractors were paid a lot of money despite the fact that they did nothing on our roads. It shows the cartel assisted them to vary the contracts. If a contractor varies a contract by about 220 per cent, then he is definitely claiming billions of shillings despite the fact that he did not do any work at all. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that we take seriously these democratic ideals of credibility and transparency. Definitely, these are the two ideals which go to build up level democracy that we have ignored. We are not transparent and credible. The Government should know where its total credibility lies and this is one particular area about misappropriation of finances. The Committee mentioned people who have misappropriated finances and we know them. They know what happened. However, no action is taken. If not action is taken, the time of these Members of Parliament, some honest public servants and some of the witnesses who come to present their evidence before this Committee is wasted. So, one wonders why we have to actually spend so much money and time to come up with this kind of report if no action is ever taken. The most important thing here for us to do now is to curb corruption. The essence of having the PAC is to assist the Government know how money is spent by various Ministries; what happens to the money we allocate to Ministries and who is responsible for misappropriation of Government funds. Action must be taken against those people. We must charge or prosecute them. 756 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2007 However, nothing happens to them. Corruption is a very serious disease in this country, but we do not seem to be fighting it. If we do not fight it, there is no hope that this country will ever develop economically, politically and socially. Corruption is a disease that will definitely not let this country progress at all. Simply as they say, it is the rich stealing from the poor. That is what corruption is all about. I have said several times on the Floor of this House that although the 5.8 per cent growth rate of the economy has been publicised and glorified, I do not believe it. This is because what is on the ground does not show that any economic growth has been achieved. There are many poor people than there were before. There are more people living below the poverty line than there were before. Definitely, it is the rich or the same thieves who stolen public money who are amassing more wealth. So, when we are told that the economy has grown by 5.8 per cent, we should ask the poor people if that is so. They will definitely say that it is a myth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say very clearly, before I sit down, that something must be done about corruption. There are two big scandals that are actually bedeviling this country, namely; Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing. What is happening on them? We do not see anything. We see the courts happily releasing people who have been implicated in Goldenberg scandal and yet, evidence has been given that shows clearly that the money was embezzled. The money involved in this scandal nearly drove this country to the rocks economically. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, look at Anglo Leasing scandal, nothing is happening! So, we are assuming that nothing happens at all. We are encouraging many people to steal because the perpetuators of these mega scandals are being freed by our courts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my last words because I do not have very much time, is to say that the recommendations of the PAC must be taken seriously by the Government. I beg to support."
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