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"id": 225825,
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
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"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to officially support the Report. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that over the years, the various reports of the PAC have proved invaluable to this country in terms of raising the bar of accountability in operations of the Government and its parastatals. Without the queries raised in these forums, this country would never know what actually goes on behind closed doors. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the only lamentation I have heard from majority of the hon. Members is about the implementation of the recommendations of the Report. I do want to concede that, here, we have a problem. But I do not think that even though the reports have not been implemented fully, or have barely been implemented, when things are documented, especially where criminal offences have been revealed, they never go stale. So, know yee all, whom indictments have been given by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), that you will still be called upon by the people of Kenya to account for your deeds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Parliament is complaining that the relevant Government agencies have not taken action. But I want to agree with hon. Ethuro, who contributed yesterday, that Parliament shares part of this blame. It is within our powers to pass a law that clearly states that once a query has been raised on one by the PAC, until he or she is cleared by a court of law, he or she should not continue holding public office in the Civil Service, nor should he or she vie for a position in a public office, whether as a councillor, Member of Parliament or even as President. Therefore, this Parliament has the means to ensure that anybody, whose conduct is questionable, is barred from public office. Those who think that they are unfairly named, would then expedite their cases in courts of law, to ensure that the courts give them a clean bill of health, or consign them to the Kamiti Maximum Prison, if they so deserve. I am, therefore, saying that collectively, as a Parliament, we also have some work to do. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that we are now debating the Report April 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 757 of the accounts for the year 1999/2000, yet, we are in 2007. We have a backlog of seven years. It is not something to be proud of, but I want to applaud the various hon. Members of the PAC. They have really tried to breach the gap, which has been quite big. Although the Controller and Auditor- General has been churning out reports, they have not been scrutinized on a timely basis, because of bureaucratic reasons. I think it is the duty of Parliament, through the watchdog Committees, to ensure that we are current, and that each year we debate the previous year's report, so that by the time people are indicted, they will have not retired or departed from this earth. It is necessary that we deal with current matters, and not post-mortem. For Parliament to be able to hold other institutions to account, it must be accountable itself. We must be bold enough to audit ourselves and say that Parliament is less accountable than it has ever been. We cannot pride ourselves as being the best Parliament. We go under the accolade of the worst. We must scrutinise our own conduct, individually and collectively, which is earning us a bad name. How shall we be able to scrutinise others? How can we even push for implementation, if quite a number of parliamentarians are themselves subject of these reports? Is it, therefore, enough to just lament about the Government? I want to join those who have hinted that there are also allegations of impropriety on individual hon. Members who are serving in Parliamentary Committees. There are allegations of cash-for-questions and cash-for-reports. It does not matter whether that one hon. Members or those two hon. Members who are indulging or alleged to indulge in corruption have been able to influence the entire report. Even if they are not able to influence it, but they receive benefits in a dishonest manner, they give the Committee and Parliament a bad name. We have cause to worry and I do not remember of any single case or allegation that has been investigated to the end by our Powers and Privileges Committee. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless if we are able to rise to the occasion and not only scrutinise our individual conduct, but also push for implementation by the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), of allegations of impropriety within the institution of Parliament itself- -- Some are appearing in the successive PAC reports, including the matter mentioned here yesterday, of the Continental House, and the many things that have gone on wrong with not only its purchase, but also its partitioning, equipping et cetera. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we stand indicted not only as national leaders, but also as citizens of this country. The question we must ask ourselves is whether everyone of us is doing his or her best to root out corruption and raise the bar on accountability and public issues in this country. A colleague did mention my Ministry. Yes, my Ministry co-ordinates the war against corruption, and also churns out policies. Implementation is to the individual institutions given the mandate by the Constitution. If it is the Judiciary, it has the sole prerogative to manage and steer the cases. If it is the Office of the Attorney-General, it has the mandate and sole prerogative of prosecutions. The same applies to the investigators. Even under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) is totally independent. It tables its reports to this House. We can talk about policy, but we must find a way of ensuring that each of the institutions that are supposed to do the actual implementation do deliver. Co-ordinating Government efforts, which is a role undertaken by the Office of the President, is no mean task. This is because you may state one thing in policy, but individuals may go the opposite direction. As a Government, we are trying our best to ensure that there is individual accountability. That is why we have come up with performance contracting; where one is not able to pass the buck to the next person. One, individually, must account for his or her actions. You can lose your job for not performing. That is the only way we shall also be able to get the culprits who are making us lose money through 758 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2007 procurement of goods or delivery of services. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, call for a collective approach, where the war against corruption is seen as a bi-partisan issue, and is not politicised. Today, it is those with pending cases on corruption who shout the loudest, that the Government is doing nothing about the war against corruption, when they are the same individuals who have paralysed their cases in courts. Even if you are not guilty, why do you not let the case proceed to its logical conclusion? If you have filed a constitutional reference, why do you not let it be heard, so that the court is either stopped forever, or your case proceeds? This double-speak must stop among leaders. I want to state it here for the record and appeal to Kenyans, through this forum, that as we hit the campaign trail seeking leadership of our individual constituencies and country, let Kenyans scrutinise our records. Anybody with pending matters, whether on appeal, actual pending cases or constitutional reference, on economic crimes or allegations of fraud, impropriety, corruption, theft,"
}