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"id": 226159,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/226159/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 158,
"legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
"slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
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"content": "Let us not be blinded by the fact that, maybe, there are skewed employment opportunities in Public Service favouring certain regions. That is a fact that we must accept. Mr. D.G. Njoroge had the audacity to question the Kenyatta administration in the infancy of this Republic, and got away with it. He started with integrity. He maintained it through the Nyayo era. Do you think this is the time he can be compromised? Let us not use the privilege of this House, to abuse personalities that have stood the test of time. Those are people who have demonstrated extreme competence. They have given Kenyans so much hope that, even in the midst of scarcity of integrity, we can count one or two! Mr. D.G. Njoroge, in my view, is one them. The other one is Mr. Bethwel Kiplagat. Those are Kenyans we should treat as heroes. Just because I can hoist a flag somewhere, you want to treat me as a hero. We need to define what heroism is all about. Heroism should be the work of such people as the former Controller and Auditor-General, Mr. D.G. Njoroge. From the time of Independence up to the time he retired--- There was a time the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General was split into two. Mr. D.G. Njoroge was denied staff. But he still maintained his integrity and probed 664 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 17, 2007 Government accounts, including pending bills. Not only did he raise those issues, he monitored them. He was always arguing:- \"Why should we have pending bills when they should be the first charge in the following year?\" That was the work of Mr. D.G. Njoroge as the Controller and Auditor-General then. That is the Report of the Controller and Auditor-General that we rely on as PAC. If we do not trust him now, then on what basis are we going to talk about our own recommendations? Mr . Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we need to do some soul-searching, let us do it in this House. Just last week, we had a Motion on the Kilifi Cashewnut Factory (KCF). That is an issue that had come before the Public Investments Committee (PIC). That is an issue where hon. Members from both sides of the political divide were represented. We could not resolve that issue. That was not because of the failure by the Controller and Auditor-General. It was the failure of the Committee to agree on the way forward. We have now come back to this House to form another Select Committee and spend more public money. That is a shame! Let us be serious! If that work came before our Committee - and I speak with a lot of pride and conviction because I served in that Committee--- I did not see anybody compromise that Committee. We acted professionally. We never lacked quorum. We dedicated ourselves to do a good job for the time we served in that Committee so that, when the time comes, Kenyans will count on us and say: \"Yes! We sent the best to Parliament and they did a good job.\" We held a total of 105 sittings. That is not a joke! I have seen hon. Members in other committees waiting for close to two hours, and they never raise a quorum. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Report talks about corruption, particularly in our roads sector. We had an opportunity to visit the Cheptimoi-Cheptiret Road. I will use that road as an example. That is the road from Chepkoilel Campus of Moi University via Siwa, and it goes all the way to the junction of the Kitale-Makutano Road. That is the road that I use while going home. The job that was done on that road was very shoddy, and money was paid. Our professionals at the Ministry of Roads and Public Works - the so-called engineers - who always sign completion certificates even when a road has not been constructed properly--- Money was paid to the contractor, but that road is not passable even now. That is the kind of corruption that we need to bring out in our reports. We expect somebody at the Treasury to tell us what action was taken against those involved, and give us a memorandum of the implementation status of our recommendations. We would have expected the Ministry of Roads and Public Works to have acted and blacklisted such contractors. But what are we witnessing? We are being taken round in a circus. In the last Parliament, when Mr. Nyachae was the Minister for Finance, we still looked into the issue of pending bills. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, still on construction of roads, which relate to the same Ministry, there is an issue of revising contracts against laid down procedures. There is variation of tenders. A tender is varied to the extent that it is double the original price that was tendered. The rules are very clear. If you vary beyond 25 per cent, you should re-tender afresh. The problems we have in this country are not caused by a weak institutional framework. We seem to be concentrating a lot in terms of creating new laws such as the Public Officer Ethics Act and the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act. We have the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) which has not done much. The Director of KACC keeps on telling us that he is looking for small and big \"fish\". I wonder in which river he is looking for those \"fish\". It cannot be in Lake Victoria nor Lake Turkana. It cannot be on the surface. We just need to get down to the work that we have. Whoever varied a tender beyond the legal requirements should go to jail. The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs is here and I am sure she is listening. Let us not play politics with thieves and corrupt people. Let us not try to be nice to each other. April 17, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 665 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us start with our own Continental House. Charity begins at home. Fortunately, PAC has a membership including the Government Chief Whip and the Leader of Official Opposition. Those are people who matter. We toured Continental House and looked at the figures. We summoned the Clerk of the National Assembly in his capacity as the Accounting Officer of Parliament. We went to see if that ventilation system is working. We visited the library and found out that the walls have cracked. We sit here and overpay them and, up to now--- We have our gym which the Press keeps on yapping that it is state-of-the-art. But we are almost suffocating to death. The contractors were paid a long time ago. The equipment that was put there was of low quality and poor specifications. That includes the partitioning of offices. The air conditioner has never worked! We have no moral authority to talk about anybody else if we cannot even correct things within our own institution. That contract was awarded by the Speaker's Panel which does not comprise of the Speaker. It comprises of former Cabinet Ministers. This is what is contained in this Report. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, how many more reports of the PAC and the PIC are we going to deliberate upon before we resolve some issues within our own time? There is need for the Government to put serious efforts into this matter. I have heard my colleague, the hon. Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, somebody I trust and I am convinced can deliver, saying part of the war against corruption would be implementing the recommendations of the PIC and the PAC. I want those recommendations implemented like yesterday. We debated the 1988/1999 Report last year and adopted it, but nothing was implemented. We must implement these recommendations. We are now debating the 1999/2000 Report. We will adopt it. I am sure, the 2000/2001 Report soon will be tabled before this House. I am sure the people who succeed us in these committees will continue making that reference that: \"The Committee further reiterates its earlier recommendation\". I had occasion even to make those recommendations, so I know what I am talking about. At this rate, the future reports of the PAC would read: \"The Committee further reiterates\" and we make them a litany of the preceding year. I will not be out of order if I made a recommendation to this House that we scrap these watchdog committees because they serve no purpose. Mr. Muturi was elected, the other day, as Chairman of the PIC. What for? To do a job. He will finish his term and go. Now, we are in an election year. We are discussing the 1999/2000 Report. Those ones who will come after us again, will do the same. It is like business as usual. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we, as a Committee, took the trouble to look at the pitfalls. How do we make the work of the PAC and the PIC be more productive to serve the very purpose why these committees are part and parcel of parliamentary work? This was one Committee which was there at the very beginning. It is the very essence of parliamentary democracy. We recommended that the membership of this Committee be for two to three years, so that they will be able to track down the issues. This is because there is such high turnover which, unfortunately, may lead to memory lapse. Accounting Officers are very good at taking advantage of such weaknesses. I think the House would be advised to consider some longer tenure for members of these powerful committees. This is the only way of enhancing and making our work more productive. At least, relying more on random access memory rather than the one of the hard disk, which is the book. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we made another recommendation that there was crucial need for Parliament to organise an induction programme. Not only for members of this Committee, which I am happy to report has been implemented, but also for Permanent Secretaries or Accounting Officers, so that they are told exactly what their roles and obligations are when they appear before the PAC. Many times they appear before us, but they do not have an idea of what is expected of them. In the past, we wasted a lot of time because they could not get us proper answers. Some of them were not fully prepared for our deliberations. I think that is not value for the money 666 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 17, 2007 and the time of hon. Members and that of the Accounting Officers. We all know that these are very responsible citizens of this Republic who should really ensure that every minute of their time counts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the PAC and the PIC play a critical role in enhancing accountability in our systems. This Report talks of lack of reports from the local authorities. The essence of the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) was to allow the local authorities to retire bad debts and pay outstanding salaries in a period of five years. Hopefully, by that time, they should be able to be on the right footing. That recommendation was contingent on the fact that the local authorities will be submitting their books of accounts for auditing. The Controller and Auditor-General would confirm to you that her office has hardly audited any of those local authorities. I think it is important that when we, as a Government, have a particular programme of a five year period to inject certain funding to particular local authorities to do so. However, we have now made it like a real sustainable source of livelihood for them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we lament that these parastatals are a drain on the Exchequer. Most of them were actually meant to be able to remit money to the Treasury. They were not meant to be getting money out of Treasury every year. We have made recommendations that those kind of parastatals should be privatised, so that they do not continue being a drain on the Exchequer. Some of these recommendations need to be implemented because it is for our own good. If we do so, we will retain more money in the major budget that we can distribute to line ministries for them to continue rendering services to Kenyans. I do not see the recommendations of the PAC as one-sided because it comprises of Government and Opposition Members. I see it as a product of the whole House. It should never be seen to be a partisan affair. It should be seen as a product of this House for the good of the Government of the Republic. That is why we call everybody, including the offices of the Clerk and Speaker, Treasury and the Leader of Government Business, to ensure that the work of the PAC is taken very seriously. I think those days when there were rumours about corruption in the Committee are long gone. At least, for the time I served as a Committee Member, and as a result of enabling environment created by the NARC administration, we never entertained anybody bribing our Committee. I know that because I do not sleep on my job. I was around the Chairman and many other Members and I did not see anything to that effect. When we throw dirt or mud at each other without really proper information, we lose the very purpose and basis of why we were elected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was pleasantly surprised that in that Committee we acted across the political divide with a lot of maturity. Whether a Member was from the Government or Opposition side, we always acted for what we felt was good for the country, guided by the Report of the Controller and Auditor-General. We did not play favourite. This is what this Parliament ought to be. We should be people of integrity. That is why it hurts me to see what is happening in places like Shimoni and Loitokitok. The Permanent Secretary can confirm that the value for all the buildings in Shimoni Customs could only be Kshs100 million, yet, we paid almost Kshs1.2 billion. We recommended here that, that contractor should never be given a contract. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the Loitokitok Customs, across the Tanzanian border, the Tanzanians have done their bit, including constructing the road. But for us, even the money that we were given by the African Development Bank (ADB) to construct the road disappeared. This happened in Loitokitok which is occupied by peasant pastoralists who should be eking a leaving from the woods. I really pray that the excesses of the past regime do not come to haunt us. I am happy that even when we talk about small problems here and there, to me, they are just a follow-up of the previous regime. But that thing is coming to an end, because where I come from, children were dying at a tender age, before they reached five years. If these resources had been made available to our April 17, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 667 hospitals, the way now we have dispensaries and health centres with medicine throughout the year, then no Kenyan would die. That is why we have these Committees; to ensure that every public money is accounted for, so that, that money can be put to proper use. The Treasury should enhance its accounting procedures, so that we move to the other level of auditing that we found in Canada, for example, when we were visiting. People there do not talk about petty theft. If they have Ksh1, they talk about how they can make it more productive and maybe, multiply it to Kshs5. These are the kind of issues that we should be looking into. That is why they keep referring to us as a Third World. In Kenya, if you go to the store, they would tell you that they bought a biro pen for Kshs100, yet, we know through proper tendering practice that it would cost only Kshs10. These are the kind of issues that we should look into. I am really praying that the Pending Bills Committee will finally bring the work of pending bills to rest. If there is one person in the entire Republic of Kenya who will be able to address that particular assignment, is a man known as D.G. Njoroge. I really plead with the House not to vilify the Kenyans that we trust they can do a good job. If hon. Ethuro can do a good job, let us give him that job. But, of course, you cannot put all the Turkanas in a public office. Even though, I think, if we really want to get rid of tribalism in this country, you need to appoint me as the President of the Republic of Kenya, because I will not have enough people to employ. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support the Motion."
}