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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamunyinyi",
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"legal_name": "Athanas Misiko Wafula Wamunyinyi",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I withdraw but they remain so. Now, coming back to the point, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is such an important Committee of this House. As a watchdog Committee of this House, the PAC has had to deal with very serious cases, whose recommendations have been adopted by this House. Over the years, these cases have just \"died\" like that. The implementor of the recommendations of this House has been sleeping on the reports. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, reports have been adopted by this House, having been brought here by the Public Accounts and the Public Investments Committee, but they have not been implemented. If they are not implemented, we will continue to lose. We will continue to see Anglo Leasing and many other scandals coming up. We are going to continue seeing people coming up with many claims and colluding with Government officials and our leaders to steal public funds. Unless these recommendations are implemented seriously, and those who have been found to have looted public funds taken to Kamiti Prison and the money recovered, we will continue to see such cases coming up. An hon. Member talked about zero-tolerance to corruption by the NARC Government. Another hon. Member said that during the reign of the previous regime, kitu kidogo was ten per cent. Now, in the current Government, kitu kidogo has gone up to 45 per cent. The level of tolerance to corruption by the Government is only zero when dealing with other communities, but when it comes to communities from the Mount Kenya region, the level of tolerance to corruption by the Government is between 40 per cent and 45 per cent. Why the double standards? All Kenyans must follow the law. Enforcement of the law must be even. Anybody committing an offence must be dealt with. People from all Kenyan communities must be treated equally. We should not have people who are more equal than others. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say something which relates to my constituency, which is about a public body. I keep talking about it because we have had problems April 12, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 625 in the past. Again, I can foresee problems on the way at Nzoia Sugar Company. As we speak, the efficiency at this company is continuously going down. Production of sugar is continuously going down. The employees of the company are getting frustrated more and more and getting more demoralised. The farmers are also getting more demoralised. Payments are now not forthcoming. Also, there is some alleged corruption within the management of Nzoia Sugar Company. Recently, sugar worth Kshs15 million was taken out of the factory without being paid for. We are talking about ten lorry loads. That consignment was taken away from the factory without payment being made or the people involved being known. The registration numbers of the trucks were given. Some were arrested around Mount Kenya area. I do not know whether it was planned that the sugar was to go that route. One of the lorries transporting the consignment was arrested somewhere in Murang'a District on its way towards the Mount Kenya region. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether this was just part of a deliberate move to kill Nzoia Sugar Company again. It is baffling that sugar of that magnitude can be stolen from a company like Nzoia Sugar Factory, which has a police station within its premises, and where the management stays 24 hours. A cheque for Kshs15 million, which was issued to the company in respect of that consignment, was dishonoured. How do you accept a cheque for Kshs15 million without confirming whether there is money in the bank account and release the goods to someone you have not been dealing with previously? Something must have gone wrong in this case, and the Government must act. If we slip back to where we were, our people will suffer. We are saying all this because of our people. We are concerned that our people will suffer. We are concerned that they will not enjoy life, and that their lives will continue to deteriorate because of problems emanating from bad management. As people representing farmers in this country - all of us from sugar-cane growing areas and others - we complained that we have problems which are of our own making. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Finance have been involved in the sugar importation problems. That is because sugar money is very sweet. Why have they involved themselves in this to the extent that they do not care about the local farmer? They are only concerned with importation of sugar. They are not addressing problems facing farmers. Sugar-cane farmers are experiencing difficulties in getting fertilizers, transporting sugar-cane to factories, paying taxes and cess as well as non-payment for their sugar- cane that has been delivered to factories when the Ministry charged with that responsibility just watches. The Minister is concerned with fighting another Minister in connection with imported sugar. This is something that must be addressed. This is something which is in the public domain. I am not talking about anything new. There was a serious fight between the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Finance over importation of sugar. It is shameful for Members of the same Government, and particularly senior Members of the Cabinet, to be seen by the public fighting. The two Ministers have been seen arguing over the issue simply because there is a lot of \"sweet\" money they want to loot. That is what they were fighting for. Some time back, we pointed out this matter. The Public Investments Committee (PIC) undertook a probe into---"
}