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"id": 227557,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/227557/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Muite",
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"speaker": {
"id": 235,
"legal_name": "Paul Kibugi Muite",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I thank hon. Members who have spoken in support of this Report. The Committee has listened and taken note of the concerns of hon. Members. Most of those concerns are very legitimate. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one thing that has been mentioned repeatedly is the case of Dr. Rotich. When you look at the structure of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and the statute itself, the bodies allowed to nominate nominees to the KACAB are set out in the Act itself. That was in order to ensure that the Executive was not involved in selecting who will sit on the KACAB. That is why members of the KACAB are nominated by institutions which are set out in the Act. When those institutions effect the nominations, those names come to Parliament through the Departmental Committee on Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs, which vets those names. If they are satisfied with the CVs, experience and qualifications, the Committee lays the Report on the Table of the House. Once the Advisory Board is legally constituted, the Act gives the Board the power to recruit the director and the three deputy directors. That is what happened. Hon. Members will recollect that, that is exactly what happened. The names of the director and deputy directors were laid on the Table of this House. We debated and voted for them as a block. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I share the concerns of hon. Members, particularly from the Rift Valley Province, because they were short-changed. They were lobbied to vote for those people as a block, instead of voting for them one by one. The minute this House voted in favour of the appointment of the director and deputy directors, an hon. Member of this House, who is a Minister, went and convinced His Excellency the President not to gazette the name of Dr. Rotich. One of the institutions that is permitted to nominate a member as listed in the Act is the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). A former Chairman of ICPAK, who is also a Minister, was not able to distinguish the fact that, the ICPAK can only nominate a member to the Board. In the recruitment of the director and deputy directors, it is not the Institute that should nominate the deputy director in charge of finance. It is the Advisory Board that should do so. So, Dr. Rotich was recruited by the Advisory Board after it was properly constituted. But the former Chairman of ICPAK went and convinced His Excellency the President not to gazette the name of Dr. Rotich. Why? Because of spurious reasons that, when Dr. Rotich was the Managing Director of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), there were maneno huko ! Some maize had been stolen. That was done while knowing the truth of the matter. There was a time during the days of the former President when maize farmers in this country were not paid for over three years. The former President was against the wall because farmers were demanding to be paid. Therefore, in order to get money to pay the farmers, the Government directed the NCPB to sell the strategic maize reserve in order to realise money to pay the farmers. It is important for hon. Members to bear in mind that history. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Permanent Secretary, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Public Service wrote to Dr. Rotich asking him to sell the strategic reserve, in order to get money to pay the farmers. Dr. Rotich wrote back to the Permanent Secretary, Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Dr. Sally Kosgey, saying: \"We bought this maize from the April 5, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 439 farmers when the prices were up. The world market prices for maize have gone down. If we sell this maize at the current world prices, the NCPB stands to lose nearly Kshs3 billion.\" Dr. Kosgey wrote back to Dr. Rotich and said: \"We were not requesting you to sell. This is a Government decision! This is a directive! Sell the maize and pay the farmers!\" If you were the Managing Director of NCPB in those days, what would you have done? No one has suggested that Dr. Rotich benefited in any manner by selling that maize. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, isitoshe, after the Government refused to gazette the name of Dr. Rotich, it appointed a committee which investigated the alleged wrong-doing. That committee has cleared Dr. Rotich of any wrong-doing. The following question arises: Why has Dr. Rotich not been gazetted as the Deputy Director in charge of Finance after having being cleared? That is why, in the new constitutional dispensation, we are recommending the following: If, whoever will be the president fails to implement a resolution of the National Assembly, that will constitute an act in respect of which the president can be impeached and removed from office. Otherwise, the authority of this House will always be undermined. I would plead with hon. Members, even as we adopt this Report - and I urge hon. Members to adopt it - to also resolve that Dr. Rotich be gazetted forthwith, as the Deputy Director in charge of finance!"
}