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"id": 231915,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 215,
"legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
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"content": "Going through this Report and the one that follows it, because I have also seen it, it is a litany of what Government Accounting Officers have failed to do in applying public resources appropriated to the Ministries under their charge. We have heard the story about the imprudent decision, for instance, by the Customs Department to put up some Customs structure in Shimoni. The revenue accruing from there as the Mover, Mr. Omingo indicated was a paltry Kshs2,500 a month. This is despicable! That is despicable. We cannot spent Kshs500 million - unless figures do not add up properly - to do a facility where we hope to collect revenue of Kshs2,500. There must be something very wrong. This Report is for the activities that took place in the Financial Year 1998/1999. They say that history has a tendency of repeating itself. Those who presided over this plunder of public resources are now comfortably being encouraged to take over the Government or to go to bed with the Government in various mischievous activities, some of which include, but not limited to, acquiring political parties. This Report is about rot in the management of public resources. This is something which is not limited to what is happening in the Ministries. It is there in other public enterprises like parastatals. There is no parastatal which does not have a parent Ministry. Therefore, if we read in the report of the Controller and Auditor-General and, subsequently, in the Report of the Public Accounts Committee, that this Ministry misbehaved or misapplied public resource in this or that manner within a given financial year, or financial years, 4104 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 30, 2006 obviously, we can expect the same rot to extend to other public enterprises or parastatals that fall under those Ministries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one key area that we, as a country, should address is the area of procurement of goods and services in the public sector. A lot of the rot that is captured in this Report, in more than 90 per cent of cases, is through procurement of goods and services. What is the Government response? As we debate this Report, we should be reading concurrently, the Government's response to the issues raised in the previous year's report of the PAC. Unfortunately, that report has never been tabled because the then chairman never tabled it until he became the President, so probably, he cannot table it. But one would have expected other Members of the Committee that he led could have tabled the report and we should have debated it to conclusion by way of adoption. But we do not see any commitment from the Government. Let us face the facts. We have just passed the Insurance (Amendment) Bill. The Minister for Finance and his assistant were both present here in the Chamber. He knew very well that there is going to be debate for the adoption of this Report. If we were to conclude this one now, we would still be calling upon the chairman of the Committee to move the report for the Financial Year 1999/2000. We cannot be discussing issues to do with misuse of public resources as detailed here in the absence of the Ministry of Finance, his assistants or the technocrats from his Ministry. We would like to see them take notes. Their absence, in a great sense, suggests or seeks to confirm that we are a talking shop and that they do not take this matters seriously. Acts of misuse have been enumerated by all Government departments. There are also issues to do with failure to enforce loan repayments by Government Ministries. It is clearly captured on page 42 of the Report and I quote:- \"The unnecessary expenditure in the renovation of Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) by the Ministry of East Africa and Regional Co- operation.\" Of course, it was then headed, by none other than, the man who has been appointed by the Government to be the chairman of KANU, Mr. Kipyator Biwott. It is clearly detailed here. The building was there, but look at the expenditure. The same misuse is captured on page 244 relating to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. I think there is something funny with the gentleman. The Committee did a commendable job to highlight---"
}