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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
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"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would, first of all, want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill. I would also like to congratulate the Mover of this Bill for a very well thought-out Bill. In many ways, we need to support the Bill. I stand to support this Bill. I once again want to say that this is yet another jewel from our Lady hon. Members in this House, who have continuously moved good laws in this country that have affected the country in a very positive manner. Hats off to Dr. Ojiambo! Having said that, I would not agree any more than just say that as the previous speaker has already pointed out, we have a very big problem in the supplies and the procurement sectors in the Government, in parastatals and, indeed, in the private sector. Year after year, we have received reports in this House from the various Committees talking about the many millions of public money that we have lost because of poor practices in procurement. How does this happen? This happens because private and Government procurement and supplies officers collude with traders to carry out heinous acts. This is particularly heinous because it involves public money. Why does this happen? It happens because the supplies and procurement officers who are November 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3981 employed in those offices participate, collude and encourage traders to rip-off public funds. We have lost and wasted a lot of public funds. The biggest reason why we are losing a lot of money is because these people who handle supplies are not trained professionals. They do not take oaths to support their profession. They do not have a standing like, for a example, a lawyer, whose name matters in his profession or a doctor who has taken an oath to uphold his profession. There are no ethics or regulations to govern this profession. So, what happens is that when they are called and induced to collude with people who supply goods to public and private bodies, they are more than willing to co-operate. Tenders are given out and standards are set out for them, but because the supplies officers do not have the ethics or even a place where they can be punished in case of bad behaviour in their profession, they disclose particulars of those tenders, doctor the tender documents and misbehave to assist people who do not even deserve to win the tenders. It is common knowledge that as a result of this, money is paid to people who cannot even perform the contracts they are given. We have seen people win tenders and then the same tenders are re-advertised in the newspapers. This is because these people collude with the supplies and procurement officers to doctor the documents. Then the tenders are awarded to people who cannot perform the contracts or who later on disappear. I believe that the time has come for us to regulate the conduct of these officers. We need to introduce professional standards that will guide them. This is why I support this Bill whole heartedly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 5 provides for the establishment of the standards for this profession. This clause defines why we ought to have this particular Bill operationalised. In Clause 35(f), there is again a mention of the standards and conditions of professional practice for persons who are registered or licensed under this Act. My one suggestion would be that in the Bill, certain acts of misconduct must be defined. It must be stated that if you are a supplies officer and you are found to have colluded in doctoring tender documents, for instance, then your certificate should be taken away from you. You should not be legible to be employed again in such capacity. I would implore the Mover of this Motion not to leave these rules to be promulgated by the Minister. I would suggest that in the Bill, clauses be found where particular professional misconducts and the penalties for them are set out. Here, we are dealing with a historical Bill. We are creating this profession just like the legal and the medical professions were created. If the Mover of this Bill can have a look at the Acts which have created other professions, she will find that in the main body, there are certain misconducts which are so grievous, that they are not left to the regulations which are set up by the Minister. In the Bill, the acts of misconduct that have killed even enterprise and have contributed negatively to the growth of our economy must be defined. That is a crucial thing that needs to be taken care of by the Mover of this beautiful law. While that is being done, I want to take issue with Clause 21, which gives us the qualifications for one to be registered as a professional supplies practitioner in Kenya. I would want to see this profession being delinked from the Government, just like other professions which have been set up by other laws. For instance, if you make it a condition that for one to be registered to be an independent practitioner, even after passing all the examinations under the Kenya Institute of Supplies that has been created in this Bill, and having been a person of good conduct, one has to work for the Government as a supplies officer for a period of two years, is not good. What if there are no positions which are created in the Government for two years? Will we say that our youth who have trained in this line and have failed to secure jobs will not be professionals in that area? I hope not. I think we should go the way the lawyers have gone; that, one does not need to have worked for the Attorney-General so as to qualify to have a practising certificate of an advocate. I believe that the same should apply in this case so that we do not tie down someone who has gone to school and all his life has always wanted to be a supplies practitioner. I think this clause can be improved. 3982 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 28, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 4 can also be improved. For instance, the Bill says that the institute will be managed by a council, just like all other professions such as that of engineers and advocates. I will talk more about lawyers because I am in that profession. Once there is a council that is managing a profession, I do not see why members of the profession should be elected and then wait for a Minister to appoint them. That way, you are reducing the independence of that profession in terms of operationalising it and making it a true profession that people can be proud of. I have read this Bill and seen that there is too much pegging of everything to the Government, as if we are not creating an independent profession. I think this is a beautiful Bill that addresses a need that is there in this country, by offering support. It should not only receive by- partisan support but also needs a lot more work to be done on it in terms of creating the profession and making it a truly good profession. As they work on it, they will benefit a lot from other Acts that have established other professions. Otherwise, I believe that this is a good Bill and we should support it on both sides of the House I beg to support."
}