HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 232898,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/232898/?format=api",
"text_counter": 381,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Omingo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 180,
"legal_name": "James Omingo Magara",
"slug": "omingo-magara"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in fact, that enhances the confusion and mess that we are in. We require divine intervention. If God lives, He must be living in Kenya. This is because we do not adhere to the rule of law nor respect our institutions. Dr. Machage is my neighbour and he knows how the Kurias and Kisiis are suffering. They do not have facilities such as roads, water and so on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a total of Kshs1.1 billion was spent on a custom border post project. It was paid to a contractor and yet, the income per month from the project is Kshs2,500. The contract was awarded to the fourth-lowest bidder and varied by about 43.9 per cent. When we asked why they gave it to the fourth-lowest bidder, the Permanent Secretary said they gave it to him so that he could not vary the initial sum. But contrary to that, there was an upward variation to Kshs43.9 per cent without authority or going through a fresh tender. The procurement rules provides that if we are going for a variation beyond 20 per cent, you must re- tender. However, they did not re-tender and the Government ended up spending Kshs531 million. It is a pity that they are still paying pending bills for a white elephant project, which even if it was bombed today, nobody would feel it. The Committee further noted that more than 50 houses had been constructed and finished, yet, there were about only 27 members of staff on site. Several walls were cracked, which was an indication of poor workmanship. In addition, the wooden structures had been attacked by white ants. Colossal sums of money were spent unsuccessfully to sink three boreholes within an area of 10-metres radius. They were advised to get water from a spring nearby in Loitoktok. But they said: \"No, let us sink a borehole.\" They paid for four different boreholes, sunk in a radius of ten metres. Even if you were an hydrologist who was so naive, you were supposed to move a longer distance from where you were to sink a borehole elsewhere, because the first trial hole failed you. It cannot succeed in a radius of ten metres. That is the agony we are going through. We agreed to change the Government for zero tolerance to corruption. However, the same people we changed are being recycled and they are now ruling us from the background. When the first borehole could not be sunk due to hardrock, no further attempt should have been made within the same region. By the time of the inspection tour, the Government had not put the buildings into any use, because there was no water on site. Similarly, in 1995, the Ministry of Finance contracted M/s Era Care Construction Limited to construct another white elephant project. What a shame! The same people are still controlling Government expenditure from the back door. Some of them are in Government and some in the Official Opposition. Why did we have to change? It pains me! They constructed offices in Shimoni at a sum of £2.3 million. By December, 1998, the project had cost the Government Kshs4.9 million, which was more than double the original contract sum. The same people who are November 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3995 responsible for this are in this House. God help this country! If there is divine intervention and power, we seek it today. It hurts that we are nursing the same people in the same regime. The contractor had not registered with the Value Added Tax (VAT), although, he did so later on. All payments made to him were deemed to include VAT which he was not remitting to the same Government. The same people being crowned today as heroes did this to the Kenyan children. I am sorry if I am hurting anybody, but it is a reality which must be spoken. The same people who did all this are still doing it, a bit more with expertise, because both sides of the House have been muzzled up. We do not know who is supposed to watch who. Some of them are now enjoying blood money. They do not know those who are suffering in hospitals. I have been to an area where a woman was in labour for two days. When somebody says pole sana to me, he should even say, pole to himself, because, indeed, he is feeding on blood money. It is a shame! The Committee made an inspection tour of the project and noted that there was no rump linking the building to the ocean, hence cargo ships could not anchor for loading and unloading. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you are constructing a road from Nairobi to Mombasa and at Mtito-Andei there is a river, yet you do not put a bridge. Have you constructed the road? Yes and no. Now, this means is that they built a fantastic office in Shimoni. However, between the office and the ocean there is supposed to be something similar to a road called a jetty. It should link the house or offices to the ocean. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the house was complete but there was no jetty. They did this project at twice the original cost. There was no bridge linking Nairobi to Mombasa via Mtito-Andei, where there is a river. That is what I mean. When the ship comes, it is supposed to dock somewhere. The officers then go there to inspect it. Unfortunately, they cannot walk on water. There has to be a jetty which was not there."
}