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"speaker_name": "Mr. M. Kilonzo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are terms and conditions of service of the KACC. Is the money that its officers earn unwarranted, and what the institution is given of no value to this country? The time to look at this issue is now. Coming with these piecemeal amendments to the Act, will not solve the problem of corruption in this country. My recommendation is that this Act be brought to this House and looked at again, so that we remove the retroactivity that was put to it. We should also look at the repeal that we made of the Prevention of Corruption Act, because I can understand what the Government is facing. Government officers are required to prosecute their own friends and operatives, when those people who were in the previous regimes have been left to go. This is because of the repeal of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The time to look at this law is now, and I believe that I am entitled to raise these issues for consideration because the law is being amended in a very summarised manner, without giving the House an opportunity to look into the legal theory of the Act, itself. The Attorney-General is suggesting that the wealth declaration forms be published every two years. That means that when we form a Government, we will only be required to file them twice. During the first year, we can acquire wealth illegally, and during the second year, we dispose of it. When it is time to file the forms, we can claim to be still as bankrupt as we were when we formed the Government, when we know very well that we have sold our properties. We cannot allow that kind of thing. We must be consistent. If we want the public to have access to the wealth declaration forms, then it should be done each year. I do not know what has happened to the Government since it came to power. The Government said that it would have zero tolerance on corruption. It now seems as if the \"zero\" was misplaced and there is now 100 per cent tolerance on corruption. I would like to talk about amendments to the Penal Code. The Attorney-General is suggesting to this House that offences under the Corruption Act are not in tandem with the crimes described in the Penal Code. A country which is committed to fighting corruption would do this; they would repeal sections that appear in the Penal Code and put in sufficient mechanisms under the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act. They would not subject the anti-corruption law, which is recent, to an old law that was passed in the 1940s. I think that the proposals under the Penal Code are ill-advised. They are not intended to help this country to realise the objectives that it wants. We want an anti-corruption law that is not subjected to any other law. We want it to be a complete regime, so that we can refer to it with confidence. We want a law that is not answerable to other legislations. We do not want a magistrate to offer excuses when he or she cannot convict. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, will you allow me now to talk about some of the limitations of this Act? I agree with the amendments that the Attorney-General is proposing. If you damage public property, steal public property, undermine or compromise public property, you should not turn around and say that the case is time-barred. That is because the public is perpetual and eternal. Therefore, for that purpose, I support that particular proposed amendment. I also support the Public Trustee amendment to increase the levels and financial threshold. However, may I say that the most abused institution in the Attorney-General's Office, apart from the Companies Office - thanks to the Artur brothers - is the Public Trustee Department. They never worry about widows or orphans. It takes up to three years, if not longer, for them to pay. By the time the widows 2280 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 20, 2006 and orphans find access to the wealth that the parent left behind, the whole thing is completely wasted. That is because of the bureaucracy. May I plead with the Attorney-General that it is not enough to increase the threshold, unless you bring to this House mechanisms and modalities for ensuring that the adminstration of estates under the Public Trustee Act is done in a speedy manner, in order to save the widows and orphans as the Bible commands us to do. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I conclude by referring to the Constitutional Officers Remuneration Act, with regard to the Finance Bill. You remember that, in addition to the section that I have just read to you, the Minister for Finance has, yet again, proposed to start taxing constitutional officers. I want to say again, without fear of contradiction, that the constitutional officers, excluding judges, are less than eight. In fact, I think they are only about five. We have the Attorney-General, the Controller and Auditor-General and so on. The amount of taxes they are going to derive from those people is negligible, and yet that proposal destroys the principle of independence. I want to reserve the right to differ with the Attorney-General! But I also want him to know that I will not use the Government mechanism to start undermining his allowances, so that I can twist his hand, threaten and intimidate him to take my line of thinking. We have been told by the Minister for Finance that he is also thinking of reining in other institutions like the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and so on. Perish the thought! We cannot afford to take back the train of liberalisation and, particularly, democratisation in this country. The only way to do so is for the President, by the time he appoints constitutional officers like the Attorney-General and Chief Justice, to know that after he appoints them, he must take a step back. He will not use his Minister to intimidate those people. Therefore, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for that reason, until I know that the amendments I have proposed will be included in the Bill, I beg to oppose."
}