HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 246304,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/246304/?format=api",
"text_counter": 117,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kenneth",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 167,
"legal_name": "Peter Kenneth",
"slug": "peter-kenneth"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not want to respond to the obvious. He is not seated on the Opposition side because Mr. Maore is blind or so to speak. It goes without saying! Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad the Minister did not factor payments to the Anglo 1484 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 21, 2006 Leasing-type of contracts. If he had done that, he would have been massacred here today by the Shadow Minister for Finance. This is because the verification has not been done, yet, he has the courtesy to say it has not been factored because it is not there. He would have wanted to criticise it. I am glad that the Kenya Government has not put in any cent towards those payments. I am glad the Government has not put any cent towards those payments. I think until such a time that those payments are verified, the Minister was right to ensure it is not factored. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have said we want to support privatisation. I heard the Shadow Minister for Finance say that the amount factored in there cannot actually be fetched by this economy. Simple arithmetic. If the Government was to sell another 20 per cent of Ken-Gen at the market price today, it would get Kshs20 billion. Again, it does not require a rocket scientist to do that arithmetic, with the stock exchange which is there. Let me congratulate the Minister for putting Kshs1.5 billion in the 22 ASAL districts for water. Let us look at history of where we are coming from. What did the KANU Government do for ASAL districts? It is important to see how much was put there. Let us not criticise for the sake of it. We need to build this country by appreciating the good and bad things. But even when we get Kshs1.5 billion for ASAL districts, we still complain about it, when three years ago, it was less than Kshs100 million. Are we developing by giving Kshs1.5 billion or by providing what was there, which was Kshs100 million? At the end of the day, what the Kenyan people want to see is the reality in truth. Unless we have that dignity of accepting the truth, then we will not be helping this country as leaders. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to support the Minister for suggesting that this country should go for credit rating by Standard and Poor. I have dealt with Standard and Poor in my previous career as a reinsurer in this country. Any country rated by Standard and Poors gives a motivation to foreign investors. The fact that Standard and Poor will come here means they will address all those areas that were mentioned by the Shadow Finance Minister. They will be able to look at what corruption levels are in this country, as well as the security and infrastructure of this country. Why are we afraid of undergoing such scrutiny, which can only help businessmen in this country? Why should we be afraid of it? Is it because it will give credibility to this Government? Why should we be afraid? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, governance of the Central Bank of Kenya has been an issue. I want to fully support it. In this day and era, corporate governance requires that the chief executive officer (CEO) of a company, including Central Bank of Kenya, is not the chairman of the board of directors. He cannot be the chairman to preside over the things he does on a daily basis. That is not corporate governance. I am sure the Members on the opposite side have all attended corporate governance in some form or another, and they will agree with me that corporate governance requires that the CEO is not the chairman of a company he is presiding over. Even in America where the CEO is called the president of that company, he still has a chairman of his board of directors. The failure of most companies in this country is because we used to have executive chairmen in commercial banks, insurance companies and so on. As we adopted an approach in corporate governance, there was need to separate those two issues. I think this is an important avenue towards development of corporate governance in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said here by the Shadow Minister for Finance on pending bills that have not been provided for. I will be answering a Question in this House on Thursday, asked by hon. Ojode, on the state of pending bills. I am sure the minute I answer that Question, the Shadow Minister for Finance shall regret why he raised that issue here because there is no issue. With those remarks, I beg to support. June 21, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1485"
}