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"speaker_name": "Mr. J. Nyagah",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to second May 31, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1051 this ably presented Motion by my colleague, hon. Dr. Ojiambo. I think she has put a very strong case as to why there is a need for a supplies management practitioners Bill to be passed by this House. She has argued very ably as to why we need to set up a Kenya Institute of Supplies Management, so that we can save this country the headache that we go through. The annual Government Budget on supplies is approximately Kshs150 billion. That is what Kenya spends annually in the Government and parastatals to make purchases. In any country, the government is the single biggest buyer of goods and services from the private sector. It is, therefore, critical that, as the country fights corruption, we set up structures that will ensure that corruption is reduced to a zero level. Over the years, senior civil servants in specific Ministries and departments, such as security and others, have become extremely wealthy. They become wealthy because of loopholes in the procurement rules have existed since Independence. Most big men, be they in the public or private sector, do not want an efficient system to be in place. To give you an example, two years ago, this House passed a Public Procurement and Disposal Bill. We all made a lot of noise about it. We argued as to why we needed to support it. Indeed, because of our support, it passed and it exists in our law books. However, there is a very important link that is missing. Although the law exists in our books, it has never been made operational fully. This Parliament argued that this Act must be managed by professionals. Who are these professionals? They are qualified procurement officers. They are people who are well trained and have qualifications to review tenders and operationalise the Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other day I asked, in this House, the Minister in charge of internal security when the new rules will come into operation to ensure that we do not continue having Anglo Leasing type of situations. The Minister, hon. Michuki said, \"We are following the new regulations.\" What he did not tell this House - and I am now telling this House - is that the new regulations are not in place. They cannot be in place because the professionals who are supposed to make the regulations operational are not employed formally and so are not in practice. That is why I fully support what hon. Dr. Ojiambo is proposing. This Parliament should pass a Supplies Management Practitioners Bill that would create a professional cadre that would manage the affairs of that Bill. It is only then that the Act can be put into practice. That is the only time Kenyans will benefit from the Act that we passed two or three years ago. It is important for all Kenyans and Members of Parliament to understand that. Although the Kenya Institute of Supplies Management (KISM) existed since 1976, it died a natural death because it was not in the interest of senior civil servants and senior politicians to see KISM succeed. To them, it would bring controls on the irregularities that were taking place. I want to thank the 300 professionals or so who have come together to ensure that KISM becomes active. Unfortunately, they are very junior people. If a District Commissioner or a Permanent Secretary wishes to set up a tender committee in order to undertake a tendering process, the tendency is to choose his friends, colleagues, tribesmen and others to be in that committee. These are people he or she can easily influence so that a tender can be made in their favour. The secretary to that board is always a procurement officer. Under normal circumstances, the procurement officer is the most junior officer in that tendering committee and so his opinion is often ignored because he has no status. It is important, therefore, that we give procurement officers the status that they deserve so that we instil professionalism in the management of public procurement and disposal. Permanent Secretaries and Ministers will be very unhappy with this step and that is why I am appealing to the Members of this House to come up in full numbers to support this very important Motion. By doing that, we will be able to grant permission to hon. Dr. Ojiambo to bring a proper Bill to this House that will streamline what we have said. If in matters of procurement, we are still stealing from the Government of Kenya up to 1052 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 31, 2006 Kshs30 billion a year---"
}