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{
    "id": 248673,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/248673/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Osundwa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 298,
        "legal_name": "Wycliffe William Osundwa",
        "slug": "wycliffe-osundwa"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill has not been introduced in the House. But I have just seen a draft or something that looks like a Bill. What I am saying is that we should hasten to pass this Motion because is it is straightforward. The Mover has articulated properly why we need that legal framework. It is not anything different from other professions. She, indeed, elaborated on that. The engineers, quantity surveyors and other professionals have their own legal frameworks. The reason why we have rampant corruption in the procurement processes is because we do not have a recognised professional training in that sector. We have had cases where clerks in Government departments have been promoted to become supplies officers. But because of their ignorance, the whole process has been manipulated. That also happens in the private sector. You have heard that the Government spends about Kshs150 billion in a year in procurement, and about May 31, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1053 Kshs30 billion is wasted. That is quite a conservative figure. It is much more than that, given that the private sector also spends as much money as that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when NARC took power, it fired over 34 procurement personnel from various departments. Those people were replaced. But by who? They were replaced by people who did not have any relevant training in procurement procedures. Therefore, there is need to give leave of this House to the Mover to bring this Bill urgently, before we go on the next recess. Today, you can only access proper training in the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supplies in the UK. A lot of Kenyans are going to the UK for this training, draining our much needed foreign exchange. So, if we enact this law, we will have properly constituted institutions in this country to train our local personnel. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to refer you to the recently passed Public Procurement and Disposal Act of 2005. When we passed this Act, we did not specify who is going to procure. I believe this is the loophole that Dr. Ojiambo seeks to block. So, because of that vacuum, Kenya has lost billions of shillings in suspect procurement. Indeed, the reason I am disputing the fact of losing Kshs30 billion per year is because, when you read the reports of the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Investmecnts Committee, there are a litany of corrupt deals mentioned all over. For example, the Eldoret International Airport cost the Government over Kshs4 billion. I am not sure the Kenyan people got value for money in that transaction. Also mentioned in the PAC report is the second hand Presidential Fokker Aircraft. We were told that was the last plane on the line and there are no spare parts. I do not know where they are getting them from today. That is one case where the public lost over Kshs3 billion. The other is the airport radar equipment which was purchased at over Kshs6 billion. I am giving these figures because they exist in our books and they are much more than the Kshs30 billion mentioned by the previous speaker. Other areas are the Puma helicopters purchased by the Department of Defence (DOD) from a company in france, costing Kshs6 billion. You can see that because of lack of trained procurement officers who would resist manouvers by politically connected individuals, we have lost these colossal sums of money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not intend to belabour the points raised by the two previous speakers. I entirely agree with them and I implore the House to quickly pass this Motion so that the mover is given leave to bring a proper Bill in this House. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}