HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 253517,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/253517/?format=api",
"text_counter": 189,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwiraria",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 283,
"legal_name": "David Mwiraria",
"slug": "david-mwiraria"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. Let me start off by stating clearly that I support the Motion. I would also like to state that I resigned as the Minister for Finance because of the constant harassment through the Press, and not because I felt I was guilty. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to repeat something I said in this House earlier on, namely, that the Anglo Leasing affair exposure was a blessing in disguise. This is because it, at least, brought to my attention, as the then Minister for Finance, the fact that the system which was being used could be open to abuse. As soon as I noticed that, I took systematic steps to see what could be done to change the whole system. During the sitting of the Committee, I informed it that after coming across the second Anglo Leasing contract, that is, the one on the Forensic Science Laboratories, and finding that a similar system had been used, I ordered the audit by the Controller and Auditor-General of all the 18 projects which we were paying for. I also suspended temporarily payments for this subject pending urgent audit, so that we could save money. As a result of the audit which was carried out, the country saved over Kshs1 billion, which was returned by the companies involved. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other action I took, which I would like to mention here, was to get assistance from the World Bank and the IMF to strengthen the External Debt Section. We invited a team of experts from the two institutions, who came and studied the system we had in place. The team recommended that the Debt Management Office at the Ministry of Finance should be established properly, with three divisions. I believe that the implementation of those recommendations is on-going. At the same time, I called for assistance from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), which provided us with two very senior officials, who had dealt with debt management, to take charge of debt management at the Treasury. The Minister for Finance will confirm that those officers are doing an excellent job at the Treasury. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would, finally, like to thank this House for the assistance it gave me when I was preparing the Public Procurement Bill, which it finally passed. While preparing that Bill, I took into account the need for proper management of purchases of security and defence items. As a result, the present Public Procurement Act, in Section 133, provides as follows: \"For avoidance of doubt, defence and national security organs shall comply with this Act, subject to Sections 2 and 3.\" Section 2 of the Act reads as follows: \"The defence and national security organs shall manage their procurement and disposal on the basis of a dual list covering items subject to open and restricted procurement and disposal methods respectively.\" Section 3 of the Act, which I will not bother to read out, talks about the fact that for the restricted items, which will not be open, the Controller and Auditor-General will have access to them. He will be auditing and presenting his report on the restricted list. I am making these points to indicate that I did everything possible to make sure that nothing was hidden. As the Minister for Finance then, I could have said: \"As far as Anglo Leasing is concerned, let us stop there.\" I did not do so. Instead, I invited audit of all the projects which we were paying for, clearly indicating that I did not mind uncovering whatever was wrong. That is why I fully support this Motion. I would like to say in no uncertain terms that while I was doing other duties, I paid attention to security purchases and did what I thought was best for this country and in very good faith. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the issue under discussion right now, I would like to take a few minutes and explain what happened. I was here last week when Mr. Okemo spoke about the system 490 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 18, 2006 which was in use, and about the role of the Treasury. I do not intend to repeat his words. Let me start off by saying that the NARC Government had made certain promises to the people of Kenya. Things that the NARC administration wanted to do urgently included free primary education, improvement of the security situation in the country, improvement in provision of health services, creating 500,000 jobs annually, et cetera . Two weeks after taking over the leadership of this country, the NARC Government decided to implement the free primary education programme. The Government also decided to improve the security situation in the country. Insecurity was, and still is, a matter of great concern to this nation. So, when we took over and found that there were certain projects in the pipeline, many of which had been assessed by the previous Government and which were, in the view of the new Government, necessary, when they were brought to me, I felt that it was my duty to approve them because we needed additional security. In the case of procurement of the passport kitty, it is true that I got a memorandum from my Permanent Secretary then, which made certain points. I will quote just a few. The first point raised in the memo states as follows:- \"Legal opinion from the AG's Chambers on the suppliers and finance agreements was sought, resulting in recommended revisions that were discussed with the supplier and the necessary revisions have been undertaken.\" Regarding the choice of the company which was to provide the systems, the memo says as follows:- \""
}