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"id": 253952,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/253952/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
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"speaker": {
"id": 195,
"legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
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"content": "If that is the manner in which investigations are going to be carried out, then I am afraid we cannot expect any kind of fairness to be carried out. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this country needed a proper reconciliation. When we started, we said that we should appoint a truth and reconciliation commission to carry out a comprehensive review of where we have come from and where we are. Some people said that we did not need this because we have not gone through some kind of traumatic situations like in South Africa, and that we could deal with these matters through the normal judicial process. However, we appointed a committee to go around the country and seek the views of Kenyans as to whether we needed a truth and reconciliation commission or not. The committee went around and made a recommendation that we need a truth and reconciliation commission. That recommendation was put in a back burner and even the expenses that had been incurred in setting up that committee and running around the country; for example, going all the way to Mandera, Wajir, Mombasa and Kisumu, were all thrown to the dogs. My view is that, had we travelled that route, we would not be talking about the Ndungu Commission, the Goldenberg Commission and all the other issues that we are talking about. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to advise the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs on the route that she is proposing to take. I know that she is committed to it and she means very well, but very many countries have tried to travel that route without any substantive results, for example, April 6, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 445 Philippines, Nigeria and Peru. Through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission people can own up, ask for forgiveness and reconcile. People shake hands and there is restitution and people return whatever they took away. The Government is going to spend a lot of money in court through a judicial process without much to show for it at the end of it. That is why I am trying to urge this Government to go back to the drawing board and look at other avenues that are available. We would want to say that it is not yet too late for this route to be followed. I would like to support fully the recommendations that have been made in the Report. Hon. Kenyatta spoke passionately and said that the Government should terminate the contracts properly. I am happy to hear that steps are being taken. We need to see them. We should try to recover all the money that had been siphoned out of the country. If there was genuineness, we would be told where the money that has been sent back, has been coming from. Every time that a name is mentioned, money is thrown back. If you ask where the money has come from, you are told that the Government does not know. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this reminds me of an animal called porcupine. When you are chasing a porcupine, it runs and drops spikes on the way. So, you must be very careful when you are chasing a porcupine lest you get pricked by the spikes that it has dropped on the route. This is like a goat thief, who goes to steal where he knows that there are dogs and when a dog comes, he throws meat to it and then he proceeds to steal. Who are these people? We have been told that these people are known. Mr. Melvine Kettering is known. We are told that the former Minister for Finance only instructed a Mr. Oyula to let Mr. Kamani return the money, and that a phone call is all that Mr. Oyula had to do and the money was returned by Mr. Kamani. If there is genuineness, we would like to see tomorrow a comprehensive list of the people who entered into these dubious contracts with the Government. Their addresses and contacts are fake, but I know that the people who signed those contracts with them, who are pretending not to know them, know exactly where they live. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I know, for example, that these people know where the Kamanis are hiding. We are now seeing some advertisements in newspapers saying that certain people are wanted, and yet, when money was wanted, only a phone call was necessary and the money was returned. They know exactly where these people live and where they are hiding. Why is the NARC Government, which swore to have a zero-tolerant administration to corruption, protecting these people? Whom did the money come from, from Switzerland? There is still a disconnect between their pronouncements. They are speaking very sweet words here on the Floor of the House, but there is still no genuine commitment to carry out a radical surgery in order to reduce corruption. Therefore, I would like to urge the Government to take the recommendations of this Report seriously and ensure that all these contracts are fully terminated, and the money returned. More importantly, action should be taken to ensure that there is no recurrence of this kind of phenomena in the future. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am speaking as somebody who leads one of the poorest constituencies in Nairobi. People in Kibera do not even know what they are going to eat tomorrow and yet somebody, just by the stroke of the pen, can sign off billions of shillings of our taxpayers' money. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}