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{
    "id": 254325,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/254325/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kenyatta",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 168,
        "legal_name": "Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta",
        "slug": "uhuru-kenyatta"
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    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Committee would also like to record its appreciation for the services rendered by the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General and, indeed the procurement of passports issuing equipment which also led to the discovery of other Anglo Leasing related type projects. The Committee would also wish to record its appreciation for the assistance given to it by your office and that of the Clerk of the National Assembly. The procedural advice given by those offices and the facilitation rendered by the staff of the National Assembly and the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General, as well as their devotion to duty have contributed a great deal to the production of this Report. Finally, I would also like to thank the High Commissioner of Kenya and the staff of the High Commission in London for facilitating the sittings of this Committee in London as well as for all other courtesies that were extended to this Committee. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I move this Motion, I would like to briefly touch on a number of issues. As you have reported, not only this House but Kenyans at large have awaited this Report with a lot of eagerness and patience. You have indicated that the debate on such a critical issue April 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 379 should neither be politicised nor be the cause of division in this House. A lot of negative aspersions have been cast on hon. Members of my Committee during the cause of evidence taking. From the very onset, I would like to assure both the Chair and the House that the only concern and interest that our Committee had was to fill its constitutional mandate; that of ensuring that public funds are utilised in the best interest of the taxpayer and the 30 million Kenyans at large. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to give a short historical background. This Committee was informed that in the year 2000, the Immigration Department, which was then under the Office of the Vice-President and Ministry of Home Affairs, realised that its systems were not functioning to expectation. A Special Audit was carried out on this particular issue by the Controller and Auditor- General on 28th April, 2004. A number of very critical issues were raised in that Report. Key amongst those issues that were of concern to the Committee then were the introduction of financing funds into Government procurement, the inflation in price of these contracts, the use of single sourcing as a key component for security related procurement and the circumvention of the budgetary process for security related procurement. This House will recall that the Report, after deliberations in this House, was finally rejected following the expunging of the name of a former Minister for Finance from the Report, thereby eliminating political accountability or culpability in the saga."
}