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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, they were prepared not only to supply and install the system through its sub-contractor, Francois-Charles Obethur Fiduiare of Paris, but they also submitted alongside, a proposal for financing. It is not clear to any of us how this firm, Anglo Leasing and Finance Company Limited provided this information since it seemed completely unsolicited. Mr. Speaker, Sir, secondly, it was not clear to this Committee how Anglo Leasing and Finance Company Limited managed to fit to the button requirements that had been made by the committee that had been set up. I am sure, you have noted that we have moved from the previous restricted tendering process to one single firm giving a quotation. That quotation was also accepted by the Government. This is also the introduction of single-sourcing in Government procurement. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with that introduction, what seems amazing is that to the best of our knowledge, the issues of financial management of Government resources are the preserve of the Ministry of Finance. As such, the Minister for Finance is the only executive Minister that we have in the Kenyan Government. However, for one reason, or another, it now became the preserve of the procuring Ministry to hold discussions with, and I will continue to refer to them, as the so-called financing firms. To us, this was a complete breach of the financial regulations of the Kenyan Government. Towards this end, begins another mystery. A mystery because as we continued to carry out our investigations, we would sit with the group and a number of witnesses from the procuring Ministry and we would be told: \"Well, financial procurement is the preserve of the Ministry of Finance. So, do not ask us any questions on this particular issue. Address these issues to the Ministry of Finance or the Treasury.\" In calling the Treasury, we were told: \"No, that is not the case, the procuring Ministry was responsible and charged with those particular agreements.\" Therein begins the confusion that we saw and continued to see while trying to pin down who was responsible. However, the answers that we got were a ping-pong match between one Ministry and the next. Mr. Speaker, Sir, to make matters even worse, from what we have observed, no contract can be entered into without the consent and approval of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya. We saw these finance agreements pushed, as I said, from one Ministry to another, finally to the Attorney-General's Chambers for comment. It became abundantly clear to us that even basic issues, that even an individual buying a piece of land or procuring any item would take into account, the Government of Kenya did not take into account issues such as trying to identify the person they were paying money. This was never done from the very beginning. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what shocked us was that, even within the Attorney-General's Chambers, we were told that is not the preserve of the Attorney-General, but rather he joined the ping- pong of saying: \"That is the responsibility of the procuring Ministry.\" In short, what am I saying? I am saying, to the amazement of our Committee, that a project that was initially supposed to cost the Kenyan Government, Kshs600 million miraculously developed to be a Kshs2.7 billion project. More interesting is that nobody, despite the amount of April 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 383 money we are talking about, can tell us how that contract was actually signed. According to the evidence given before us, senior politicians and civil servants denied the fact that they had even heard of Anglo Leasing and Finance Company Limited. Many did not even know where the agreements were signed, according to what they told us. We found it incredible that even in talking to the Treasury, we were told that signing a contract involving Kshs2.7 billion is an everyday affair, and that people can just sign it blindly without knowing what has been presented before them. By any standards, Kshs2.7 billion is no small amount of money. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have made a number of recommendations that we hope will strengthen some of these institutions to ensure, and I will get to that later on, that this ping-pong that we saw will never happen again in Kenya. I would like to move on to another area, which, to me, is most important. You will recall that I said that this House, in its wisdom, threw out the first report on the basis of expunging of names. The evidence that we received from Mr. Githongo finally gave this Committee the last leg in our stool that completed the circle; a circle involving businessmen, senior civil servants and politicians in our country, who have all along denied these claims by saying they were not aware. Actually, they knew what was going on. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Mr. Githongo told us that he was appointed in January, 2003 to be the advisor to the President on matters relating to corruption and integrity. He made it very clear to us that the President said that this was an issue that he held in high regard and, as such, he was responsible and answerable directly to His Excellency the President. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the evidence given to us indicates that Mr. John Githongo briefed His Excellency the President regularly on matters related to corruption. Actions taken by His Excellency the President also indicate that he was regularly briefed by Mr. Githongo. We saw some senior civil servants being dismissed by His Excellency the President. We have seen actions taken as a result of information made available to him by Mr. Githongo. This made us believe the authenticity of the other allegations he made against a number of senior politicians. Mr. Githongo was in regular contact on these issues with His Excellency the President. Evidence given to this Committee both orally and via audio tape conversations indicate that there was awareness of this matter in some senior Government circles. This Committee went into great length to ask Mr. Githongo why he took it upon himself to---"
}