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{
    "id": 315084,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/315084/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
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    "content": "Governors in this country, and quite a number of them may become Members of Parliament. If the IEBC would want to be seen to be doing something useful, it should ensure that none of those fellows find their way to the National Assembly or the Senate, or to elective office even at the county-level. If there are sitting Members of Parliament who have indulged in this malpractice, they should also be punished in the coming period by being denied the opportunity to continue representing Kenyans they have exploited in the past. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these people used the absence of law to fleece Kenyans. They used the fact that there was a lacuna in our statutes and, specifically, the fact that the Penal Code does not clearly specify what kind of punishment would be meted out to such people, the offence not having been identified. The fact that some of the people who were involved in pyramid schemes are still within the Executive has continued to frustrate Kenyans. We are now going to have a piece of legislation to address this issue. I want to commend hon. Khalwale because he has made it very clear; that the fact that we are now going to have a law prohibiting pyramid schemes does not, in any way, bar those who were conned in the past from going to court to seek justice and compensation. Now that we have a reformed Judiciary, we are waiting eagerly to see if it will rise to the occasion and cause those who conned others to pay back and be held responsible for the offences they committed. Even though the Penal Code does not specifically talk about pyramid schemes, I believe that this was an economic crime which can be punished through other avenues. The reformed Judiciary should not find it difficult to find its way round the Penal Code and eventually punish those offenders. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me also put on record the fact that many people within Nyandarua County lost their livelihood and pension money. Retired teachers, doctors and others from the Provincial Administration used the money they had been paid as pension to try and invest because they had been told that it would multiply many folds, only for them to end up becoming paupers. They can no longer afford to take their children to school. That is why I am particularly happy with the clause that deals with compensation."
}