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{
    "id": 316627,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/316627/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 358,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what is then amusing is that having made a fundamental Government decision that we were going to go the joint venture route, a Government policy cannot be challenged in an audit. That is within the Public Audit Act. It is very clear that even in doing value for money audit, which the Auditor General is empowered to do, he cannot challenge a Government decision based on cost effectiveness. Once the Government, for example, determines that we are going to buy maize from farmers at Kshs4,000 per bag, it does not matter whether the international maize price is Kshs1,000. You cannot say: “We are making a loss by buying from farmers at Kshs4,000 instead of buying maize internationally at Kshs1,000. When the Government determines that Webuye Paper Mills must be resuscitated, it does not matter that the cost of paper produced at Webuye will be more expensive than the paper produced in India and hence, we are making loses by doing it locally instead of importing. A Government has decided and that was exactly the same decision that was made; that it was strategic important for Kenya, as a pioneer economy within the East African Community, to have a money printing factory within Kenya which could also service the region and our needs. All we needed to do was to determine the mechanism to put in place, to ensure that the Government voice can be captured at the point of determination of the price to be charged to Central Bank. That was within the joint venture framework, where the Government would then have its two directors sitting there. You cannot be cheated on price when you are sitting in the boardroom and determining your own prices. You also share in terms of the cost and profits that come along. Again, I am only emphasizing a matter that has already been emphasized by the Committee itself in accepting the joint venture and the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade that had looked at this matter earlier, the Cabinet in 2007 and 2011. So, the joint venture issue was really not a matter."
}