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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I stand to support this Motion and just recollect that if, today, we are constructing the Thika Superhighway, then today must be the reason when we should decide to construct an infrastructure that will give us an information superhighway. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya is, indeed, a giant in matters of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and, therefore, we would not have to make any extra effort to create the prerequisite manpower that we would need to support this particular initiative because hon. Members will recall that, today, the mobile phone connectivity or users in Kenya are as many as 25 million. With this awareness of the ICT, it is a shame that we have not gone further and given our people an infrastructure of information from which they can operate. That we are such a giant in matters of ICT and we are still disorganized is a shame. We do not even remember that a small third world country like Kenya today is the one on the forefront in terms of being innovative on issues of ICT. You know we are the ones who are the brainchild or, rather, mobile money transfer is a brainchild of a Kenyan innovator. It is a shame that having been the leaders in mobile money transfer, even the little boy – I understand he is a boy from Kisii, I am not too sure and probably the Minister for Information and Communications is aware – who invented M-Pesa is not a celebrated hero in Kenya. I am told that he does not earn any royalties from this kind of innovation. If we were having this kind of infrastructure, then we would have recorded that this young man is actually the owner of this and he would be having the patent and would be earning royalties. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, because Kenyans like football, sometimes I sit before the television and listen to commentators of the English Premier League. You will be amazed at how much information these people have at their fingertips. You will find a commentator, when a goal is scored in the third minute, just on the spot like this, the commentator will tell the viewers that this goal that was scored through a back pass in the third minute was last scored in the 16th Century. You hear this and you really get impressed. Then, they will go further and say that Pele scored very many goals at the age of 21, and that kind of stuff. This is the case and yet when you come here, you will find that we do not even know how many clubs our celebrated Joe Kadenge played for, how many cups he won as a Kenyan player or how many goals he scored. Let us not just talk about sports. Let us talk about the National Assembly. We have a library here which is completely incompetent because you cannot go to that library and have quick access to information like the works of George Anyona, one of the most outstanding debaters in this House. You cannot have quick access to the works of Martin Shikuku, including the contributions made by one Gitobu Imanyara. To my mind, I believe that if we have this kind of instrument, then this invaluable information will be readily available and we will make positive use of it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about security in line with this Motion. If we had this kind of instrument, it would be very easy for you just at a flicker of a button to know the crime patterns in the country; which parts of the country are insecure; which parts of the city are insecure and then you will make an informed decision to visit those parts. This would also help the police to know which areas of our cities require more policemen at any particular time because they would know that if you go to Eastlands, for example, there are more instances of crime there, and they would post more police officers there. They would then say that the police officers who are wasted on the safer sides of the city like the Karen area and so on, for purposes of security, they should be concentrated either in the Central Business District (CBD) or the Eastlands side. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, because I can see that this Motion is capturing a lot of interest, let me conclude with my last point on the fight against corruption. If we want to fight corruption, we must pass this Motion. Hon. Mungatana has earlier on talked about the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). The IFMIS is a move in the right direction. But the IFMIS that we are having at the moment is being rolled out half heartedly. In spite of it having been here for more than five years, we, at the Public Accounts Committee, still hear of situations whereby officers who are supposed to be conversant with IFMIS do not know how to use that system. It is half hearted to the extent that it only captures one side of the accounts. It is important that IFMIS should capture both revenue collection and revenue expenditure for it to be effective. We all know about corruption that has been going on with the donor-funded projects especially the free primary education. It is a shame that because of lack of access to information, the taxpayer is today refunding the World Bank Kshs2.5 billion that was stolen by officers who are alive, some are still in the office and others are half-heartedly being cosmetically put on half salary through interdiction and stuff like that when, in fact, all that was required was this kind of system to track all primary schools, how much money has gone to those primary schools, who is supervising the money, who is the head teacher, who is the Assistant Education Officer (AEO) or the District Education Officer (DEO). We must refuse, as a country that a payment, due to lack of information of Kshs347 million can be made as a refund to the World Bank without even Treasury caring to come to this Parliament and seek approval and, shortly thereafter, another Kshs63.7 million, all in refunds for monies that were embezzled by senior officers who are still in the Ministry. When Parliament raises the red flag, all the Executive does is to shuffle the officers. You will find that the Accounting Officer is moved from this Ministry to another one. We must fight corruption and to do so, we must pass this Motion."
}