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{
    "id": 416642,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/416642/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 26,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "I would like to congratulate hon. Sakaja, one who I have a lot of respect for, for introducing this Bill to amend the principal act of Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005. Hon. Deputy Speaker, if you look at our Constitution, Article 227 requires that before end of August, 2014, we are supposed to review and repeal the Public Procurement and Disposal Act; even as we wait to carry out that overhaul to that Act. It is important that we take immediate and quick steps to amend the Act to accommodate, not only the youth but even other disadvantage members of the society. If you look at Article 227 (b), which is mentioned in the Bill; the Constitution demands that Parliament should legislate on the protection and advancement of persons and categories of persons or groups previously disadvantaged by unfair competitions or discrimination. That is where we have the youth, women and people living with disabilities. All these three categories need to be included in this Bill, so that we not only protect the youth from unfair competition, but we also protect the other disadvantages groups and sections of members of our society. I am happy that this Bill has mandated or given responsibility to the Cabinet Secretary, that within 90 days after the passage of this Bill, the Cabinet Secretary needs to prescribe preference that shall facilitate the attainment of the quota specified in sub- section (9), which quota we will now add through amendments to include women and the disadvantaged. We expect that these regulations that the Cabinet Secretary is going to come up with, will protect this country from unscrupulous business people who are going to pretend and put forward the youth, yet the real owners of those companies are not the youth in real sense. Hon. Deputy Speaker, even as we think of these amendments and carry them out and approve this Bill, we should also think seriously about the need to review and repeal the Companies Act. I know it is somewhere in our conveyer belt of legislation, but I think it is high time that it is brought to this House. I would urge the Leader of Majority Party to consider bringing the Companies Act. This is because even if you give capacity to the youth, women and the disabled members of our society through this legislation and you do not amend the Companies Act through which they can form companies, then they will still be disadvantaged. So, we need to also review the Companies Act. Hon. Deputy Speaker, my concluding remarks to the Jubilee administration and this is in good faith, I would urge that even as we come up with these procedures, proposals, and legislation to help give capacity to the youth we need to seriously think outside the box and come up with concrete steps that will help reduce unemployment levels in this country. It is something that we cannot continue to ignore. It is a time bomb and it is something that we need to do and do urgently. The bank interest rates are so high and this is discouraging investment. The Eleventh Parliament, this time, must do justice to Kenyans by trying to help the banks to lower interest rates. This is because the banks have refused to do so. You cannot understand and explain why in an environment where we have so many banks, and where you expect competition to be perfect, what we see is a cartel of bank practitioners coming together and not allowing themselves to operate competitively and reduce interest rates. They would rather use the association to form what one would refer to as a monopoly situation. This is something that this House this time--- I know The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}