Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 416671,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/416671/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 55,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mbui",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1750,
        "legal_name": "Robert Mbui",
        "slug": "robert-mbui"
    },
    "content": "Thank hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill which seeks to empower the youth of this country. First and foremost, I would like to say that I fully support this initiative by hon. Sakaja to ensure that 30 per cent of procurement revenue in this country is set aside to support the youth. The Government Procurement and Disposal Act had very noble intentions. One of the reasons was that the House was trying to give equal chances to business people. It wanted to create transparency and accountability in the Government process of procuring goods and services and eventual disposal of Government assets. But my observations are that many Kenyans have difficulties to understand the complexities of those laws. Many Kenyans have experienced heartaches and actually shed tears due to losses incurred as a result of these laws. The reasons are that cartels have taken their advantage of understanding these laws and have ensured that they block out other people. When we look at the intentions that we have of ensuring that our youth get opportunities, it is also very important to ensure that those cartels are dismantled because not everyone understands how to get procurement opportunities in this country. I want to give examples of areas where these laws have failed us. If you remember during the campaign period in the last elections, there were promises that were made by the Jubilee administration. In his inaugural speech, His Excellency the President told us that by January this year, Standard One children will go to school with laptops. The reason why that has not happened is because of these laws. We need to find a way to achieve the efficiency of procurement in this country. I want to give another example. We have just received the Auditor-General’s Report on most of our counties, including Embu County, where the Governor had to lose his job. Our county number one where I come from – Machakos County - has issues. The systems are being breached left, right and centre. The procurement laws are actually being abused to encourage loss of public funds. As we support this Bill - and I do support these amendments - it is important to look at other issues that are causing Kenyans to lose money through procurement laws. We should 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."
}