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{
    "id": 518376,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/518376/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 273,
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    "content": "if a gangster gives Kshs1 million out of Kshs10 million that he stole yesterday, he becomes Bwana Maendeleo . This is the danger we have driven our country into. We have reached a level where harambees have been convulsed, corrupted and it is this that informed the evolution of the CDF. The CDF was brought to the fore because Parliament then, in its wisdom, appreciated that individuals cannot be substitutes of the state for development. There can be small worthy causes like making a collective contribution towards a funeral or a dispossessed family. However, the state cannot stand aside while wananchi go through looting of their hard earned money and people going round to donate it. You have seen leaders whose salaries have been gazetted and are known going round every weekend donating 20 times their salary in harambees. That is why we also institutionalised organs of governance like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). In proper jurisdictions, the moment you appear to live beyond your means, nobody waits for someone to complain. They will come for you and tell you that last weekend, according to their records, you donated Kshs2 million in a certain harambee, another Kshs2 million in harambee “B”, Kshs1 million in harambee “C” and Kshs500,000 in harambee “D”. They will want to know the source of your money because truth be told, harambees feed on corruption. Apart from the ordinary person who denies himself a packet of milk to put Kshs10 in a harambee basket, all these big stomached opulent characters that turn around to donate money are wheeler-dealers and fixers. There are people who are stealing from our economy, raising our inflation and at the end of the day, we call them Bwana Maendeleo . This has to be checked. We now have devolution. The CDF is going through its own challenges. I can see colleagues whom we served with in previous Parliaments; Professor, Lord Jim and the Bull Fighter . Each of these Members, with very paltry figures, an average of Kshs50 million to Kshs70 million carried out development in their constituencies particularly schools and other social amenities like health centres much more than the billions that devolution is doing. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you go to the countryside, I am sure that this applies to all of us; you will find that the largest collection of mail on your desk is about harambees. You will be invited to every conceivable function for harambees. You even sit back and ask yourself where all these billions are going. You will find a county which since Independence had not received Kshs1 billion for the past 50 years and all of a sudden receives Kshs5 billion but cannot even take up bursaries for children. Those bursaries are a joke. You will find a parent with a school going child who requires school fees of about Kshs40,000 but is given Kshs3,000 and that is referred to as bursary. The Kshs3,000 is not even enough to buy the amenities that the child is supposed to go with to school before you pay the fees In the old days, our parents went to school 100 percent paid for by bursaries from the colonial set up. With so little, they were able to do so much. If we institutionalize proper institutions of governance, this country can do away with harambees as an alternative avenue for development. In developed economies and democracies, even in the United States of America (USA), where fundraisings are allowed, they also have a system in the law where, if you give a donation from your income for a good course, you The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}