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{
    "id": 541822,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/541822/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 94,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ichung’wah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I stand to support this Report. I do not want to say much. I want to point out some few recommendations that we made, especially on matters of legislation that we have to bring to this House particularly on the Public Audit Bill. We need to bring amendments that relate to the audit of state-owned corporations where Government owns less than 50 per cent stake. The Auditor-General is not able to audit quite a number of corporations where the Government owns less than 50 per cent stake. We have cases still pending before this House – like the one of National Bank of Kenya (NBK). Many of those corporations have been very resistant to the Auditor-General auditing their accounts. The Government is losing a lot. A case in point is Telkom Kenya. During our investigations, we realized that to date, Telkom Kenya is not being audited by the Auditor-General despite the Government owning a substantial share of, at least, 30 per cent. As much as they sit in the Board, the 30 per cent shareholding may not give them the powers to appoint an auditor who would be very objective. Therefore, the auditor appointed by the Board of Telkom Kenya Limited, which is largely composed of foreigners, does not take care of the public interest. In matters of public investments and privatization, a lot of public money has been lost over the years. I appreciate what Hon. Maanzo has talking about, even as we prepare to privatize the sugar companies. As a nation, we must be very careful in the manner in which we privatize those companies. If you go through the Report, you will see how our own National Treasury made this country lose the shareholding we held in a very key company. Telkom Kenya Limited is a strategic company that the Government ought to be controlling to be able to rationalize operations within the telecommunications sector. Treasury paid the Board of Telkom Kenya Limited and a company a whopping Kshs2.5 billion. However, out of the failure by our own National Treasury to pay an extra Kshs2.4 billion, the people of Kenya lost 10 per cent shareholding in Telkom Kenya. It beats logic why the Government would pay Kshs2.5 billion to France Telecom, fail to pay a further Kshs2.4 billion, lose 10 per cent shareholding and still let the Kshs2.5 billion go. That is why we are recommending that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) should move with speed and investigate. I must commend the House for the decision that we made yesterday. I want to call upon the President to make sure that a tribunal is appointed to ensure there is a Commission that will expedite many of the cases that are pending. The Commission should make sure that the Kshs2.5 billion that was paid to the French company is recovered by the people of Kenya. The other issue that I want to talk about is this: As you go through the Report, you see a mysterious company called Alcazar. Alcazar was a mysterious company which, even as we sat, the Registrar of Companies or anybody in this Republic would not tell who its shareholders were. This reminded us of the privatization of Safaricom which, incidentally, is also in the telecommunications sector, and a mysterious company called 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."
}