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{
    "id": 556367,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/556367/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 118,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "We also recommend that the Privatisation Act be amended to ensure that the Government does not privatise or diverge from any strategic investment or parastatal without undertaking due diligence. This issue has happened. Those of you who watched television yesterday saw what has happened to Uchumi Supermarkets. Some few years back, Uchumi Supermarkets were one of the best not only in Kenya but in the entire region. The statement by the Board of Directors yesterday only confirms that Uchumi is ailing. It is ailing not because of what happened yesterday but because of the way its privatisation was undertaken. Currently, all of us are worried about the fate of the pride of Africa, Kenya Airways. Ten years down the line, Kenya Airways is today at the mercy of creditors as a result of a poorly managed and a poorly structured privatisation mechanism. Once upon a time, we used to have a giant telecommunication company called Telkom Kenya, which was an offshoot of the old Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC). Today, I am told the workers have not been paid for the last few months. I am told that once upon a time that was the richest organisation. To date the Government of Kenya does not have the audacity to ask for the asset registry of that key organisation. I am just highlighting. The other day we were told that the Kenya Wine Agencies was just handed over to an individual through blackmail. Very soon, we will give you a report. Today, the Kenya Wine Agencies is in the hands of few wine speculators who have the resources all over. The taxpayers have lost everything. Is this the trend we want to see in this era? Is this the trend we want to see where every privatisation undertaken in the Republic of Kenya must fail at a certain time? These are the challenges we must address and this is why we are saying that the Government of Kenya or we as Parliamentarians must undertake this. I undertake that I will propose a raft of amendments on the Privatisation Act so that we can bring it in line with the current constitutional mechanism. The one we have was tailor-made, prepared and enacted with some of these issues in mind. I will not be surprised. The other day before we submitted the Report on Telkom, we asked whether the Privatisation Commission of Kenya was involved. We were told: “No”. I can also confirm to you that even as late as 2009, the Privatisation Commission of Kenya was not involved in this particular transaction. Then why do we have such an entity in books? Why do you burden the taxpayers in supporting an organisation whose function we do not want to support? Why would we have a Privatisation Commission of Kenya that is toothless and just on paper? This is the reality. The reason why some of the wheeler dealers do not want the involvement of the Privatisation Commission of Kenya in some of these critical decisions is because it will interrogate and question the process. This has not happened. Therefore, we have a toothless entity called the Privatisation Commission of Kenya. Therefore, what I will do as a representative of the people of Eldas Constituency is to bring a raft of amendments on the Privatisation Act to ensure that it is in line with the current Constitution."
}