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{
    "id": 556472,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/556472/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mwaita",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 100,
        "legal_name": "Sammy Sila Komen Mwaita",
        "slug": "sammy-mwaita"
    },
    "content": "it. It did not mean that since technology had overtaken the facility, it should be sold for a song. When the facility closed its doors on 4th September, 2013, it was refining crude oil for the Kenyan market. Oil is an important product and it can bring governments down. This is the case and yet we let the institution down. As colleagues have said, there was a share-agreement. This agreement was skewed in favour of this company purportedly registered in Mauritius. It gave some exit clauses allowing them to just get out at will. If you look at the 13 observations that we made in the Committee, you will realise that one which strikes even a layman who must not be a banker or an expert in finance, is when somebody is supposed to pay US $15 million. This amount is reduced to US $11 million and finally to US$2 million. How that money is paid is a mystery. It took two years for the money to move from Essar to the National Treasury. This is the case and yet there was a Chief Executive Officer at that parastatal. Why the money took that long is anybody’s guess. My take is that maybe they were trying to cut deals. Hon. Mwadeghu alluded to the fact that something must have been done. This is because there is no way you can hold a cheque and then one afternoon you say that you would pay though Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS). That is a problem. Secondly, this facility has a huge storage capacity. As my colleagues have said, this country has struck oil in the North Rift. That is in Turkana to be precise. Offshore oil exploration is ongoing in Lamu area and we might strike oil in Lamu. This facility should have been modernised and upgraded as per the original recommendations so that oil which is likely to be explored in Lamu can be processed there. The second modern facility should have been developed in North Rift to take care of the oil struck in Turkana. However, we never did that. Thirdly, this facility has 300 acres of prime land. Fortunately, when the Committee carried out investigations, it found that the land had not been grabbed but it could be grabbed. That is why we have made far and diverse recommendations. We hope that the Committee on Implementation will take up this Report once it is adopted and see to its logical implementation so that we save this facility for the current and future generations. With those few remarks, I support."
}