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{
    "id": 568510,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/568510/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 155,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "mess with the war against corruption, then it will mess up your job as the Speaker of the National Assembly. It should be a lawyer of integrity or the Chief Justice, somebody who has something to do and has something to lose if they implement a bad policy. Much of the work is done by technical staff. There is this problem of commissions which you are seeing. You have commissioners all over doing tendering and all kinds of things. We are creating a big problem. We are sowing a big seed that we may not be able, as a country, to deal with. I know governors, for example, have taken the cue. In the counties, governors are now the procurement officers. In fact, many counties do not have a procurement office. The governor is the procurement officer. It is because we have had the thing that the person who should be in charge of policy should be the implementer of everything. This is an opportunity, and I want to plead with my brother, hon. Chepkong’a, that we debate this matter soberly because it is an issue for both sides. There is really nothing controversial here. So, let us just do it right. Let me say that I disagree with the so-called prosecutorial powers for the EACC. I know my leader has said that they need to have it. They need not have it, and I am saying that for many reasons. I have been in this Parliament debating this anti-corruption thing for many years and we have always said no. we have said no because there are institutions charged with that. Let us have trust in those institutions. This country has been treated to four days of mayhem where the Executive told sitting legislators to deal with GSU to do the work of the police. You see what they are doing, they are hurting this economy because they were told to ignore the police and deal with the GSU. Why can we not have trust in our own policemen? We must have trust in the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). We must. If there is a problem, this House must legislate on what is to be done. You cannot say that we should look at the work. Hon. Charity Ngilu was charged with obstruction. You take somebody to court for some purported obstruction of people who have committed very heinous crimes against the State. That is work done by the so-called anti-corruption commission, and you want to give them power to prosecute. I have said on this Floor that the work done by this body needs to be cross-checked by a parliamentary committee. They need to report to a parliamentary committee before we change the Constitution. Two, if they get to do it, they must convince Kenyans that the work they are doing is not witch-hunting. Today, I went to the EACC to give them information about corruption. There are officers who are being bribed left, right and centre by the governors. They go there and they are told: “We are Kenyans. Wachana na maneno, here is your millions”. There is no investigation going on yet there is wanton corruption going on. I, therefore, say that because this is a simple law, we must make a recommendation that the current secretariat be vetted afresh or re-employed. Let us begin anew in a discussed manner, so that whoever is working there knows that they are going to work under a Parliament that is serious and willing to protect the taxpayers’ wishes. They must be people of integrity. As it was, you could not tell those commissioners to go home, that is just say, “Matemu and Keino go home”, and then you leave the people they had employed intact. These are their workers. So, you cannot fire them. It is like treating a symptom and leaving the disease. The people there must follow these other commissioners. When we are finished and done with this law, they must go so that we have commissioners, preferably three and not five, to save the taxpayers’ money. That team must be discussed in this House. We know who they are 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."
}