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{
    "id": 608130,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/608130/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
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    "content": "collected from source. Members of the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee are waiting to tell this House how we have stumbled onto shocking statistics. The revenue that used to be collected by the former defunct local authorities that were very inefficient is a thousand times better than what the Governors are collecting today. Nairobi County collects over Kshs18 billion per month at source and nobody talks about it. Instead, we are kept very busy talking about the Kshs11 billion that the national Treasury sends as devolved funds. Unless we address these issues, we will go round in vicious circles and we will never eradicate poverty in this country. Our children will one day ask us “how can we be so poor after all these years of our leaders presiding over the common wealth of this country, which is one of the richest countries in the world? I want to tell you, my colleagues; today, if you just lifted the 49 million Kenyans and exchanged them with the millions of whites who live – for arguments’ sake – in Denmark; and you bring the people of Denmark to Kenya so that they become Kenyans and all of us become Danish citizens; if you go back after 15 years, you will find that the Kenyans who are living in the new Denmark will be receiving donor aid from the Danes who will be living in the new Kenya. Why? It is because we either look the other side, we do not care or we abet corruption. That is the problem! In fact, having been with Sen. Orengo – and he is the one who introduced me to politics; I would never have left my profession of medicine – all these years and having fought for democracy; having come this far, I am starting to think that, maybe, the best President will not necessarily be the one who will be most democratic. The best President might very well be the one who will believe that there will be no corruption. The mama who feeds us in Nairobi has no way of being corrupt; corruption is only at the Office of the President and the other high offices. The problems we are seeing now at the County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC), which I have chaired for five years – and for your information, I am the longest serving Chairperson of the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the history of Kenya – the things I am reading about what is happening in the PAC of the National Assembly, I challenge the leadership of political parties in this country to ensure that men and women of character are taken to watchdog committees. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, so that I do not digress, the farmers who grow potatoes are exploited by blokes called middlemen. It is only the Government that can protect them. Farmers are not supported by their Government. Today, because of the importance of the potato industry, the Government should be having a special research institute that will look for the best seeds; faster growing seeds and seeds that produce bigger potatoes for better weight; but the Government has not done this. The Government should protect the loaders, especially during the wet season. It should protect the farmers so that they can do their work without exposing themselves to diseases like pneumonia and so on, and so forth. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to conclude – I can see that my time is up – by speaking to the important issue raised by the Senator for West Pokot, Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, about this useless Act that was passed without reference to this Senate called the Agricultural Food and Fish Act, The AFFA; it is a terrible Act! It has dissolved all boards to the extent that the only board that was having billions of shillings in its 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."
}