Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 683569,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/683569/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ichung’wah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1835,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Kimani Ichung'Wah",
        "slug": "anthony-kimani-ichungwah"
    },
    "content": "From the outset, I do not want to run the risk of repeating myself in relation to all that has been said by my very good Chair, but I want to pick from where he has ended his very good submission. The Chair of the PAC had the same concerns on prioritisation of audit reports from both PIC and PAC. This Report was tabled before this House on 4th May, 2016. Today is 17th August. It is almost three-and-a-half months ago. The moment these reports are tabled before the House, they become public documents and anybody can access them from the Table Office or even through the Fourth Estate, who are always within the precincts of Parliament. What that means is that we run a risk. This particular Report is a product of a special investigation. If the HBC has intent to assist this country in the fight against corruption, its Members would have known what things need to be prioritised. For instance, you will see recommendations to the Assets Recovery Unit, which has been urged to move with speed and recover some of the assets that may have been purchased through proceeds of crime from the money that was stolen from YEDF. You can be sure that within the three-and-a-half months that this Report was tabled, since it became a public document, there are transactions that may have taken place to hide many of the assets that have been targeted for recovery. Therefore, it is important that this House supports the fight against corruption not just by word of mouth, but also by action. When we talk about adoption of an audit report, we should move with speed so that by the time a Report is tabled, the HBC expedites its prioritisation so that it is adopted to allow other State agencies to do what they ought to do. That does not exonerate other public institutions charged with investigation of crimes in the fight against corruption like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI), from taking action. As the Chair ably said, throughout our investigations into this matter, there were certain things that were clearly criminal in nature. Somebody needed to sit in Committee Room 7, arrest people and charge them. I remember one particular morning when the former Chairman of the YEDF, Mr. Bruce Odhiambo, blatantly admitted in front of television cameras and everybody present, that he made a unilateral decision to alter board minutes and forge a document, which he sent to the bank to change the YEDF account signatories in order to facilitate the theft of Kshs108 million. Having said that, admitted it under oath and in front of television cameras, I wondered what the DCI has been waiting for. I do not know whether Bruce Odhiambo, Catherine Namuye and the others have been called by the DCI to even record statements leave alone being charged in a court of law. The Chairman commends the President for having acted with speed. I remember we pleaded with the President to relinquish these people of their positions and it took him less than two weeks to fire Mr. Bruce Odhiambo as the Chair of YEDF. If the President is showing by action that he is committed to the fight against corruption, what are institutions like the DCI and EACC waiting for? Why have they not arrested these people and charged them in court? Some of these things do not even need to come to this House for people to take action. There is clearly no intent and goodwill to investigate and make sure that people pay for their crimes. That is why you will find people like Bruce Odhiambo blatantly telling a Committee of this House that he made a unilateral decision. Why? Because he knows he will be taken nowhere. We have done a very good job to give Members the trail of how much money moved from whose account to whose account. As the Chair said and as we have put it in the Report, most of this money was used to purchase properties including apartments in Lavington. Part of"
}