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{
    "id": 696491,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/696491/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Keynan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 41,
        "legal_name": "Adan Wehliye Keynan",
        "slug": "adan-keynan"
    },
    "content": "we have done? Look at the Mumias Sugar Company or the Telkom Kenya, which was once a giant regional telkom facility, it is a shell today. Look at the oil refinery today and the facilities it has. While we are trying to explore the possibilities of having oil in different parts of Kenya, the only oil refinery in East Africa was sold to a cartel. Three years down the line, we were forced to buy it back after they had used it as a deposit site for toxic waste. Look at what has happened to Uchumi. Where is it? Where is Telkom? Where is Nzoia Sugar Factory? Where is Kenya Railways? Very soon, we may be asking about KQ. Kenya Airways was one of the strongest profit-making institutions 10 years ago. Even the Safaricom we are glorifying today is going to be a shell in the next few years if we do not deal with the cartels which are fleecing it right now. Who is protecting them? It is all of us here. Over the years, we have talked about the premier-ness of this country. We have demonstrated that Kenya is a regional hub, an economic hub, a diplomatic hub and a security hub. So what? In 1968, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of South Korea was at par with that of Kenya. The GDP of Indonesia was far down. Actually, Kenya was a donor nation. Today, the GDP of South Korea, without any known natural resource, is 57 times that of Kenya. In 1974, the then newly independent Republic of Botswana sent technocrats to come and learn from the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC). Today, 40 or 50 years down the line, KMC is a shell. The holding grounds all over, including the only one in my constituency, belong to a cartel. Are these cartels not known to individuals and agencies in the Government? The reality today is that we have glorified theft of public resources. If you steal, you are glorified; you are a leader. This is the culture we need to bring to an end. I am not surprised that we are talking about KQ today. There is nothing wrong in engaging in cargo business. Cargo business is just like travel business but, we need to find out whether the process of getting that business was flawed or not. Therefore, I will not be amused. What we need to do as Members is to know this premier nation is being destroyed systematically. I want to appreciate something that the President said recently when he launched his party at Kasarani. How comes, 50 years down the line, Kenya has been reduced to a consumer nation? What happened to our once vibrant industries? These institutions have been raided, looted and taken over by cartels, which are part and parcel of our society. It is high time we named these cartels and deal with these individuals squarely, so that we can rescue the taxpayer. The onus is on us. When the framers of the current Constitution equated our existence and our sovereignty in Article 1 to the mandate of the elected representatives, they were not fools. They knew what they were doing. Can we exercise our mandate? Can we save KQ? Can we save other institutions? Before it is too late also, can we save Safaricom? What the taxpayer is getting from Safaricom is not what we are entitled to as much as I appreciate this."
}