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{
    "id": 696826,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/696826/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyongesa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 132,
        "legal_name": "Paul Nyongesa Otuoma",
        "slug": "paul-otuoma"
    },
    "content": "We wonder when we visit these places. If you are investing in some assets, you would say: “I am in a weak financial position but my asset portfolio is strong.” In this case, you have an institution whose asset portfolio is weak and its financial position is also weak. We wonder why we should not hold some individuals culpable or accountable. These institutions were working, had livestock holding grounds and livestock corridors that were being used to bring in livestock. The grounds have disappeared. They were like safety nets during drought. These were very good intentions. If you visit pastoral communities, you will note that their economy has collapsed because of this mismanagement of the KMC. Over-reliance on the Exchequer where you are supposed to contribute money and then get money from it is a state of affair that cannot continue. The other day, some of us had high hope, especially when the Jubilee Government was talking about re-organising State corporations to make them effective and efficient. Unfortunately, four years down the line, we are going to another election yet we have not seen anything tangible in terms of reforms in those institutions. Even basic things like board members are not there. We have some Acting CEOs who have questionable qualifications. If you look at learning institutions, technical institutions and universities which we expect to be the cradle of how things should be done efficiently and how systems should run - because this is where most of us are being trained – you will find that they are failing. We were being trained in these institutions. We do not understand when we hear that the Technical University of Kenya has financial problems and yet universities mushrooming all over are doing very well. Some of the private universities are located on top of bars but they are doing very well. If you look at their financial position, you will find that they are doing very well and yet public institutions like the Technical University of Kenya are insolvent. You wonder why. Is it deliberate? We expect the Vice-Chancellors in those institutions and the lecturers who are teaching us economics and financial management to be the ones providing that kind of knowhow in terms of running those institutions. Again, as you can see in this Report, some of the insolvent institutions are in the sugarcane sector like Nzoia Sugar Company. We visited it and found some machines which were imported have never been operated. Almost 20 to 30 years down the line, those machines are in containers just rotting. Today, we hear some of those machines are being used as spare parts or being sold as scrap metal. This is the case and yet the Kenyan taxpayer is expected to pay. It is a debt to many of those sugarcane companies. The sector is dying because of mismanagement. We are being told we cannot compete within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and yet no action is being taken. That is the most alarming thing."
}