HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 70730,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/70730/?format=api",
"text_counter": 276,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 110,
"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
"slug": "john-mbadi"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Report by the Committee. I want to thank the Committee for doing a good job by highlighting the weaknesses or the deficiencies on the part of the various appointees to the KBC Board. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, KBC, being a parastatal and a corporation that is funded from taxpayers’ money, owes it to Kenyans to perform excellently. But this board has not lived up to its expectations purely because of the negligence on the part of the Minister or failure by the Minister to discharge his duty responsibly. I think now it is not in doubt that the Minister has to appoint a new board to take over from the current one, which is basically, to me, illegal because it does not meet the requirements of the Act. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also urge that the Ministry should act responsibly in this exercise. I want to mention very quickly that because of the failure and incompetence of this board, the KBC has not been making wise decisions or prudent financial decisions. Currently, I would mention that even the digital broadcasting that KBC is pursuing, there is a fear that it was not done competently. How? A Chinese company has been awarded the contract by the board and, purportedly, influenced by the Ministry without following the international tender processes. This is very sad and I would urge the Committee to go even further. I think the Committee owes it to the Kenyan people to go further and investigate more of the activities that are being carried out in the KBC. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also point out that when hon. C. Kilonzo raised the issue of the board, I raised a supplementary question on the actions that the board was just about to take, which are really fundamental, for example, the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the board. I even tabled the advert for the CEO of the Board. If you look at it, it was clearly tailored to an individual. I have never read an advert where you put an upper ceiling for the age limit of the CEO to 45. I asked at that time: “What is the magic about 45 years old, so that the CEO who is applying should not be beyond 45?” Apparently, this was to favor the then acting CEO, who was 44 years old. Further, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the same corporation is asking for higher qualifications from junior staff; it is asking for masters degrees, but when it comes to the CEO, they only ask for a single degree. That was purposely to protect the then acting MD, who had one degree. They even went further and asked for three years working experience in broadcasting. The acting CEO then had exactly three years, having joined the corporation in 2007. Looking at this, the board was deliberately tailoring their advert to a single individual which, to me, does not amount to competitive recruitment. Even after raising this on the Floor of the House, the Minister still went ahead and"
}