{"id":713415,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/713415/?format=json","text_counter":397,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Wetangula","speaker_title":"The Senate Minority Leader","speaker":{"id":210,"legal_name":"Moses Masika Wetangula","slug":"moses-wetangula"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Bill then says:- “The Principal Secretary responsible for matters relating to petroleum and natural gas or a representative designed in writing.” Again, the Principal Secretary responsible for petroleum and natural gas should not sit on this committee, because this is a professional outfit that advises the executive. The executive cannot advise itself. The tycoons in this country are all the Ministers and Permanent Secretaries at Independence. So, we are just creating an ‘eating’ House. All these fellows we are listing will abandon their jobs and concentrate on local content, because they are the local content. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in fact, it has loaded many people, including the Principal Secretary in charge of petroleum and natural gas, the Principal Secretary responsible for matters relating to finance or a representative designated in writing, the Principal Secretary responsible for matters relating to industry and enterprise development. All those people have no business in this committee. This is like an ombudsman; it will check on the conduct of public officers. It will check whether public officers are using their offices for self-gain or to serve the public. Therefore, this corporation - if Sen. Moi will agree to change it - must have independent people. We can have nominating entities like the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) and other bodies. I agree with Clause 10 (1) (e) which talks about the chairperson of the Council of Governors, only to the extent that the Council of Governors is represented. We should have a nominee of the Council of Governors, but vetted and approved by Parliament. The nominee will then sit in the committee. What we are doing is that every chairperson of the Council of Governors will have a stake in any enterprise that emerges at his or her tenure. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have seen somewhere the Bill says that this committee serves for four years. Under the law, the chairperson of the Council of Governors serves for a maximum of two years. It, therefore, means that when the chairperson of the Council of Governors leaves, another one will take over and so on. We will lose continuity. The Council of Governors, as a custodian of the interests of Kenyans in the counties, should sit and nominate two or three persons. In my opinion, the Principal Secretaries should exit and allow for this. We will then vet, with gender parity, and put them in the committee to protect the interests of resources based in counties. We should avoid a situation where people sitting in Nairobi revoke titles in Lamu and allocate themselves the same land, redraw old blocks or allocate themselves forests and sell the land. We must move away from this, because this committee is purely and simply a public watchdog. 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"}