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{
    "id": 726407,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/726407/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 801,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this important Report. Every time people are employed, unless they die while employed, the natural thing that happens is that they have to retire at some point. Every day that passes moves you closer to retirement. I remember when we left the university in the early 1990s, we were in our early 20s and the mid-50s looked like a long time away. We had thoughtful employers with foresight who told us that every day that passes moves you closer to your retirement. The idea of pension funds all over the world is to let people retire in dignity. That dignity is attained through very carefully thought-out investments whose focus has to be the contributors to those pension schemes. The NSSF has been with us for a long time. The conversation that we should be having as a nation today is the success stories as to what extent NSSF has made Kenya and the Kenyan worker to retire in dignity. The stories are not there for many people to see. That happens because of the investment criteria that NSSF has for example, that Tassia scheme, which was developed by private individuals. That happened to be the place where both Hon. Nyamai of Kitui Rural Constituency and I bought our first pieces of property but, this was not within the NSSF property. This was Tassia I which was developed through funds that were raised by the residents who were living there like me. It beats logic that, that land belonged to the NSSF. People went there and acquired the land legally. At what point did NSSF get the authorisation to use pensioners’ money to give services to people who ought not to have been there in the first place? What one would have expected to happen is that the moment the NSSF agreed with those people to buy the land - and from the look of it those people were deceived into believing that they were buying land in an honest and proper way - the money for the development of the infrastructure either ought to have come from a local authority, in this case the Nairobi City Council, or a contribution from those people who were there. But that did not happen. This ought to be a big concern for us. I have said it many times before that the trouble with our country is not the fact that we do not make laws. We have some of the best laws in this country and this part of the world. In terms of the efficiency of making laws, our Parliament is way up there. The bane of our country has always been respect for our laws. This Report clearly identifies cases where people sidestep procedures. We see people sidestepping procedures all the time. But what happens to them? More often than not, they get no more than a tap on the wrist. This has to change. We will be acting in vain if we make laws which people can disregard at will. Clearly, the procurement of this project was done in an unlawful manner. Those responsible are known. As Hon. Oner of Rangwe has just said, at that time, appointments and approvals could not be done by email. This is a new development which came when we passed the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) in the 11th Parliament. At that point, we could not apply laws retrospectively. At the point when that was being done, it was clearly an unlawful act."
}