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{
    "id": 73324,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/73324/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 324,
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have experienced something very negative from the Ministry of Public Works. Every Government department undertaking civil works has to get authorization from the Ministry of Public Works in either buying buildings or undertaking repairs of buildings. Exaggeration of prices is rife at the Ministry of Public Works. Even in the repairs of this very Parliament, the prices for certain items are clearly just like everything else in Government, exaggerated. We need to find a way of reining in this. It is only by tightening the rules so that anybody who occasions loss by exaggerating prices or not getting the best value obtaining in the market is held personally liable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of pending bills has also been a thorn in the flesh. In 2003, the Government appointed an ad hoc Committee, the Pending Bills Closing Committee. That ad hoc committee has lasted nine years and it is threatening to become a permanent committee and I am glad that we have recommended that this committee must wind up by 31st December, 2010. You cannot have an ad hoc committee translating into a permanent body because it becomes also an issue of accountability. The committee is likely to lose its credibility by making itself, a permanent committee. It is time they gave their final report and if a need is felt for having a permanent body, that audits, then that should be brought by statutes but not making an ad hoc body a form of permanent employment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think this Report does bring out something very strongly about the conflicts of interest in the Attorney-General’s Office in handling certain cases. It is the Attorney-General’s Office that advised in the fraudulent Anglo Leasing deals, Goldenberg cases and many others. It is not right that the same office continues to advise on how to get out of those fraudulent deals. I am aware that under the current Constitution, the Director of Public Prosecutions is the sole authority on prosecutions. It is time that the Government moved swiftly to appoint a Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) so that prosecutions are completely divorced from the Attorney-General. That will help to ensure that the handling of these cases arising out of financial scandals, namely, Anglo Leasing, Goldenberg and other related ones like Ken Ren are handled by officers other than those who authorized them in the first place. In the case of the civil cases, we have recommended, and it has already been stated, that the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) takes up the matter. The KACC has legal mandate under the"
}