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{
    "id": 742788,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/742788/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this enormous Report by the PIC on the audited statements of State corporations. There are a number of State corporations in the country which hold a big share of wealth. This is especially where land is concerned. Recently, there were allegations of grabbing of land that belongs to Kenya Airports Authority (KAA). In fact, it had been allocated and sold to Kenyans around Mlolongo. It was painful when there was a decision to bring down the properties of innocent Kenyans who had been allocated that land that originally belonged to a State corporation. State corporations have a lot of wealth. Some of them generate wealth, part of which is never accounted for. There is also a lot of stealing in some of the State corporations. The country had recently come up with an idea of reducing the number of State corporations or lumping them together, especially the ones in the State Department of Agriculture. I do not think that has been successful. The more we try to reduce the corporations the more we keep on passing laws forming new ones in the country. It seems it is an area of government we cannot avoid to look at and make sure that it is audited for the benefit of the rest of Kenyans. This Report is quite voluminous. I want to thank the committee for a job well done, especially being a Committee largely composed of Members from the minority side of the House. It is quite an effort. I believe the departments of the House assisted the Members to go through 42 State corporations, some of which, as has been said, were not very cooperative. These corporations include universities which have serious budgets. Ordinarily, the Government is not supposed to trade or make money for the nation, but many times there is that that borders on the same, especially with the Department of Agriculture. What some of the corporations do should be able to generate A-in-A, including universities. It is an area which was re-looked during the last Budget. Many changes were made by the respective ministries. Some of the corporations were not happy with them because they were stringent measures to make sure that the monies with them are utilised properly. Some of them, like the universities, were not happy with the move because their independence was being taken away through a resolution of the House. They tried their best to be assisted with the budgets but it was not possible. This was done so that the corporations could be monitored closely. The move that has been made by the Committee is good so that we can look at the future of Kenya, especially the recommendations on proper use of land, proper protection of public land, public utilities, public investments and the developments on that land, like the rents collected by some corporations which lease out their properties. Some of them own land which has no title deed. The recommendation that the NLC, and the AG move with speed to ensure that titles are secured is very important because it will benefit the country. So, this is a very good report with good recommendations and I believe it will be implemented. Once that is done, Kenyans will operate better and our state corporations will be efficient. More importantly, we will safeguard land which is at a risk of being looted by people The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}