Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 74367,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/74367/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 359,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Auditor-General; what issues we can learn as Parliament in terms of what laws we need to pass to seal the loopholes so that horses do not bolt. It is not about bolting the stable doors after the horses have gone; it is about what we could do to ensure that our finances are safe into the future. As we get Members to contribute and as we get the Committee to look at the Reports of 2007/2008 and 2008/2009, I would like to appeal to the PAC and indeed the other Parliamentary committees that we not only look at what has gone wrong, but more importantly what sections of our law we need to amend. We should be daring enough not only to recommend that this law be changed, but to actually sponsor the amendments on the Floor of this House. If there is a conflict, as indeed was raised, between the Central Bank of Kenya Act, the Public Audit Act and the new Constitution, that should be highlighted not just in terms of a report but we should take the earliest opportunity to sponsor an amendment even as we discuss the Finance Bill and any other legislation so that we can harmonise those things and we take them off from being matters that need just to be in the report but can become live on being implemented. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that if Members had more interest, they would be able to get these things out of the way. I commend the PAC for having gone through it and we hope that as we look through the Report and the subsequent ones coming after this, we will be able to pick lessons learnt and use them like we said to give Kenyan people better value for money. I say this because I am very keen, personally, to look at what happened between the year 2006/2007, 2007/2008 when I had the opportunity of being at the Treasury and implementing a number of reforms that were meant to ensure that Kenyans can get value for money including fast tracking issues of IFMIS and the procurement laws that had been finished and were just lying idle. I had to domesticate all that plus so many other things so that this country can get a better financial management oversight. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, just touching a bit again by way of clarification on the issue of public debt, and perhaps the one that sticks out most is the Ken Ren debt, the history of this project goes to over 30 years back. I think the intention was very noble; to create a fertilizer company not just for Kenya but for the region. As you know, we are an agricultural country and our agricultural productivity can only be enhanced if we can have affordable fertilizer rather than the current situation where we have to import all this at prices dictated by worlds out there. I believe the project was then worked out and there were some people who came out and said they could actually do it so long as the Government guaranteed a loan. It is a request that keeps coming to the Treasury and Ministries even up to date. Unfortunately, the guys never delivered but the Government was left with the debt. It is the same thing that happened with the taxis; it is the same thing that happened with molasses plant and it is the same thing that has happened on some other procurement that had been engineered from there. Unfortunately, when the Government signs a sovereign guarantee, whether the person has delivered or not, when it becomes due and payable, the people of Kenya have to pay. So it is an unfortunate situation that because of poor legal representation of the Government, we have been forced into these things. I hope it is something that will be sorted out in the future as we get a new Attorney-General or as we split the roles of Attorney-General and prosecution. The Government can seek better representation on all litigation against it. I am glad the Committee recognizes that there is a Pending Bills Closing Committee which"
}