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{
    "id": 749028,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/749028/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "very poor man, but I cannot imagine how I would go across the counter with an order to withdraw Kshs50 million or Kshs60 million in one transaction and in the same day, come back again and withdraw Kshs120 million in cash! I remember the Committee asking the young lady – Kabura is a young lady compared to anyone in this House – how she carried the money. She said it was easy and she carried it. This was until somebody persisted, asked her how she did it and gave the example that Kshs1 million is about one kilogramme and so, Kshs62 million is about 62 kilogrammes. A bag of cement is 50 kilogrammes. I asked Kabura whether she would be able to carry a bag of cement and she said she could not, but she was able to carry 62 kilogrammes of cash. Whether she carried the cash out or not is another question. There were very many other beneficiaries along the line. The bank that was involved must have been a rogue bank. Since one of the banks we discussed was Family Bank, KTDA Branch, it must have been a rogue branch. I remember my question to the CEO. I told him that if he did not clarify those questions by being loquacious, I would keep asking myself whether that was a rogue branch of Family Bank or it was a rogue bank. I was a bank clerk many years ago. I worked in clearing. In the management of any bank, many of the things you did were brought to the attention of the CEO of the bank, perhaps, within a day. The CEO must have seen it. Why would such things happen? We had the issue of the responsible Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) department turning a blind eye. I remember that when we pressed the Governor of the Bank, he said that, that particular unit did not fully report to the Bank. It was a department that was part of the Police Service in the Anti-Fraud Division. They were clearly complicit. It could not have gone on for so long. We have gone through a terrible drought. Drought will occur in the short-term, whether we like it or not. But the human consequences of drought need not occur as they did. You can forestall some of the financial solutions to the human consequences of drought. We had the resources to do things like that. The amount of money we lost just in that particular scheme could have provided water, housing, livestock feed and even transported people to areas where you can feed them and have their children get access to education. The Government could have saved a lot of money. I was doing a quick arithmetic and if we had that Kshs9 billion plus and we simply gave it as a cash outlet to wananchi to get packets of unga, you would save families for weeks on end. This is one of the lowest points, not in financial governance, but in the evidence of greed that we have shown. No wonder donors are getting very rusty with us. I hope that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will come in. This is not a matter for one side of the House or the other. Hunger is hunger for everybody. Theft is theft for everybody. I hope---"
}