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{
    "id": 862625,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/862625/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": "who willingly offers to provide a service to the people of Kenya through their Government to allow them get paid for what they have worked for. I appreciate the drafters. At least, there has been an attempt to set clarity on the issues that require to be addressed. As my colleagues have stated, there are few observations that I want to go on record. Hopefully, at the time of the Committee of the whole House, we will have an opportunity to make the amendments. One is the issue of an indemnity to the contractor because we believe a typical contractor who is not very well versed with Government procedures and provisions of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act would enter into a contract that turns out to be invalid or illegal unknowingly. Many a times, many contractors have been dragged to court and charged for various offences under the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act by entering into contracts thinking they were valid contracts. Therefore, I would propose a provision that indemnifies the contractors for signing a contract in good faith believing that it complied with all Government regulations, the law and was done according to the procedures provided for by the Government. Secondly, one of the facts that have literally killed local contractors is delayed payment. Many of them have borrowed funds to service or fund those contracts. Some years back, banks like Equity had a facility called LPO Financing where based on an LPO from the Government, they would give any contractor or service provider funds to undertake or to execute the contract. But due to delayed payments by the Government, most banks no longer have that facility. We will propose at the right time an amendment. Among the applied terms of the contract under Clause 12, there must be a clear provision that payment shall be made promptly upon completion of the contract and in the event of late payment, there must be a very clear system of charging interests and penalties for late payment. The third issue that we need to consider is the question of adopting ICT in the process of contracting, payment of security bonds and performance bonds. We would look at a situation in order to avoid the case of delayed payment with very minimal recourse. We look at a situation where we could come up with a fixed deposit account or an escrow account where funds committed for that particular contract are available as long as the contractor has met the obligation. There was talk in the past that when the Government gives you a contract, the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) reserved the funds meant for that contract The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}