Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 862670,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/862670/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 339,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Molo, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13435,
        "legal_name": "Francis Kuria Kimani",
        "slug": "francis-kuria-kimani"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Government Contracts Bill (National Assembly No.18 of 2018). In this financial year, we passed a Kshs3 trillion Budget. Of the Kshs3 trillion, 38.9 per cent was supposed to go to development. This development is what will be anchored in law through the Contracts Bill No.18 of 2018. Earlier today, there was an interesting conversation all over the country about the two-thirds gender Bill. Contracts in this country are also guided by a presidential decree for access to Government procurement. In as much as we are fighting for our women’s space in the political arena, how well are we fighting for them in the economic arena? How well are our youth, women and people with disabilities incorporated in this Bill? I was going through this Bill and there is no mention of such. I expected that the presidential decree would be anchored in this Contracts Bill so that it now becomes a real constitutional requirement that all institutions should give 30 per cent of their contracts to youth, women and people with disabilities. The Kshs1.16 trillion development funds should revolve around our country. The few women who have managed to get contracts with the Government end up being first on the pending bills list. Although our Constitution is clear in the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act that the first charge should be the pending bills, when auditing at the Public Accounts Committee we have seen that this is never followed. There are pending bills since 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Those ministries and Government agencies do not bother to pay. The most affected are the youth, women and people with disabilities. When they supply Government contracts, they do not have that capital or the luxury of waiting for one, two, three or five years before they get paid. Most of the time when they are lucky enough to get those contracts, they get them through financing. This financing is not even long-term. It is short-term financing that attracts very high interest rates. This Bill, for once, settles the issue that has been used as an excuse in delaying payments by the Government. As a Government, we are very quick to take money from the public. If it is taxation, that is Value Added Tax, it is charged at source. When that woman in Molo Town buys sugar, that tax is deducted at source. But when it comes time for that woman to enjoy a service of the Government or payment of goods and services supplied to the Government, that ends up delaying for years and years. This Bill cures such because Government agencies and county governments will only be allowed to procure once they have the cash in the bank accounts just like we do with the NG-CDF funds. Economic crisis in this country has also been caused by our pricing of items. I am happy that this Bill looks at curing this. Any person knows that for you to get rich, you just need to do business with the Government. A pen that is supposed to cost Kshs10 out there, when supplied to the Government it costs 50 times more. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I was with you in the Public Accounts Committee where the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) procured sim cards at 100 times their cost in the market. This Bill will make it impossible. We hope this will lead to more development in our country and more value for money for our people. 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."
}