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{
    "id": 867883,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/867883/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 121,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "This appointment is coming at a time when this country is engaged in a serious fight against corruption. The reason why the President has engaged the Office of the DCI is because there was a feeling that EACC was not doing us justice as per the requirements of Article 252 of the Constitution. This is the body that has a direct mandate in the Constitution to recommend to the DPP the prosecution of any acts of corruption, bribery or economic crimes, or any violation of codes of ethics or other matters that are linked to corruption. This body has been criticised previously. Expect more renewed vigour as we get a new broom to head this institution. We expect, as the Leader of the Majority Party put it, that this fight is devolved. We agree that you can hold to account the national Government institutions, but a lot of resources - especially development resources - have been devolved to the counties. The amount of money that we waste in counties is just too much through corruption. It is something that worries many of us. We do not see as many county officials being taken to court as it should be. This is purely because many officers who are given the responsibilities to go and investigate corruption in the counties get entangled with corruption. They get bribed and they look the other way instead of helping the fight against corruption. Something else that I also wanted to mention is that much as we hail and appreciate this renewed fight against corruption, we should not start celebrating too early. I say so because the DCI needs to be serious. In many institutions, there is a lot of corruption but some of the cases that we see being taken to court, in my view, look like there is not enough evidence to lead to conviction. I am wondering whether we are not being taken for a ride. We are seeing high profile cases being taken to court but the willingness and determination to prosecute them is lacking. Whenever you hear that documents are missing, those documents are the ones that are supposed to be used to prosecute suspects. It is evident that someone is trying to interfere with that evidence. It is my hope that the institutions that we have - DCI, EACC and DPP are going to show serious commitment. Not to hoodwink the country that they are prosecuting high profile cases and then we go to sleep only to realise that those cases do not lead to conviction. We do not expect cases with weak evidence to be taken to court. We want to see clear cases of strong evidence being taken to courts which would lead to prosecution. This is where I disagree with the President when he blames the Judiciary. It is not the Judiciary. It is the evidence that is presented to the court. Mr. President must know that if weak cases are presented to court, the judges have no option but to set those people free. What we expect from DCI and EACC is proper investigations and DPP to institute clearly well documented evidence to lead to convictions. This office has not been a very easy office. I know that with the change in law, now the secretariat is separated from the Commission. Initially, we used to have the head of the institution doing both secretarial and the Commission work. I expect Mr. Twalib to go into this office and make a difference. I want to agree with Hon. Duale that we need constitutional amendment in this. In fact, it was music to my ears when I heard the Leader of the Majority Party today saying that he supports the referendum. Where I disagree with him is to have 47 presidents in this country. He 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."
}