Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 87798,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/87798/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 207,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Ngilu",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Water and Irrigation",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 111,
        "legal_name": "Charity Kaluki Ngilu",
        "slug": "charity-ngilu"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I will start with the question asked by Dr. Khalwale as to why I did not refer these pending bills to the Pending Bills Closing Down Committee. Actually, what I was looking for was, first and foremost, to settle those bills so that I can get these people doing some work. But much as hon. Mungatana is saying that I am lamenting, it was an eye-opener for me. Sometimes I say, how nice that somebody decided to burn that place because I was already looking for this money from the Treasury to pay. I thought at that time, it was genuine and I did not have at that time a way of investigating these pending bills because they were all saying; these things need to be paid. Until when I got this letter written on somebody’s letterhead and it said; “I did some work and this work has got to be paid Kshs512 million”, I said because I had met the contractors and I had asked them: Please, while we were getting information from our server, can we get whatever you have, LPOs or LSOs so that that can help us, only for somebody to say unfortunately we used to deliver and then get LSOs. I asked them to give me a delivery note and they said: “We never used to do that.” They said they never used to do that. That was before I got to the Ministry. I said, “Thank God that I have got a letter from you saying that you have no documents, because I do not know which court you are going to say we have failed to pay you”. I went back to the Treasury quickly and said: “Do not give us Kshs512 million that is already settled because the person tried to steal”. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that had gone on for a long time in the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation (NWCPC). So, as much you think that I am lamenting, I am trying to put right what went wrong for a long time. Therefore, I did not bring it up because here I had a letter written on these people’s letterhead and settled it. We are not paying that. If there is anything else that will come up with, I can bring it here. You also said we are getting much more than we used to get; yes, we are now getting over Kshs400 million. Obviously, if we get Kshs250 million or sometimes less, it is because there are people who have put illegal connections and vendors who are making people suffer. We are in the process of streamlining this. I cannot say I will do it overnight. I must be helped by the right arms of the Government. As much I am asking when I am taking one of these people to cells, I think that is not my mandate as the Minister. I will report anything that goes on to the right arm of the Government. Once they investigate, they must follow the law. That is how far I can go. For Mr. Konchela, I agree that some of the water companies are not doing so well. However, we have already put a committee to look at the new Constitution and see how we are now going to ensure that our water companies operate. I want to say again that we are streamlining them. They are working with the Water Act (2000). It is not perfect. It has not even been understood very well by all the consumers and companies. We will continue to educate people so that they know what they have to do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Njuguna asked about illegal water connections in Nairobi. I am aware that they are many but we check every day. This is the reason we have not been making as much money as we should. In fact, in some areas, our people are threatened and they cannot go to those places without the police. When they go there, they find people carrying all sorts of weapons. We, however, will continue to ensure there are no illegal connections. It is just like what we used to see with the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) Limited. I do not want to lament; I want to put things right for this Ministry."
}