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{
    "id": 928875,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/928875/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Godfrey Osotsi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13172,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Osotsi",
        "slug": "godfrey-osotsi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for this important opportunity to contribute to this important Bill. From the outset, I support this Bill; it is long overdue. I have heard my colleagues who have reservations about it. If this Parliament wants to be remembered as a progressive Parliament, this is one of the Bills that we need to pass. I am saying so because I have heard what other colleagues have said. If we want to deal with the problem of corporate governance in this country, this is a Bill that we must pass. The challenges we are having with most of our organisations, whether private or public organisations, is the issue of corporate governance. Corporate governance is everything. The Institute of Directors of Kenya is not a phenomenon in this country alone, almost all countries in the world have an institute of directors that exists as a non-profit making organisation or a Government sponsored organisation. Several countries in Africa have come up with a national legislation on matters of corporate governance, for example, Mauritius, Malawi and Zimbabwe. As we are talking, Nigeria is also coming up with a legislation on issues of how to regulate directors. So, I am surprised that some of my colleagues here are opposing this wonderful idea of having a Bill that will regulate our directors. In management, we were taught a concept called “Urgency Theory”. It basically defines the relationship between the principles and the agents in an organisation. The principals in a private institution are the shareholders and in a public institution, they are the taxpayers. The agents are employees, suppliers and management. There is always a competing interest between the principals and the agents. Therefore, corporate governance exists to ensure that this relationship is managed in a proper manner, so that the principals benefit from the organisation. We have seen many companies in this country collapse because of lack of proper corporate governance. We have it in our reports; we discuss them all the time. So, this is a Bill that we need to pass. Internationally, the African Union (AU) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) have identified a strong linkage between good corporate governance and economic development. So, by opposing this Bill, we will be going backwards instead of moving forward as a country. As I said, other countries, like South Africa, have a private sector driven corporate governance framework that is recognised by the state. So, this is an opportunity, there could be a 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."
}