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{
    "id": 950236,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/950236/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13370,
        "legal_name": "Samson Ndindi Nyoro",
        "slug": "samson-ndindi-nyoro"
    },
    "content": "that we have is corruption. I was in a process of giving examples of a few countries that have been able to institute stiffer penalties against corruption and economic crimes and most of them have succeeded. China and South Korea are doing very well in combating corruption. I want to cite something that happened in Singapore in 1984 when the then Minister for Housing was seen to have been corrupted by the contractors who were doing the housing project in Singapore. When this gentleman learnt that the equivalent of EACC of Singapore was looking for him, he started looking for help from the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who advised the gentleman – who was actually his friend – to first of all finish up with their equivalent of EACC and then he could look for him. In a matter of two weeks, the then Minister for Housing in Singapore committed suicide. He left a suicide note stating that he could not face the shame of putting the Government in such kind of a circumstance. In our country, we need to have that kind of spirit where public officers and contractors are, at stage one, ashamed of even engaging in corruption. Penalties are also good so that we have deterrent measures in place for people who might think of profiting from public resources. Corruption is just not about bribes. It comes in many ways. One form of the modern-era corruption is “clientelism” and patronage where people use the positions they hold to advance their personal agenda. If you look at Africa, you will find that there are too many talented and brilliant young people engaging in politics. However, if you visit the Houses in the US, UK and other mature democracies, what you find there are fairly old people because there are alternatives for young people. For example, in the USA, instead of joining… The youth realise that, in terms of self- interest, they can advance their personal lives better either in Wall Street or Silicon Valley where they do not do any patronage. Rather they only need to write on their intelligence, innovation and ingenuity. The reason we see brilliant people in Africa engaging in politics, especially beyond service to humanity, is that they can ride on the patronage that comes with the positions occupied. Therefore, even as we talk about corruption, we have to demystify the fact that it is not purely about bribes. There is also a new era kind of corruption especially embedded on clientelism, patronage and tokenism. There is also a problem, especially in developing economies like Kenya. We have a lot of red tape. There is over-regulation when it comes to the Government. Those layers and layers of bureaucracy only breed corruption. One of the ways for us to holistically address this issue of corruption is by having a lean Government where the ratio of the public budget to the gross domestic product (GDP) should be below 30. When you have a lean Government, most of the economy shifts from being in public or Government hands and goes to the private sector. There is more corruption in the Government than in the private sector. One of the things that I will be seeking to do even beyond this Bill is for us, as a country, to start realising that a lean Government will deliver better services to Kenyans. One way to deal with this matter and menace is to first of all have laws that prohibit the Government from doing business that is not consequential to the Kenyan people. We have seen proliferation in our Government and a burgeoning appetite of the Government wanting to do business in almost all sectors. One area is the banking sector. There are private banks making supernormal profits. If you look again at the banks that are owned by the public or the Government - who are based in a very profitable sector - most of them are making losses. We have to delineate the two. The Government should concentrate on regulation and creating an 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."
}