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{
    "id": 950380,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/950380/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 271,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bomet Central, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ronald Tonui",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1242,
        "legal_name": "Ronald Kiprotich Tonui",
        "slug": "ronald-kiprotich-tonui"
    },
    "content": "when we are constructing classrooms… Personally under NG-CDF, the maximum I can allocate for a classroom is Kshs500,000 and it always completes it. This is because I do not do tendering personally. We do tendering in the school and we tell people to count the number of lorries delivering sand, if they are full and all those details. That way, I am able to control the cost to Kshs500,000. When it comes to the county governments, they spend Kshs1.2 million. When it comes to the Ministry of Education, it is a minimum of Kshs1.5 million. We have the Auditor- General who normally audits all those projects. Why does he not give a report that such and such institutions are implementing similar projects at this cost and others are implementing them at other costs so that we can manage issues of corruption at that level? I do not know why, when we follow the tendering process as required, the cost of doing every project escalates. That is because there are too many people in that process. There should be a standardised price per kilometre even for gravelling of roads. That way, we will be able to control the costs. Because we are always talking about the corrupt, the imagined and the truly corrupt, I believe it is unfair to say we allow the courts to freeze the accounts of those who have been accused. This is because people also need to access their resources to defend themselves as they go through the justice system. When you do not have resources, you can never get justice in this country. So, I do not support that idea of freezing the resources of those people. Also, the major contributors of corruption in this country are those who make policies. For example, we discuss the issue of affordable housing casually, but it has vested interests. Of the major problems which our people are facing in this country, affordable housing is not one of them. We need to upgrade our slums. Other Kenyans can simply build their own houses as long as we subsidise the cost of building materials and such. We want to centralise housing and create a fund. Everyone knows that there are vested interests. There are people who want to make huge profits out of it. We are quiet because it may not be politically correct to deal with it. Some of this comes from the policy level. How do we make policies? That also contributes to corruption. There is also a big issue in my constituency in Bomet and other tea-growing areas. There is massive drop in tea prices. The Government should be involved in the auditing of systems at the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) to ensure there is no corruption. Farmers need better service. We can only achieve that if the Government steps in to assist farmers. It should audit the processes in the tea factories. It should check the marketing processes so that we reduce the cost of doing business at KTDA. The Government should also address the issue of variation. I do not know whether the tea brokers in Mombasa are highly partisan. Tea bonuses for farmers in the western side of this country are as low as Kshs11 per kg while those in the eastern regions are as high as Kshs40 per kg. That is a difference of Kshs30. Surely, the marketing process also needs to be addressed so that there is fairness. Even in a factory like the one in Olenguruone, the tea bonus is Kshs18 per kg and yet that region lies in the highest altitude of the country. If the issue of quality of tea is based on altitude, then such a region should attract better prices. I conclude by repeating that I do not support this piece of legislation. The existing pieces of legislation are adequate to address the issues of corruption."
}