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{
    "id": 955357,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/955357/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": ".: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, some of you will shy from the truth. So, the time to refuse to sit in this Committee is now before we pass you. If we agree to pass you and you let us down, we will name and shame you here. That is a promise. We say so because we know on authority that just like some other committees, you will be tempted with money to hide the truth. This is because these contracts have the hand of high authorities in Kenya and people in the Ministry and they are watching us keenly. They will interfere like what they normally do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have three choices as a country with regards to the equipment that is here. One is to buy it. Two, continue leasing it. Three, dispose it. The contradiction about disposing this equipment is because, for example, in Makueni, we have a built a hospital called Makindu Trauma Centre where we have installed it. What are we supposed to do if the Committee or the contractors say that we dispose or buy it, yet the Government has already spent an inordinate sum of money? Will we spend more money? This is a case where we are damned if we do or if we do not. People are talking about people’s lives. I was in a conference in Kisumu and the County Executive Committee Member (CEC) said that the second hospital in Isiolo has never installed any equipment. The Chairman of the Committee on Health is here and he can confirm that in hospitals in Trans Nzoia, one hospital has never installed single equipment and they are paying. It is a shame. This is a country where we make money out of people’s deaths. This is a country where we are waiting to kill human beings. This is a country where we lease equipment which in seven years becomes obsolete. We have hired stretchers, leased gloves, syringes and linen trolleys. This contract was signed by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) but when he was asked, he said he did not know. I feel sad for the Committee. If you are not as sad as I am, do not take up this job because it will be something that you do not want to deal with. It will be difficult and you will need the protection of the Lord. Your conscience will be pricked so many items when you hide the truth and Kenyans lose their lives in Isiolo, Trans Nzoia and other counties where they have not had the benefit of having this equipment. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time in this country, we have violated procurement laws by varying a contract more than a hundred times and nobody seems to bother. If we had powers to prosecute, we will complete this report and jail some people."
}