Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 961736,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/961736/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 576,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": "Looking at the qualifications which are provided by the Committee, I have no doubt that with marketing qualifications in a university in the United States of America (USA), Hon. Ochieng’ Mbeo fits the bill to chair the Board of this important Authority. I must also commend him for being a politician, having been a Member of the Parliament of Kenya and a Member of EALA. This has given him adequate qualifications in terms of people’s skills and interacting with people. I just hope that the skills he has acquired over time will become instrumental in propelling forward this organisation, which I would rather consider backward to one of the premier or most visible organisation in so far as fishing issues are concerned. There are two issues that emerged from the Report. The first one and most fundamental is the issue of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). I must concur with my colleagues who have stated here that KRA is becoming a rogue organisation. It is truly punishing people for their mistakes and for what they ought not to be punished for. It is time for us, as Members of Parliament, to come up with regulations and rules to rein in these kinds of things from KRA. If the Committee was not understanding, sober and equal to the task, they would have declined to recommend approval of Hon. Ochieng’ Mbeo simply because KRA, in its usual confusion and poor record-keeping, indicated that he is not tax compliant. Secondly, the Leadership and Integrity Act and Chapter Six of the Constitution are explicitly clear. If you have an interest in a particular sector, you cannot oversee a Government institution that regulates or offers services in that particular sector. According to the part of the recommendations that we will pass here, and I hope it is clearly captured, he will be required to resign as a Director or Chair of one of those premier fish producing companies so that there is no conflict of interest in his discharge of duties. I would not like to say much but just to mention two or three things. One, fish is extremely important in the lives of people. If you walk around Western Kenya and Nyanza, you will find that Kwashiorkor and stunted growth are not common occurrences like in other parts of the country simply because we eat fish. For your information, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, because I know you are not a fish-eating mammal, the head of a fish has got all the nutrients. If you eat it, you will always score an ‘A’ in Mathematics. As I said, I come from a constituency where over half of the people’s livelihood depends on fishing. In the recent past, we have faced very many challenges while fishing in Lake Victoria and the surrounding areas simply because of environmental issues, climate change and most importantly, the harassment by our neighbours in Uganda. I want to urge my people from Funyula Constituency, as we have always said, that it is now time to think outside the box. We are lucky to be part of the Economic Stimulus Programme. My predecessor, Hon. (Dr.) Paul Otuoma, brought very many fish ponds which are not functional simply because of poor management. In the fullness of time, we will seek various organs of the county as well as the national Government to assist us revive fishponds so that Funyula Constituency remains the leading fish producer in this country as it used in the recent past. The county government brought fish cages in my constituency, but as it is typical with government processes, it was poorly done and the project failed."
}