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{
    "id": 977759,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/977759/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kuresoi North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Moses Cheboi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 329,
        "legal_name": "Moses Kipkemboi Cheboi",
        "slug": "moses-cheboi"
    },
    "content": "Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties. There were also concerns by the Committee particularly on issues like HELB being involved in this. When citizens are approached to bring this to the House, some of them continuously pay, for example, the HELB loans, but when they are given appointments, there is a requirement that they should pay off the loan immediately in one go. That was a concern of the Committee that for as long as a person has not defaulted and continues paying, there should be no necessity of them having to pay the entire amount at one go. There was also an issue where at times tax authorities in terms of giving out the tax compliance simply write a letter and says an individual has complied or has not complied. Tax issues are complicated and complex. As you are aware, we have some tax gurus in this House including the Minority Leader. It is extremely difficult to determine whether somebody has complied with tax payment or not. Sometimes you might deny a person employment because of matters tax which are not completely substantiated. These are things that are arguable. Therefore, the Committee looked at it and said that it is a thing that we need to do in future by looking at it properly. Remember also, one nominee that was brought before this House before, the criminal records did not indicate that they could be given a certificate of good conduct, but when they went to court, they brought it and we approved on that basis. These are some of the things that we will probably need to further look into, so that we can ensure that every nominee who is brought before the House is given due fairness. The other thing is the issue of political affiliation. If you have nominees for a ministerial position, some of them will have participated in serious political activities including leading political parties. It becomes difficult for you to deny a person an opportunity just because they have political party affiliation. Maybe what should happen is for us to say that once somebody has been approved, they should not hold those party affiliations. Those are some of the concerns that we looked at. When we went to the real issues of vetting the candidates, we noticed that we need to go further to completely differentiate - for the public to know - between vetting and looking at a person you want to give employment by way of an interview. So, those are the concerns that the Committee had. When we went to the details, there was a lot of interest for both nominees because there are some life issues that, as we speak, are public. For example, the issue of the coronavirus. The nominee for the Ministry of Health was taken to task on the issue of the coronavirus. Are we prepared? Looking at the way things are happening in the world, it is not “if”, but “when” we are likely to be hit by some of these serious issues."
}