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{
    "id": 991949,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/991949/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "We have looked at the issues regarding penalties. Some say the penalties are too stiff but we choose to disagree because the penalties we have put in the Bill are sufficient. If you misuse resources meant for cushioning the poor and make false claims to a public or private entity during a pandemic like a bank; if you misappropriate donations of foodstuff as we are seeing and hearing might be happening in certain areas, you get a serious punishment and must be punished. We are saying that this is the time where accountability might be going out of the window, people are saying because of this urgency to procure, the procurement rules are not being followed in county and national Governments, in certain departments. We have made very strong recommendations in our report which we shall move in the afternoon. That is in the fifth progress report; that the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, accounting officers and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to look very keenly at all procurement happening at this time so that people do not just start saying because it is a pandemic, let me buy wheelbarrows or jerricans at a certain price. Let me buy masks at Kshs20,000. The rules must be followed. In this Bill, we are saying if you are caught misappropriating funds, we have put 10 years, pay thrice the value of the goods you have appropriated and a minimum sentence of 10 years. We must stop taking Kenyans for a ride. What kind of a person can take food meant for a hungry person in the slum and decide to sell it? That person deserves to be in jail. If they really wanted food, let us feed them from jail because our prisoners are also being fed. We cannot allow any public officer or private individual to misuse and misappropriate funds during the time of a pandemic. The other proposals we are bringing include the issue of timelines as Sen. Kasanga has said. I am glad when we had a meeting with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure Housing, Urban Development and Public Works, they were very pragmatic. They said it is true; if we cannot give you a new licence during this time and your license just expired before the pandemic or during the pandemic, it should be deemed to continue operating during the time. Since you cannot get the digital driving license because of the thumbprint issue and the proximity issue because they have to take your biometrics, so let it continue operating. Even then, the rules of that specific entity or institution in terms of convening the meeting of the threshold required must be followed. It is the same way in which our Committee is able to meet online, but a quorum of three must still be achieved during that time. The issue of statutory timelines has been covered in the Bill. We will strengthen that. The issue of NSSF and NHIF and some of these payments within Government have been addressed in the Bill. We are open to ideas, amendments, criticism and praise. The ratio, though, should balance towards positive criticism; the constructive. This is because"
}