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"speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
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"legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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"content": "report, we shall be properly guided and a decision will be made as to whether to support or oppose this Bill. With those remarks, I submit."
},
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"id": 1399553,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
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"content": " Sen. Maanzo, proceed."
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"id": 1399554,
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"type": "speech",
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"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important law. Corruption is the biggest problem in Kenya, in African countries and countries worldwide. This proposed law on conflict of interest safeguards the resources of citizens in the country. Corruption has brought down many countries especially the corruption of officials within Government entities. Conflict of interest may not be properly captured or defined in this Bill. This Bill was in the National Assembly and was forwarded to the Senate. I thank the Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee in the Senate for going further to come up with amendments to make the law stronger as opposed the usual practice of getting laws forwarded from the National Assembly, we rubber stamp and forward to the Executive for assent. In this Bill, there has been an extra effort from the Committee. The Bill defines conflict of interest as- \"a conflict between the public duty and private interests of a public official, in which the public official has private capacity interests that could improperly influence the performance of his official duties and responsibilities.\" One area in which this Bill will be applied is the Judiciary. Many judges have been honest when parties come before them to say that one of the parties to the suit is personally known to them, and they declare their interest. The judge could state that a party was a classmate and give other reasons why they are likely to be biased, and they recuse themselves from presiding over the matter. The file is transferred to another judge who does not know the parties and can adjudicate. However, how often are judges, judicial officers, and officers performing quasi-judicial functions honest? This goes to arbitration and other government organisations. Several Acts of Parliament have been affected by this law and will touch on other laws. There is a phenomenon called conflict of laws. How conflicting is the law? We have the Official Secrets Act. What do you do to a person who has been the Cabinet Secretary for Interior Security and has many secrets about the nation? Quite a number of things are handled secretly for the nation's benefit, especially security information. The generals in the army deal with the external security of the country. What of the people dealing with the country's internal security? People with information which, when leaked, can be used by our enemies to create mayhem or cause harm to the nation. People holding those positions have information with them, which if conflicted can result into a lot of damage to the country. Therefore, the declaration of interest is important. It begins with this House from our Standing Orders and it goes on to other parts of public officers and a lot of it is when the public officer has to gain. Thereafter, it comes to the implementing commission, meaning the Ethics and the Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) established under Section 3 of the EACC Act, 2011."
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"type": "speech",
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"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
"slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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{
"id": 1399556,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, EACC is one of the major institutions and a key element. I am happy with what the Chairperson of EACC did yesterday to release the corruption index in the country; the Ministries, where a lot of money is being lost. Earlier on there were reports that billions of shillings get lost every day through corruption. That means that the people of Kenya are losing a lot of their taxes to individuals' pockets, whereby, instead of the Nation prospering, individuals prosper. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in this regard, this law is very important. As I have said, I like the fact that the Senate, under your leadership in the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC), has taken the matter very seriously. I have consulted some of the stakeholders in this and mainly, one of the major stakeholders is the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and many other organizations and individuals who have an interest in having a better nation. However, how do you deal with corruption and conflict of interest when the EACC is not strengthened enough to deal with corruption in the counties? From the information we have, counties are likely to face extinction and we are here to protect devolution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when you go by the latest judgment, it says that some parts of the Government Proceedings Act are unconstitutional and therefore now anyone can auction Government. This means then counties from the debts they have can be auctioned to the last coin. Therefore, it affects devolution in a certain way. Additionally, some of the counties have been very difficult. Some conflicted officers in the counties have refused intentionally to pay people who have worked for the counties and Government. The Government refuses to pay them for years and you force those people to go on their knees or to close down their businesses and livelihoods. This law will go a long way to make sure that most of these things are taken care of. The most important thing is, if you are found to be conflicted and you are doing business with the Government, or your companies are the ones which are associated with the procurement and are procuring business from Government and you happen to be there as just a broker, then are we giving business to the right people in this country? Is it just cartels or just making sure that certain individuals are the ones who benefit? Even when people go for tendering, the tendering is just a cosmetic affair. Whoever will win the business is known. The same thing applies when we are doing recruitment for prison officers, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) warders and the army. In fact, it is rumoured that it is so difficult for one to be recruited into the army. Although they announce there is no corruption and that qualified individuals will be recruited into the army, you go and participate in the recruitment process, you are very fit and are qualified, you meet the health requirements, but somehow even if you run and become number one, you never end up in the army. Unless some of the retired generals recommend from different regions of the country. It could be good if security scrutiny is done because if there are rogue elements in the army then you have many secrets leaking out. How do we make sure that there is no conflict of interest that certain people were not just marionetting in the whole exercise and make sure everybody is playing as they wish? Additionally, how do you make it equal for every individual, so that a poor person who has no influence through whatever"
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
"slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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{
"id": 1399558,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1399558/?format=api",
"text_counter": 262,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"content": "means, can make it to the army or to all those agencies including the prisons fairly and without paying a bribe through agents who are conflicted? It has become common practise that every Kenyan knows before you are conflicted there must be corruption. Sometimes they use big names that, for example, unless your name comes from State House, an MP, Senator or Governor, you cannot be recruited in the army. Therefore, what is the use of holding a recruitment exercise if all that is a wastage of people’s time and you will finally just recruit as you please? These are some of the things this law wants to check, to provide equity in the country and to make sure that each young person in this country, whether rich or poor, has an equal opportunity as the other. How do we kill this corruption? It is high time we amended the Constitution to bring back the death sentence. For instance, in a jurisdiction like China, if you are found participating in corruption, you are actually causing death of other people and, therefore, you should also be sentenced to death. It will create sufficient fear. If you are stealing from your own country, if you are stealing from the others, if you are disadvantaging others so that they cannot live, then why should you live? It is high time when considering the amendment of the Constitution, we bring back the death sentence and especially in matters related to corruption. Consequently, whoever is convicted and found to have stolen resources from the nation, then we must have a proper recovery mechanism. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, just like the verse in the Proverb says that whoever works hard then leaves wealth for their generation, but whoever steals then loses everything, so that people will stop the practise of shortcuts and stealing. There are people who have worked hard, had savings, paid taxes and when the taxes are put together, they are just stolen by a few individuals from certain regions of the country and the rest of the country continues to be poor. We really want to make sure that this law goes through and the punishments given under Section 43 of the miscellaneous provisions, you find that a person who contravenes any provisions of this Act, for which no penalty is provided, shall upon conviction be liable to - if the person is a natural person, a fine not exceeding Kshs4 million or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or to both. It goes on to state that if the person is a body corporate like a Ministry or State corporation, a fine not exceeding Kshs10 million in addition to the penalty under subsection one, the person shall be liable to a further mandatory fine, if as a result of the conflict that has constituted the offence, the person receives qualifiable benefit or any other person suffered a quantifiable lose, I believe that the most important thing is to recover back what this particular person has stolen. That has not come out fundamentally in this law, although we have laws dealing with recovery and all those things. They have also been choked by corrupt and conflicted practises. In the same breath, Kenyans have found it very difficult to get themselves out of this. We continue to lose as a country. The only way we are going to do affordable housing is to first kill corruption in the country."
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"text_counter": 263,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Maanzo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13589,
"legal_name": "Maanzo Daniel Kitonga",
"slug": "maanzo-daniel-kitonga"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
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{
"id": 1399560,
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"type": "speech",
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"content": "The only way we are going to do our roads networks and have every village tarmacked, is by doing away with the corruption in the Ministry of Roads and Transport. The only way we can make sure we provide every Kenyan with water in their homes and farm for irrigation, is first by dealing with corruption. The moment we do not deal with corruption and conflicted civil servants, it will be a waste of time. If this law is not implemented, it is a waste of time. Kenyans need to go back to history and our morals. Many successful countries survive on morals. Our children should know that it is wrong to encourage corruption, receive or give a bribe. They should know this from primary school, secondary school, university, churches, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and through a culture of a general goodness of a nation, but not the individual benefit. This way, we will begin to build our nation. In my view, that will take a generation or two before we achieve such a country. I support and look forward to the Third Reading, where we can bring in amendments and make the law stronger and strict. That way, we will achieve the purpose it is intended for so that it does not become like Chapter 6 in the Constitution and the Anti-Corruption and Ethics Act, which are just there, with no resources to implement. We have many other laws that we hardly implement for lack of goodwill of the nation. I thank you. I support."
}
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