{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=148512","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=148510","results":[{"id":1503302,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503302/?format=json","text_counter":542,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Nominated, JP","speaker_title":"Hon. Sabina Chege","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I submit."},{"id":1503303,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503303/?format=json","text_counter":543,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" Hon. Julius Rutto will have five minutes then the Mover will reply."},{"id":1503304,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503304/?format=json","text_counter":544,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kesses, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Rutto","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker for the opportunity you have accorded me. First of all, I want to start by appreciating my brother, the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee of Finance and National Planning. I can confirm that the leadership he demonstrates in the Committee has resulted in the Bill before this House. You will agree with me that it has gone through a rigorous process under his leadership. As I support this Bill, I want to touch on issues affecting Kenyans. This administration believes it is possible to build Kenya using the BETA. The issue of expanding the local contracts from Ksh500 million to Ksh1 billion goes without saying that we have a resilient country. Kenyans are very aggressive but lack opportunities. They have been willing to compete even on projects and contracts that go beyond Ksh1 billion, but since they have not secured them, they have been facing unnecessary competition from foreigners. These are the same foreigners who come in the context of giving us skills, but in real sense they are only coming to make money and go back. They come along with their own technical skills and equipment. Most of them end up executing the projects here and when they go back, they carry everything. They only leave the projects to us which we do not know how to maintain, thereafter. For this particular purpose, we need to support this amendment so that we support our young Kenyans who have been trained. Our institutions produce the best technically skilled people but they have no place to practise their technical skills, to showcase their knowledge, and build capacity. This amendment is able to give us an opportunity to build our capacity and compete nationally. Who knows? In future, we might even compete internationally. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the second issue that I applaud in this amendment is the focus on delayed payments. You will agree with me that what is hurting our nation is the issue of pending bills. If you want to ask yourself the cause of these pending bills, it will all draw back to delayed procurement process, lack of transparency, procurement that is not even in line with the best practices and the budget-making process. Someone thinks of what to procure and proceed without even having committed resources to it, therefore, landing us into the situation we are in. This amendment will sort out the issue of pending bills both in the national Government and the devolved governments. It will facilitate the growth of our economy. We all know that the Government factor plays a critical role in ensuring that our economy grows."},{"id":1503305,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503305/?format=json","text_counter":545,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kesses, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Rutto","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."},{"id":1503306,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503306/?format=json","text_counter":546,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kesses, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Rutto","speaker":null,"content":"We need to understand the formula of a macro economy; that the Government Spending Factor (Factor G) in that particular formula, plays a crucial role in facilitating the movement of funds from the coffers of the national Government, the taxes that the people have paid, and moves to the people of Kenya. The other issue Hon. Temporary Speaker that I would wish to weigh in, is the aspect of introduction of penalties on those who participate in unscrupulous and crude ways of doing work. There are those who participate in the procurement process, including the accounting officer who in this case is a procuring entity. These penalties serve as discipline and I want to believe that going forward, we will have a procurement process that is free from corruption, free from influence, free from influencing an opportunity for people who are aligned in a specific way. All Kenyans will have a transparent manner in which they can participate in procurement processes, and restore confidence in our economy. Hon. Temporary Speaker, time is not on my side but, lastly, I want to appreciate that even as we look at this amendment, there is the aspect of transfer of technology and the aspect of building our economy. We are suffering with the issues of foreign exchange reserves. With this particular amendment, we will enable Kenyans to spend their local currency here as they build our nation as opposed to using foreign money, and in the long-run we end up losing our currency. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."},{"id":1503307,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503307/?format=json","text_counter":547,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Hon. Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" Mover, you do not need to use the 10 minutes to reply. Can you make your reply as brief as possible so that we can move to the next business?"},{"id":1503308,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503308/?format=json","text_counter":548,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Molo, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Kuria Kimani","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. From the outset, I would like to thank all my colleagues who have really enriched the debate on this particular Bill. I would also like to thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for your kind words, and I do not take that for granted. I thank you because you have really enriched this discussion. One of the matters that has been raised is the issue of a foreigner registering a company in Kenya, and whether it would qualify to be a local company. Although the Companies’ Act would require a local sort of sponsor in registration, one of the things that the Committee will be asking this House to approve is the change of the term ‘local contractor’ to ‘citizen contractor’. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the issue of fines is a matter that we would wish to address during the Committee of the whole House. Another question has been raised about whether this Bill provides for due diligence by these officers before an order has been done. One of the matters that I deliberately addressed is specifically provided for in Clause 14, which amends Section 83(2) of the parent Act to now state: “(2) The conduct of due diligence under subsection (1) includes but is not limited to obtaining confidential references from persons with whom the tenderer has had prior engagement, visiting the contractor’s offices, inspecting of the plant, equipment and completed works, in addition to confirming the validity of documents presented.” We recently had the infamous fertiliser scandal. In that particular transaction, the suppliers of the fertiliser were businesspeople, but the fertiliser came from a local manufacturer. If due diligence had been done by an accounting officer to verify whether the supplier had the capacity to supply the fertiliser to the Government, we would have reduced the costs for the procuring entity. That happens many times. Trade is not a problem, but it is very important to give an opportunity to the person who has put in the hard work of setting up a plant to manufacture goods. However, tenders are awarded to those who have political"},{"id":1503309,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503309/?format=json","text_counter":549,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Molo, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Kuria Kimani","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."},{"id":1503310,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503310/?format=json","text_counter":550,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Molo, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Kuria Kimani","speaker":null,"content":"connections. Usually, they take goods from the local contractors and then inflate the prices, thereby disadvantaging the local manufacturers. We have noted down all the views by Members. I urge the House Business Committee (HBC) to prioritise this business so that Members who have amendments can submit them for inclusion during the Committee of the whole House, so that we can have a refined piece of legislation, which will change the way procurement is done in this country. It will also address the matter of budgeted corruption, and help us to create jobs, grow our businesses and our manufacturing industry. We should buy Kenya and build Kenya. With that, I beg to reply."},{"id":1503311,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1503311/?format=json","text_counter":551,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Peter Kaluma","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":1565,"legal_name":"George Peter Opondo Kaluma","slug":"george-peter-opondo-kaluma"},"content":" The putting of the Question on the Bill will be done at a future date for the convenience of the House."}]}