Abshiro Soka Halake

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 21 to 30 of 1750.

• 17 May 2022 in Senate: nothing has been done. Can we be told what happened? Should we give up and continue to bury our dead or is this House going to do something? Madam Temporary Speaker, I hope you will do something. view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Amendment Bill 2021. As I have become accustomed to, whenever I look at Bills emanating from the National Assembly, I look at three things. First, is the prosecution of devolved units. As much as this Bill has a lot of good things, I am worried that we have an opportunity to strengthen devolution through procurement which we are missing. Most of the amendments proposed are good; from the definitions that have been strengthened to ensure that inclusivity has been introduced. When I look at it from my ... view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: amendments to ensure that this lens of the devolved units and procurement is strengthened so that this opportunity of this legal reform is not lost by this House and this Bill is passed as is, missing that opportunity. Issues around absorption, lengthy procurement processes, borrowing, some counties are borrowing to cover shortfalls. What is creating the waste is the lack of below optimal capacity at the same time the legal battles of procurement processes that is happening, that has been dealt with a little bit. I am happy about that because the frivolous people running to the courts have been ... view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: I would also like to address the link between this Bill and revenue allocation. This House always fights for revenue allocation to counties. The big chunk of revenue ideally goes to some of these projects. Are we making the link and ensuring that the procurement processes look and have a direct line of sight to the revenue we fight for and take to counties? There are issues around the time, the skill and manpower and capacity to plan effectively at the county level that need to be seen in this amendment Bill for it to be substantial as opposed to ... view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: with and improvement in certain things such as fighting corruption, project implementation, timelines and things that are causing the problems in procurement sector are dealt with. A few years ago, not last year but years ago – with COVID-19 time passed so fast, I feel like I am saying last year when it means three years ago – over Kshs100 billion which was returned to the National Treasury from Ministries which were not able to absorb the funds in that particular financial year. The same thing is happening at our counties. What is this Bill doing to ensure that absorption ... view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not want to belabor this because a lot of people have spoken to the good things in it, which is true. It has a lot of good things in it but I urge this House to look at Bills that come to this House and the reforms and amendments that come to this House from the lens of the mandate that was given to us by our constitution; which is to ensure that devolution is entrenched and counties and their governments are protected. view
• 28 Apr 2022 in Senate: One of the better ways to do so it to ensure that the procurement processes which is a big driver of inefficiencies a big guzzler of our resources is looked at and amendments made in that sense. Maybe because I am the Vice Chairperson of the Committee for ICT I also look at things from that angle. I look at opportunities that could be seized both for fighting corruption, saving resources, time and for even doing things much faster, better and within budget by using digital technology. I feel if we are amending a Bill at this late stage in ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I rise to eulogize our third President, the late President Emilio Mwai Kibaki. As we grieve for our third President, we should honour his memory and celebrate his life, which is rich in family, and more importantly, rich in achievements. His towering achievements have been spoken about by everybody here in this House. However, for some of us who come from Northern Kenya, if we were to list some of the things that the third President achieved, we would be so proud as to say that he linked us to Kenya properly. There was a ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Our third President did not expect results from what he knew; he expected them from what he did. One of the mistakes we make, especially those of us who are younger, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: think that we know a lot because we have studied a lot and expect the knowledge we have to give us achievements and results, but leadership is action. He believed in action. He actioned by making roads, schools, free primary education and promulgated a new Constitution. He did all these things because he knew that you do not get results from what you know and boy, did he know a lot! He was so smart. He was an economist and the person who was behind some of the manifestos in Africa that were really the best of that time. He ... view