David Gikaria

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 211 to 220 of 2696.

• 16 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Chairman. It is sad that this is the Ministry that should be safeguarding the wellbeing of this country’s work force. We have so many complaints from our constituents in terms of union issues. The only thing that comes out clearly is that we do not have enough personnel at the regional level to address some of the complaints raised by workers. It is high time the Ministry looked at its workforce and tried to improve their numbers at their regional offices, so that they can work well. I think they are overwhelmed by the number ... view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to give my input to this very critical Motion. First, I would like to appreciate the members of my Committee and the co-operation that they gave during the budget-making process. Despite the very difficult situation we went through, the law stipulates that we have 21 days and remembering the number of Members sitting in a committee, it became very difficult. However, all the same, we completed the exercise on time and did some adjustments. Hon. Speaker, the budget under the two ministries - much as they are under-funded - if you ... view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, we have Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who have signed agreements which are so punitive to our economy. Ministries enter into agreements with the IPPs knowing very well our consumption for electricity is less than 2,000 megawatts. They allow agreements to be signed year-in, year-out. Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) is forced to buy power that will not be sold. So, this is an area that we need to check. The Budget gave us an opportunity to try and resurrect KPLC. The backbone of our energy sector is the KPLC. If it is ailing, it will affect the ... view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: have to pay electricity levy to the Energy and Petroleum Authority (EPRA). So, it is important for the Budget and Appropriations Committee to look into the debt owing to KPLC. About KshS11.9 billion is owed by the Government to KPLC. From that money, KPLC can pay some of its pending bills that are critical. There are negotiations that KPLC is undertaking to try and widen their repayment period with their financiers. view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, EPRA is supposed to regulate tariffs, but I think those regulations must be subjected to the Energy Committee. Whenever EPRA comes up with tariffs, it must bring them to the Energy Committee. Much as they are independent in terms of decision-making, it is unfair for them to push the lifeline. We want to assist Kenyans to pay electricity at a low cost and yet, we should do that having in mind the bearer of the cost. Therefore, when we increased the lifeline to the consumers from zero to 10 to 100, that took almost 90 per cent of ... view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, the accounting officers within the relevant Ministry might think they are not very important people. They need to be checked. This is where we need to look deeply. They need to rein in some of those Government departments and agencies and stop accumulation of pending bills. Kenyans have worked hard and they spend their money and yet, we allow such huge pending bills to accumulate. This is despite there being, within each SAGA, internal auditors who can assist. The Ministry equally gets some allocation for monitoring and evaluation and yet, such is happening. view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: One of the institutions, the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK), is on its knees. We could not believe because sometimes as a Committee, we depend more on the information given by ministries and agencies. Unfortunately, at some point, the finance manager in an institution last year told us the institution had made Kshs1.2 billion in terms of profit; only for him to come again with a new Managing Director and tell us that the same institution in the same financial year had made a loss of Kshs400 million. view
• 9 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, then there is a problem within the Ministry where the evaluation and monitoring departments are not working to a point that we get cooked figures. As you had said, Hon. Speaker, as committees, we cannot be like auditors. We cannot walk into institutions and start asking for papers. view
• 4 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I misplaced my card yesterday. I have been asked to pay Kshs5,000 to get a replacement, which I will do. view
• 4 Jun 2020 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, the Leader of the Majority Party has tabled the NG-CDF lists. My constituency did comply a long time ago. I wish the Chair of the NG-CDF Committee was here. May be he could give us guidance as to what is happening to some constituencies because I complied a long time ago, but my constituency is not among the listed ones. view