Dr. Oburu Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 11 to 20 of 1622.

• 14 Nov 2024 in Senate: we flew there. Some of them came in choppers; the ones we are talking about. We raised millions of moneys and deposited there. We thought we would continue to be raise money until we complete the project. Two years later, I was told there is nothing on the ground. When I asked about it, I was told that the principal of the school who was there when I was raising money had already retired and, therefore, there was nobody to account for the money. I also had an occasion where we raised money through NG-CDF for a project of an ... view
• 14 Nov 2024 in Senate: are made the guests of honour, they come with huge sacks of money that they have been given by their friends. Let them come to harambees and contribute their own money. This is something practical. When I was an Assistant Minister for Finance in the late His Excellency Mwai Kibaki regime, we were not allowed to be guests of honour, but were allowed to do harambees. We could go to harambees. You can participate in the organisation, but not necessarily have to be the guest of honour. Let other people be guests of honour. Let your competitor be the guest ... view
• 12 Nov 2024 in Senate: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity. I first take this opportunity to congratulate you for being very insightful and foresighted in bringing this Bill. I am a veteran in this Parliament; I have been in this Parliament for over 30 years. I can tell you that there was one time when this Parliament was fully dependent on the Office of the President (OP). Our budget was done through the OP. We were fully dependent on them and the Treasury. The oversight role that we were supposed to play was done through by sometimes blackmailing the Treasury in ... view
• 12 Nov 2024 in Senate: committee which was hived from the committee I was chairing at the that time. This was the Committee on Finance. When it was hived off, we got a budget committee and we could now scrutinize the budget before it was brought and banked. We were using colonial laws, which only allowed us to deduct Kshs20, which was one pound. That is the only thing Parliament could deduct from the budget. Therefore, Parliament was held at ransom although we were called oversight in quotes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you are giving the counties something which they have not struggled for long ... view
• 15 Oct 2024 in Senate: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you profusely for recognizing me as the youngest Member of this House. I have turned 81 years old and I feel as if I am 40 years old. view
• 15 Oct 2024 in Senate: ( Applause) view
• 15 Oct 2024 in Senate: I also want to take this opportunity to contribute to the Report of our Committee, the Committee on Finance and Budget that is chaired by our very competent leader from 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. view
• 15 Oct 2024 in Senate: Mandera County, Sen. Ali Roba. This is a very important Bill. I think it is one of the cardinal functions of our Senate because our Senate is there to protect devolution. I was a Member of Parliament when there was no Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). At that time, we had the Local Government Fund (LGF). Later on, we had something called the Rural Development Fund (RDF), which was very small amount of money and it was mainly from donors. We used to sit long hours as Members of Parliament in the District Development Committees to determine where the money would ... view
• 15 Oct 2024 in Senate: know where to do it. It should mainly affect the national Government budget and not the county government budget. I used to work in the National Treasury and we had a knife which used to cut allocations to Ministries. However, there was a misunderstanding because some Ministries used to throw big figures outside the ceilings they were given because they knew that the National Treasury would reduce them. They used to give big figures so that if they are reduced, it would come to what they wanted. The National Treasury used to give everything requested as long as they were ... view
• 2 Oct 2024 in Senate: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I also want to take this opportunity to welcome the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning to this Parliament. I know when I was there as an Assistant Minister, he used to ask me very tough questions and I would struggle to answer some of them. I just want to ask strictly one question, as you have said. I am just curious that when the team went to China, they only negotiated for payment of Chinese contractors and yet, there are many other contractors who have also stalled. They have moved out ... view