Dr. Oburu Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 481 to 490 of 1650.

• 25 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Thank you very much, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. This is a very important Motion. For those who did not live at that time, this is, perhaps, just a theoretical exercise. However, some of us witnessed the torture of the Mau Mau . In fact, most people in detention from Central Province were brought to the area I come from. There were concentration camps in a place called Sinyanya. The Mau Mau were taken to Sinyanya because it is a bush infested with a lot of tsetse flies. They were actually taken there to die. There is another island called Mageta ... view
• 25 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: In our area, the counter of Mau Mau was called Piny Owacho. The elders of the Luo said that they were going to resist British colonial rule. They met at a place called Lundha and formed a movement which was called “Piny Owacho”. Whatever they said there was so much of a secret that when the British tried to investigate what they discussed, everybody said “Piny Owacho” which just means “The country has spoken”. That was the name of the movement. view
• 25 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Gitu Kahengeri who initiated this process went around the country. He even came to our area and registered names of our people who were tortured during the MauMau time. He has all the names from all over. In fact, I helped him to collect those names. I am a bit taken aback when I am told that some people were compensated, but I did not hear names of people from our area who were also party to all the processes that view
• 25 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Gitu Kahengeri was taking. I know there are many people from Alego, Gem, Ugenya and even from Bondo who participated in the Mau Mau and were tortured. They had all the evidence that they were actually tortured during that time. I, therefore, thank hon. Wangamati for having thought it fit to bring this Motion. I know that Elijah Masinde who he has been talked about was a great friend of my dad and he was tortured very many times by the British colonial authorities. This was because of his persistent struggle and resistance against the British colonial rule. It is ... view
• 25 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: This is what eventually brought the British authorities down and they accepted Independence. Actually, they did not give it us; we forced them to leave our country through bloodshed. So, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is a good Motion and I want to conclude by saying that hon. Members of this House should support it wholeheartedly so that it can be pushed and those who did not benefit from the first round can benefit from this very important initiative. Thank you. view
• 17 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Thank you, hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. This is a very important Bill, particularly originating from Parliament, in performance of its oversight role. As we all know, one of the roles of Parliament is to oversight the Executive. It is a well known fact that nobody would like to be audited. In fact, even when an auditor comes to audit your own company, you always feel threatened. That is why for a very long time in this country, the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General – which is no longer there – had a very big problem in ... view
• 17 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: the Public Service. They are doing their own businesses and when you ask them to give you any information; they say that they did not retire with Government files to their private lives. So, they cannot give you any information. view
• 17 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: I am particularly concerned about the employment of staff. We are still referring the Office of the Auditor-General to the Public Service Commission. It is that same Public Service Commission that has been a thorn in the flesh of the Controller and Auditor-General’s Office before the Auditor-General came into being. I am concerned that the independence of that office is going to be compromised if they still have to refer employment of staff to the same Public Service Commission. view
• 17 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Hon. Speaker, on the area of financing, I feel very strongly that the Office of the Auditor-General should prepare the accounts and budgets and submit them directly to Parliament. Compromising and telling them to go back to the Treasury for negotiations is going to be the same thing of starving them of funds. Parliament has the capacity to rationalise and give them money which is reasonable within the given ceilings which are normally determined or negotiated with the Treasury. view
• 17 Feb 2015 in National Assembly: Although the Bill is good in general and I support it, I am also concerned about over-extending the role of the Auditor-General to cover environmental issues. Environmental issues are specialised issues which require technical staff and giving that function to the Auditor-General is going to over-extend his functions. I strongly feel that this should be removed. One of the things that have been provided here for the functions of the Auditor-General, which is in Clause 35 of the Bill, is on performance audit. This is the key to pinning down criminals. It is important that this function has been given ... view