Tuesday, 10th March, 2015

Hon. Members, there are several Statements on the Order Paper in the appendix. We shall first of all deal with Members seeking Statements before we go to the issuance.

Please proceed Sen. Obure.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I request for a Statement from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Education, concerning the perennial problem of cancellation or withholding of schools examination results in Kenya which has shuttered the hopes, aspirations and careers of many children especially in Kisii County.

The Chairperson should address the following specific issues:-

Order Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and Sen. Murkomen. There cannot be two Senators standing on the Floor of the House at the same time. Sen. Obure is on his feet.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for that direction.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have some addendum. I would like the Chairperson to incorporate in his answer, the same questions asked by Sen. Obure, on the schools from Migori County, especially from Kuria.

You notice that what Sen. Obure is seeking in No.1 is results per county. I think that he is trying to cover the whole country. In No. 1, he says:-

“Give the number of schools whose results for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) 2014 were cancelled per county”

Unless you want to be more specific than that, he has already sought for the whole country.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. As an addendum, can the Chairman also bring the list of all the people that must have participated? Are there people that were punished other than the students or it is only the students that suffered? We want to see the list of the people that were dealt with by KNEC.

Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, your request is completely different from the Statement sought. The Statement that Sen. Obure sought is specific to what that the Statement says. If you want to know whether there were other culprits other than the schools and the students, that is not in the Statement.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is still within. What I am saying is that in these schools, there must have been invigilators---

Order, Senator. That may be true. What you are saying is that there could have been people who facilitated the cheating. However, if you look at the Statement sought by Sen. Obure, it is clear in its terms. It is seeking specific things. It is not asking about the invigilators and other people. If it comes as collateral to the Statement that he is seeking, so be it. However, the question that you talked about brings about an aspect of criminality. So, if you want to seek it, you must seek a separate Statement.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I request for two weeks because that would be enough for me to get an answer.

The thing is that the exams have been cancelled so there must be records. There is data. This is not something he is going to work on. The fact that exams have been cancelled shows that there must be reasons and the record is there. Why do you require two weeks?

So, that we can give reasons why they were cancelled.

The point I am making is that since they were cancelled, there must be reasons in a file. Therefore it is a question of you liaising with whoever is concerned and having it pulled it and formatted to a Statement that you can come and give. You do not need two weeks. You need only one week.

I will try to bring the Statement in one week.

Sen. Obure, what is your take?

I agree with the sentiments you are expressing from the Chair. This is a matter which affects the lives and the future of our children. Some of them would want to put plans in place so that they resit examinations this year. Two weeks would be too long.

Sen. Karaba, let us try one week. Put pressure on the officers at the Ministry and let us get this thing behind us. It involves young people.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to seek a Statement from the Chairperson of the Sessional Committee on Devolved Government concerning the need or failure by officials of various county governments to observe laid down Government regulations regarding use of Government vehicles. The Chairperson should explain:-

Is the Chairman of the Committee here?

I request for two weeks.

Two weeks is too long. Even tomorrow is better because this had been asked earlier but the House went on recess. I expect him to have an answer by now.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a new session and this is a new Sessional Committee. Therefore, we need two weeks.

Had you received an answer in the last session?

I cannot exactly remember, that is why I need time to check.

I am giving you one week from today.

One week is enough.

Sen. (Dr.) Machage, are you seeking the Floor?

No, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Sen. Lonyangapuo, are you still seeking the Floor?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I seek a Statement from the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Welfare concerning the increase by the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization of membership fees from Kshs100 last year to the following categories.

Is this actually a labour issue? Does Maendeleo ya Wanawake fall under labour?

Who is the Chairperson?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would need about two weeks to respond.

Is your Committee the relevant one on this matter?

This is part of social welfare.

I think in this case, two weeks is reasonable.

Sen. (Prof.) Lesan had sought a Statement. You had sought a Statement, is that not so?

I am not aware.

I can see a Statement here sought and signed by you. That is all for request for Statement. Shall we have Statements issued?

Sen. (Dr.) Kuti!

March 10, 2015 SENATE DEBATES CHOLERA OUTBREAK IN KENYA

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to issue a Statement which was sought by Sen. (Dr.) Machage. The Statement was about the cholera outbreak in Kenya. On 19th February, 2015 Sen. (Dr.) Machage wanted to know the following:-

cholera beds. The national Government has also supplied information, education and communication materials to the affected counties.

The county governments have done the following: they formed county and sub- county coordination committees that are meeting daily; they strengthened surveillance in all health facilities and within the communities; they identified and equipped cholera treatment centres in the most of the affected areas; trained health workers on how to manage affected patients; educated the communities on cholera and mobilised resources from Government departments and stakeholders in responding to the outbreak.

Finally about measures the Government is taking to prevent recurrence: The Government has put in place multi-sectorial cholera prevention and control plan 2011-

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I appreciate the attempt by the Chairperson to answer the serious questions. I bring to his notice that question number two has not been answered fully. We sought to know not only the counties but also the areas affected in those counties.

Secondly, is the Chairperson satisfied that the level of intervention - in view of the fact that there is drought in many parts of this country - is adequate? Why was vaccination not considered?

Thirdly, about the 20 officers deployed to the counties, is it 20 per county or 20 for all counties? If it is 20 for all counties, how many were deployed to Migori County?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are 20 technical staffs who were subdivided across the counties. I do not know how many went to Migori County. However, the most important thing that Sen. (Dr.) Machage needs to appreciate is the fact that the matter is now almost fully under control. For example, in Nairobi, it is no longer where it started. It has been fully controlled. In Migori, his own county, it has come down to less than five cases a day from a peak of 100 cases a day. Therefore, the situation is under control and measures the Government is putting in place will fully control the situation in areas that are not yet under full control. Sen. (Dr.) Machage needs to appreciate that the effort is working. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

You want to ask another question a second time Sen. (Dr.) Machage? Okay, one more.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Chairperson of the Committee on Health is a medical doctor; if he could only listen. He knows that a report of up to five cases of cholera in an area is significant. It could restart an epidemic especially in a drought situation. Is he convinced that the cholera epidemic has been controlled?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Sen. (Dr.) Machage should appreciate the fact that cases are now on the downtrend from highs of 100 cases a day to below five

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Chairperson of the Committee on Health is a medical doctor; if he could only listen. He knows that a report of up to five cases of cholera in an area is significant. It could restart an epidemic especially in a drought situation. Is he convinced that the cholera epidemic has been controlled?

a day. I know that even those five cases can spark a new outbreak. However, I am trying to ask him to appreciate the fact that it is through the effort of the county and the national Government and the measures that have been listed, that I read earlier, that are bearing results. Therefore, if they have managed that big outbreak then smaller numbers that are coming up will be extinguished. This is just like a fire. The bigger it is, the more difficult it is to control. If the effort is sustained, I assure him that we will extinguish whatever is left. The situation will be brought fully under control.

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. requested for a Statement on:-

Are you issuing the statement now?

Yes, I am ready to issue it.

Okay, just a minute. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, do you have a point of order on the same issue?

Are you issuing the statement now?

Yes, I am ready to issue it.

Okay, just a minute. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, do you have a point of order on the same issue?

Yes, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. You called out for my Statement which is supposed to come from the Chairperson of the Committee on Education. However, as you observed, he may have left but you did not direct what would happen next.

Well, we have not finished with statements. We are still on issuance of statements. In fact, he has about five statements to issue. I am surprised that he is not in his place. Is he around?

Yes.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir,

-.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, could the Chairman clarify also the concerns about substandard work? In Rhamu Town in Mandera north, they handed over the power station last year to the Kenya Power Company, which to date has not been able to take it over because of concerns about the quality. I understand that this is the case on several similar power stations. Could the Chairman also clarify about the capacity of REA to audit quality of works being done by the contractors?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the clarification which was sought by Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., yes, there is a vetting process for the contractors at hand. When they went through the vetting process, they were found to be fit and they showed that they had the financial capacity and capability of doing it. At some stages when they had delays in getting the way-leaves, the prices escalated. The contractors would find other avenues or constraints within themselves because of the delay. But that has now been taken care of. We have been assured that, that is not going to arise because they are going to double up on the financial capacity of the contractors who are going to be engaged. On the issue raised by the Senator for Mandera, yes, there is shoddy work which has been done. The contractor will be penalized until they rectify the quality of work. Thank you.

Lastly, from the report, there were 73 contractors in 2012/2013 and 58 in 2013/2014. It appears to me, from the names of the contractors, that these persons are most likely briefcase contractors. Could he clarify whether the REA first checks the capacity of these contractors before they are awarded those contracts? Since most of them are business names, they could be single business persons trading in this business, yet they do not have capacity.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, could the Chairman clarify also the concerns about substandard work? In Rhamu Town in Mandera north, they handed over the power station last year to the Kenya Power Company, which to date has not been able to take it over because of concerns about the quality. I understand that this is the case on several similar power stations. Could the Chairman also clarify about the capacity of REA to audit quality of works being done by the contractors?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the clarification which was sought by Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr., yes, there is a vetting process for the contractors at hand. When they went through the vetting process, they were found to be fit and they showed that they had the financial capacity and capability of doing it. At some stages when they had delays in getting the way-leaves, the prices escalated. The contractors would find other avenues or constraints within themselves because of the delay. But that has now been taken care of. We have been assured that, that is not going to arise because they are going to double up on the financial capacity of the contractors who are going to be engaged. On the issue raised by the Senator for Mandera, yes, there is shoddy work which has been done. The contractor will be penalized until they rectify the quality of work. Thank you.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The Chairman did not clarify the question of payment for the contractual work. Is it paid in advance? If it is paid in advance, these people should be surcharged. If it is not paid in advance, it means that, therefore, there is no reason the contract cannot be completed quickly.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on this particular case, they were not paid in advance.

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to draw your attention to the fact that the Chairman has been very graceful and he has given me a copy of his answer. I just want to request that he stands down his answer because there was an authentic file that I tabled here, which he used. I intend to use it to interrogate his answer further. I asked the office of the Clerk and they told me that they do not have the file. Could I be given the file of the university so that I can use it?

Sen. Karaba, do you have the file?

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to draw your attention to the fact that the Chairman has been very graceful and he has given me a copy of his answer. I just want to request that he stands down his answer because there was an authentic file that I tabled here, which he used. I intend to use it to interrogate his answer further. I asked the office of the Clerk and they told me that they do not have the file. Could I be given the file of the university so that I can use it?

Sen. Karaba, do you have the file?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not have the file. What I have is a Statement which was requested by Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale. I do not know where the file is and I am not the one who handled it.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, whom did you give the file to? Did you table it?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I tabled it and by the authority of your own Clerk, I have been told that I wait that they cannot find it, they have gone to search for it at Protection House. These are very important issues and looking at the casual answers given in the copy, without that file we will be given a ride up the country far and back.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, how long are you requesting to be stood down for?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if they cannot give us today, we can wait until tomorrow. These are very serious issues.

consulted the Clerk- at–the-Table)

I know, but I am asking you, since you need to get the file, the Clerk informs me that it is in the process of being procured from the clerk of that Committee. Would you be willing to have it delivered tomorrow, is that okay with you?

I have no problem.

We do not know when it will come. The Senate Minority Leader (

Sen. Sang, what is your point of order?

Order, Senator! Let me talk to Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale please. He is the one in his feet.

Is tomorrow okay?

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, now that you have ruled that the Statement be stepped down to tomorrow, would the Chairman of the Committee share that response? I know that Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale already has the response to the Statement, could he share with all of us so that we can look at it?

The Statement is now the property of the House, I am sure if you liaise with the Office of the Clerk, you should get a Statement in good time before tomorrow.

What is it, Sen. Wetangula? The Senate Minority Leader (Sen. Wetangula) Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it was on the same issue.

Sen. Karaba, you will issue that one tomorrow afternoon after the file has been accessed and given to whoever it came from. You still have a Statement sought by Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, who I note is not here but you still have a Statement sought by Sen. Hosea Onchwangi who again I notice is not here; but you have a Statement sought by Sen. Wangari?

I have that one.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you. The Statement on enrollment of Form Ones—

Sen. Kivuti, are you on a point of order? Where is Sen. Kivuti, he is not even here, are you on a point of order? Remove your card then.

Sen. Karaba, you do not have a card of your own that you can use?

Sen. Karaba, you will issue that one tomorrow afternoon after the file has been accessed and given to whoever it came from. You still have a Statement sought by Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo, who I note is not here but you still have a Statement sought by Sen. Hosea Onchwangi who again I notice is not here; but you have a Statement sought by Sen. Wangari?

I have that one.

Can you issue the Statement sought by Sen. Wangari.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you. The Statement on enrollment of Form Ones—

Sen. Kivuti, are you on a point of order? Where is Sen. Kivuti, he is not even here, are you on a point of order? Remove your card then.

Sen. Karaba, you do not have a card of your own that you can use?

I do not know who the owner of this one is!

Okay, proceed Sen. Karaba.

I was not sure whether that was Sen. Kivuti’s card.

(c|) provide the statistics of the pupils who sat for KCPE in 2014 and how many of these missed admission to Form One in public secondary schools;

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was about to complete making my submission; it is only that he was too much in a hurry to suggest that the papers are too many. But they are not too many. I am trying to make sure that the Question is satisfactorily answered. I am giving the actual answer to the issues raised in the request by the hon. Senator.

Go on, Senator! Well, some Senators are also complaining about the size of the paper, but that is not for me to say.

Order, Sen. Musila! You cannot order a Member to sit down, but the rule is that both of you cannot be standing at the same time. You do not have the authority to order him to sit down.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. He knows the rules, which stipulate that he should be sitting down.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am concerned at the Statement that the Chairperson is giving to this House; you can see the number of pages that he is holding. This was a specific request for a specific matter, but he is giving us the whole policy of the Ministry of Education. Do we have the luxury of sitting here the whole afternoon, listening to him?

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Proceed, Sen. Karaba.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was about to complete making my submission; it is only that he was too much in a hurry to suggest that the papers are too many. But they are not too many. I am trying to make sure that the Question is satisfactorily answered. I am giving the actual answer to the issues raised in the request by the hon. Senator.

Go on, Senator! Well, some Senators are also complaining about the size of the paper, but that is not for me to say.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the papers are not many; Sen. Wangari has more papers than these and if you want to read them, you can do so later.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the FPE Fund has been given as a policy and every child receives Kshs1,420, out of which Kshs764 goes to purchase of instructional materials while Kshs655 is for general school operations. They are given 50 per cent in First Term, 30 per cent in Second Term and 20 per cent in Third Term. So, in a year, the Government gives Kshs9.7 billion to all primary schools in Kenya. So, as far as the question is concerned, the balance of what is not given is only 30 per cent and it amounts to Kshs4.1 billion, which will be given as soon as Second Term sets in.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the measures taken to ensure smooth and timely release of FPE funds are as follows. Each school is required to operate two primary school bank accounts; that is, institutional materials and general school operations and maintenance bank accounts. The management of this money at all times requires constant check from the Director of Education. Anything transferred from those accounts must be communicated either through the Director of Education or by the Director of Education in consultation with the parents. This Statement has been signed by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the Ministry of Education.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to thank the Chairperson of the Committee on Education for bringing this Statement, like he did last week. I have had time to look through the response and I have a few clarifications to seek. One, on the admissions that were done this year, can he confirm – because it is clear in the guidelines that three pupils were to be picked from each sub-county from both private and public schools – that, that happened; that the three that were picked from the sub-counties were from either gender and were from both private and public schools?

Secondly, on the missed opportunities in school, especially on the number – the 192,000 that could not get admission to secondary schools – are also joined together with the ones that could not access the same due to the high fees that have resulted from the non-implementation of the Dr. Kilemi Mwiria Task Force Report. I want the Chairperson to clarify how many of these spaces have been taken by children, especially the ones from the affirmative action areas in the rural areas and how those positions were filled in the said national schools because the selection panel does not sit again. How are those positions filled?

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to confirm to Sen. Musila that the bulk of papers actually have the guidelines, which I have looked at and whatever the Chairperson is reading out is a summary. He should be completing his submission in two minutes.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, still on the implementation of the Dr. Kilemi Mwiria Report---

Order, Sen. Wangari! You are not issuing a new statement; you are seeking clarification from what came out of the Statement. So, can you make it brief?

All right, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The CS talks about a press release that they did on the implementation of the Dr. Kilemi Mwiria Report. I want the Chairperson to confirm whether that can be taken to be a legally binding module of the implementation or whether we are expecting gazettement of the same and how soon, especially on the guidelines of the fees?

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Proceed, Sen. Karaba.

Order, Sen. Karaba! Sen. Wetangula, if you wish to intervene, please, put it as an intervention. Otherwise, I thought you were seeking the Floor to debate.

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, is it a debate or an intervention?

Proceed,

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, can the Chairperson of the Committee tell us why we are having an avalanche of contradictory policy statements from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on matters of education in the country? Why have they banned, even without seeking public participation, ranking of schools and candidates? But more importantly, I want the Chairperson to tell us if there is a deliberate policy to compromise the standards of national schools? I have seen that in some national schools, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is imposing candidates with marks as low as 207 to join Form 1 in national schools.

An hon. Senator: Yes!

Proceed, Sen. Karaba.

Thank you very much---

Order, Sen. Karaba! Sen. Wetangula, if you wish to intervene, please, put it as an intervention. Otherwise, I thought you were seeking the Floor to debate.

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, is it a debate or an intervention?

Proceed,

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, can the Chairperson of the Committee tell us why we are having an avalanche of contradictory policy statements from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on matters of education in the country? Why have they banned, even without seeking public participation, ranking of schools and candidates? But more importantly, I want the Chairperson to tell us if there is a deliberate policy to compromise the standards of national schools? I have seen that in some national schools, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is imposing candidates with marks as low as 207 to join Form 1 in national schools.

An hon. Senator: Yes!

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I only have two questions. One is on the disbursement of primary schools funds, and so on and so forth. The Chairperson has extensively elaborated how that is given and I understand from the schools I have looked at that the headmaster is both a headmaster and a bursar. One, are these headmasters given training for financial accounting and management? If so, how do you expect so many headmasters nationally to handle those funds effectively and fairly as your Statement seems to indicate? Two, can the Chairperson explain to us what the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology is doing to handle so many complaints that arose out of the Form One intake from parents, teachers and Kenyans in general including what Sen. Wetangula pointed out? To what extent has the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology handled these concerns or are these concerns so irrelevant to the Ministry that people are now frustrated and calling for the resignation of the Cabinet Secretary (CS) ?

marks can score even B+ or A in some cases. So, what the Ministry is doing is to get far to those areas which cannot afford good primary schools to be accorded good secondary schools, which are the national schools. That has happened in many areas; it is not the first time that this is happening and it will continue. Where you find counties complaining about their schools, it is only that there are very many schools doing well in that particular county---

An hon. Senator: Correct!

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to seek clarification from the Chairperson because he talked about funds being transferred to schools, particularly primary schools. There is a class of schools which are called special schools conducting special education. They have dumb children and other children with disabilities. Can the Chairperson confirm that schools with those children have been given money to run them because I am aware of some schools in Kitui County which have such classes and are duly registered by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, but those streams with children with disabilities have not received any funding for the last two years? Could the Chairperson confirm that these schools with special children receiving education in primary schools have received the funds that are necessary for them to continue with their education?

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Mr. Chairman, there are several clarifications sought.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Sen. Wangari wanted to know more about national schools. As indicated, there are now 103 national schools. According to the selection criteria, as I indicated earlier, in the 2014 selection to Form One, the Ministry picked the top two pupils per county. But this year, the Ministry picked three, going by gender. In this case, therefore, it means that a school which does very well - and this one can also include the concerns of Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale and Sen Wetangula - when we get such pupils admitted to schools, we are doing it because we would like to maintain equity, affirmative action in various areas, gender equity and quality of education. It has been observed that even students who score as low as 290

marks can score even B+ or A in some cases. So, what the Ministry is doing is to get far to those areas which cannot afford good primary schools to be accorded good secondary schools, which are the national schools. That has happened in many areas; it is not the first time that this is happening and it will continue. Where you find counties complaining about their schools, it is only that there are very many schools doing well in that particular county---

An hon. Senator: Correct!

On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Is the Chairman correct to say that the Ministry is doing that because the schools have poor infrastructure? The statement he read says that part of the money given for Free Primary Education (FPE) Programme is supposed to be used for infrastructure. It would be better

What is your point of order, Sen. (Dr.) Khawale?

if the Ministry, after realising that a school has poor infrastructure, addressed the infrastructure and not forced the school to become a national school.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many key players in education matters. Education is a very important factor in the country. We cannot blame the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for not putting up enough infrastructure. We should blame the communities if they do not put up good infrastructure. Money is also available under the CDF. That is what we should be looking into. As far as the Government is concerned, there should be equity for all Kenyans. That is why we have to take these students to national schools and extra-county schools.

There is a statement that was sought by Sen. (Dr.) Kuti who is not here. There was another one by Sen. Fatuma Dullo.

Sen. Karaba, are you ready with the one from Sen. Dullo although I notice that she is not here?

The Statement regarding Garbatulla will be available within the week. There are many problems facing that school. We will come up with a comprehensive report.

I will give the Statement by Thursday, the day after tomorrow.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many key players in education matters. Education is a very important factor in the country. We cannot blame the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for not putting up enough infrastructure. We should blame the communities if they do not put up good infrastructure. Money is also available under the CDF. That is what we should be looking into. As far as the Government is concerned, there should be equity for all Kenyans. That is why we have to take these students to national schools and extra-county schools.

There is a statement that was sought by Sen. (Dr.) Kuti who is not here. There was another one by Sen. Fatuma Dullo.

Sen. Karaba, are you ready with the one from Sen. Dullo although I notice that she is not here?

The Statement regarding Garbatulla will be available within the week. There are many problems facing that school. We will come up with a comprehensive report.

So, the statement is not ready? When will you give it?

I will give the Statement by Thursday, the day after tomorrow.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a statement that was sought by Sen. Musila.

Very well. Sen. Musila is here. You can go ahead and issue the Statement.

So, for the record, when will it be ready?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are supposed to meet the Cabinet Secretary. However, I will be comfortable with Tuesday next week.

That is the end of Statement time.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a statement that was sought by Sen. Musila.

Very well. Sen. Musila is here. You can go ahead and issue the Statement.

I am asking that because if he is going to ask for time to interrogate your Statement because he does not have a copy, then it would take the time of the House. The ideal situation is where he has a copy so that he has time to interrogate your Statement so that he can make reasoned interventions, once you have issued the Statement.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I undertake to give him and he will interrogate it. In case he has any further questions, he will be at liberty to ask.

Sen. Musila, what do you have to say about that?

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for that intervention. My first point was to complain that I do not have the benefit of having to interrogate such an important report that appears to be having volumes of papers, as you rightly said. Before I even go further, would I be in order to ask that you stand down the Chairman to deliver this Statement tomorrow, when he shall have made sure that I have copies of those documents so that I will have the advantage of reading and interrogating them?

Thank you. I am not quite sure whether it is the Chairman of the Committee who is supposed to give the Statement to the person or it is the Clerk’s Office. I am not taking it for granted that you have taken time to give a Statement but when you came to the issue of having an annexure of names and said that they are many – I think over 4,000 from Kitui, because Sen. Musila may want to verify some of those statements – that is why it is important that the person asking for the Statement should have seen it before it is issued. Only then would they be able to make reasoned and well thought out interventions on the matter; to seek clarifications that are based on what they had seen so that we do not have people going all over the place seeking statements.

How long do you have before finishing that Statement?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was almost finishing.

Still at the request of Sen. Musila, I think we have to stand it down to tomorrow. Four thousand names are a lot and so that he can look at them and be able to tell us whether he is satisfied or not.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am obliged.

Thank you very much. I am sorry about the inconvenience but I think it is important.

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, what is your point of order?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, riding on that directive, we had also asked him last time when he raised it, that he provides us with the statistics--

Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, I have not asked Sen. Madzayo to go and look for further facts or reasons for the Statement. I have just stood it down so that it can be issued tomorrow for Sen. Musila to interrogate it. If you are asking for new things in that Statement, then Sen. Madzayo will ask for two weeks to

Still at the request of Sen. Musila, I think we have to stand it down to tomorrow. Four thousand names are a lot and so that he can look at them and be able to tell us whether he is satisfied or not.

come and issue a new Statement. I am not accepting that. I just stood it down to tomorrow.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is not new.

Well, if it not new then wait for it. You can also get a copy of the Statement from the Clerk’s Office.

Sen. Ndiema, do you have a point of order?

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it was on the same because I wanted to enrich that ---

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am obliged.

Now, that is the end of Statements.

Well, if it not new then wait for it. You can also get a copy of the Statement from the Clerk’s Office.

Sen. Ndiema, do you have a point of order?

Sen. Kisasa, you had eight minutes.

Asante, Bw. Naibu Spika, kwa kunipa muda zaidi ili niendelee na kuchangia Mswada huu ambao tunataka kupitisha. Maana ya harambee ni kujumuika, kutabaruku na kuvuta pamoja. Tukiangalia tutaona ya kwamba huwezi kusema kama kitu si kizuri ama hakifuatwi vile ipasavyo, kitupiliwe mbali. Harambee zinatujenga sana. Nimefanya utafiti na watu wangu kule vijijini na wakanipasha ya kwamba, wao wanaenda kwa harambee, kwa sababu kadha wa kadha.Kwa mfano,malipo ya hospitali hayaepukiki. Sio kila mmoja wetu ana ule uwezo, kibali fulani ama analipiwa na shirika fulani. Hapo ndio watu wangu hutafuta harambee. Lakini tukiangalia mbali na yale malipo ya hospitali, utaona ya kwamba pia kuna malipo mengine ambayo yanahitajika. Kwa mfano, mtu akifa, itabidi kuwe na malipo ya kuhifadhi maiti. Je, watu wangu watafanyaje? Itawabidi wafupishe ule muda wa maiti kukaa katika hifadhi maiti, kwa sababu kile kibali ambacho chatolewa na polisi kwa muda wa kuomboleza labda ni cha wiki moja peke yake.

Bw. Naibu Spika, tunapotunga sheria, tusisahau kuwa pia, sheria ni msumeno. Hivi juzi, sisi hapa kwenye Seneti, tulikkukmbwa na msiba, na harambee ilitusaidia. Hivi mnavyotuona, tunang’ara lakini ilibidi pia tutumie harambee. Mmoja wetu alituaga na

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am obliged.

ilibidi sote tuwe pamoja, tukavuta pamoja, tukasaidiana, tukachangiana, mpaka jamii pia ikajua yule mwenda zake alikuwa na watu ambao walimpenda na kumthamini.

Sen. Kisasa, you had eight minutes.

Asante, Bw. Naibu Spika, kwa kunipa muda zaidi ili niendelee na kuchangia Mswada huu ambao tunataka kupitisha. Maana ya harambee ni kujumuika, kutabaruku na kuvuta pamoja. Tukiangalia tutaona ya kwamba huwezi kusema kama kitu si kizuri ama hakifuatwi vile ipasavyo, kitupiliwe mbali. Harambee zinatujenga sana. Nimefanya utafiti na watu wangu kule vijijini na wakanipasha ya kwamba, wao wanaenda kwa harambee, kwa sababu kadha wa kadha.Kwa mfano,malipo ya hospitali hayaepukiki. Sio kila mmoja wetu ana ule uwezo, kibali fulani ama analipiwa na shirika fulani. Hapo ndio watu wangu hutafuta harambee. Lakini tukiangalia mbali na yale malipo ya hospitali, utaona ya kwamba pia kuna malipo mengine ambayo yanahitajika. Kwa mfano, mtu akifa, itabidi kuwe na malipo ya kuhifadhi maiti. Je, watu wangu watafanyaje? Itawabidi wafupishe ule muda wa maiti kukaa katika hifadhi maiti, kwa sababu kile kibali ambacho chatolewa na polisi kwa muda wa kuomboleza labda ni cha wiki moja peke yake.

Bw. Naibu Spika, tunapotunga sheria, tusisahau kuwa pia, sheria ni msumeno. Hivi juzi, sisi hapa kwenye Seneti, tulikkukmbwa na msiba, na harambee ilitusaidia. Hivi mnavyotuona, tunang’ara lakini ilibidi pia tutumie harambee. Mmoja wetu alituaga na

ilibidi sote tuwe pamoja, tukavuta pamoja, tukasaidiana, tukachangiana, mpaka jamii pia ikajua yule mwenda zake alikuwa na watu ambao walimpenda na kumthamini.

wasaidiane ili wanufaike. Je bila harambee Kenya tutaenda wapi? Nimejiuliza swala hili wikendi nzima.

Kwa hivyo inafaa mikakati kabambe iwekwe kwa sababu unyonge umetuzidi. Tunaambiwa kwamba Seneti ni Jumba kuu lakini ni kivipi kama mfuko hauna kitu? Mkono mtupu haulambwi. Hasa ukienda mazishini na huna chochote, utajiona mnyonge kwa sababu hutatajwa kuleta chochote. Ukiangalia wenzetu wa Bunge la Kitaifa, wao wana hazina ya CDF na wamechukua fursa hii kuonyesha ubabe katika hizi harambee. Mara nyingi mheshimiwa akionekana, bajeti hubadilika; hata kama wangeketi kwenye jamvi, itabidi kuwe na madoido fulani. Kwa hivyo harambee hizi wakati mwingine zinatutatiza. Lakini hatuzipingi kwa sababu kama nilivyosema hapo awali, hakuna mtu ambaye hahitaji harambee. Mara kwa mara sisi wenyewe kwa wenyewe tunachangiana hapa. Lakini uzuri wetu hapa ni kwamba tunaweka kima fulani. Hatuonyeshani ubabe katika Seneti, na ninawashukuru wenzangu.

Ninaunga mkono Mswada huu lakini itabidi tuweke mikakati fulani.

accountability and guarding against misuse. The minute I decided I was going to run for the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, the first feedback that I heard from a wide array of Kenyans was that I would not succeed politically if I did not have resources. We have over-emphasized the issue of resources to the exclusion of the competence and ideas that are fundamental to ensure that this country is transformed in a manner that meets the aspirations for not only our generation but for future generations to come. Little did I know that Kenyans are fairly liberated. I presented my candidacy against two or three established politicians, some in pentagons of opposing coalitions and some in all cadre of positions. There were some who have been in politics for the last 30 years. I noticed that the most fundamentally abused strategy was the issue of fundraising. If money by itself was a testament to leadership, I would not have been Senator of Mombasa County.

I went to some of these fundraisers at that point in time. Different organisations, religious institutions and certain bodies took advantage of us at that point when we were most vulnerable. As I went to those harambees, it was literally a competition of resources. Poor Hassan Omar, presented cheques of Ksh10,000 while contemporaries who were agitating for similar positions, were presenting up to Ksh1 million in harambees. I told them that as much as this man has provided this kind of support to you, if Kenya was to develop only on the strength of harambees, today we would be a first world nation. It was done by successive presidents, yet we are still poor as we are in terms of how many Kenyans live below the poverty line.

So, I told them that the only way that we can have a sense of change this country fundamentally, is to alter the structures of Government and change the paradigms of Government. So, rather than you as a leader looking at harambee as a solution, you must factor in progressive development agenda that is sustainable. Rather than try to give people a harambee for a certain issue, you can implement policies and laws that ensure that those issues are provided for within the realm of your Government; both at the national Government and at the county governments.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill is a fundamental compromise from the total banning of harambees because, as Sen. Kisasa said, it is still an idea that is valid if it is used in a manner that is guarded, progressive, structured and transparent. We had different accounts, as Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o will bear me witness, of people who held harambees only for them to be seen to own a fleet of matatus. There are people who told an entire gathering that they were going to take their children for higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), Malaysia and other countries, only for them to see that child in a local university and the father owning property whose acquisition cannot be explained.

Therefore, regulating harambees is an idea of our time. We must insulate harambees from political manipulation, not only from the politicians who have money. I read it in the media and researched it myself; that during a certain era in this country, people would carry millions of shillings and present it in public. Some of them were of known notoriety so as to win political capital. Often times, I have gone to members of the old regimes like KANU. When I asked them to contribute to harambees, they told me that the difference between then and now is that, there was free money and land at that time

On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I would like to bring to your attention what I have just seen happen here. When Sen. Kisasa just crossed the Floor to greet Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o very casually without bowing to the Chair. She then canvassed and then crossed back without bowing to the Chair and then walked out. I want you to note that.

and therefore, they could give very casually in harambees and that this time around there are more accountability streams.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill builds further accountability streams. If you present Ksh1million as a politician, you must divulge the source of that money. You cannot come and use it as a temporary stop gap measure to win expedient political favour while it could be that you are partaking of corruption in an unabated form. Some of the resources that are provided in harambees are mind boggling. Therefore, we need to know where these monies are coming from. If your money is legitimate, then let them give you the tax incentives as provided for in Section 53. Nobody here loves to pay taxes. We pay it as an obligation. Our payslips drop fundamentally. So, if you can get a tax rebate or incentive, then why not. The giver must demonstrate the sources of his or her wealth. We do not want a political situation where we constantly manipulate politics with resources.

I know for a fact that people say, the old Kiswahili maxim; “mkono mtupu haulambwi”. We are getting to a point where those maxims are being overtaken by events. I think that is the kind of laxity that we create in a society by making it appear that unless you have resources, then you cannot be a good politician or leader. Not to mean that this is legitimate all over the world; that you can seek campaign funding. I also used some resources to win. However, this campaign funding is only for essential campaign expenses. I think that we should steadily move, where campaign financing is monitored. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o, the next Motion that I look forward to you presenting is to have an ad hoc Committee on campaign financing, so that people can compete on the altar of ideas. I can tell you for a fact that yes, we require resources, but you must demonstrate to the world and the nation why you are putting Ksh25million or $1milion into my campaign because these things are not free. That is why we spend half of our time manipulating Government contracts and institutions, so that we can reward those who invested into our campaigns.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we must sit and set ceilings as to how much physical cash one can contribute in a campaign and how much in kind people can make to campaign processes. Unless we regulate, money has been an issue that will literally deny this country and generations to come the benefits of leadership. Today, we see people positioning themselves in regions, counties and everywhere. You will hear that they will make it because they have resources. An old man who supported me in the campaigns said that; without resources but with a bit of background in education, I can give Hassan Omar a cheque and it will cover the gap of his resources. However, you cannot give somebody who does not have ideas, a cheque of ideas. Therefore, I think that this country must move in that direction.

I want to commend Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o. I hope that we will find concurrence with our friends in the National Assembly because this Bill will probably be one of our greatest contributions in the Eleventh Parliament, so that we can stem the abuse of harambees. In fact, I find certain notoriety and I hope that some of the religious leaders are watching me in this broadcast. Half or more of the invitations to harambees closer to the elections, were coming from religious institutions. They know who Sen. Hassan and Sen. Madzayo are. That is the time they flurry you with dinner invitations, yet they are supposed to be the custodians of our values in this society. They are

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that is a good observation. Members should not criss-cross the Floor of the Senate without following the procedures as required by the Standing Orders.

That said and done, I was congratulating, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o on the HANSARD on the job that he has done. I think if you look at Section 3 of this Bill, it clearly sets out the objects of this Bill. It is about procedural fairness, transparency,

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. Let me from the outset commend those who started the harambee spirit in this country. We have seen a lot of good that has come from the harambees especially in the past. These include building of schools, clinics, supporting those who were not able to do certain social activities and so on. In some of the areas where education excelled, we know that many of those schools were built on the spirit of harambee. In the religious sector, many churches have been built. The religious sector is also part of our social life and contributes a lot to the nation and to the society. The benefits of harambee can certainly not be gainsaid. At the same time, there have been unscrupulous people who may have misused harambees for their own benefit. I think that the good definitely outnumbers the bad.

This Bill seeks to regulate mechanisms at the national and county levels of harambees. That is a good thing and I commend my colleague here for this Bill, which needs to be looked at carefully. As we regulate, we should not hurt the very people we are trying to help or support. I would like us to look at the grassroots. There are many people whose simple tasks are really momentous; they cannot manage them on their own; be it a deficiency of school fees, health care money, be it the passing on of a loved one in a foreign country and they have to bring them back and so on. There are simple things in life but it is their livelihood. How are we going to regulate those small harambees?

What surprises me sometimes is when I see the big people like politicians doing harambees for funerals and so on. Sometimes, it is abuse but most of the time, there is a need. I would hate to see a situation where we regulate to a point that those people at the grassroots are taken advantage of. There is a centre for getting the authority, whether it is a license or whatever; they have to get the license and whoever is giving it out wants a kitu kidogo. So, the money they are trying to raise to solve their problem starts finding loopholes.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, unfortunately our society is full of those things; putting roadblocks in peoples’ way. We used to hear stories where chiefs and other people would ask for chicken if someone does not have money because there was a harambee somewhere. I am completely against any forced harambees. I do not think this situation exists anymore. There was a task force that was looking into this issue and it should make the necessary amendment to make sure that the way we regulate will not hurt ordinary citizens. I believe there is still room for harambees. We still need harambees and we cannot do away with them at this moment.

I want to appreciate my colleague who said that Kenyans now look for more than just who has the money. In Sen. Hassan’s case, they would have elected those who went with Kshs1,000,000 but they elected him even if he contributed Kshs10,000 because they appreciated what he was going to do for them.

I do not want to think that Kenyans are manipulated anymore siasawise with money. They will still elect the people they think will help them. During my campaigns I heard people say; “chakula kwa fulani na kura kwa fulani”. They know who will deliver.

As I support this Bill, my passion is, when you are a Member of Parliament in Nairobi and I think in other places, people would come to you because the body is being transported out of Nairobi for burial, we had many of these cases especially for far-flung areas. It would be terrible to tell somebody to go and look for a licence or a permit. For the big harambees which involves big monies, yes, those ones we should regulate and make sure the money goes where it should be but for anyone who says they are taking their children overseas but they do not do so, it is a shame even to them. We should not make life difficult for that ordinary old mama or old baba who is trying to do something very important for his family but he is not able because of his situation in life.

All said and done, I support regulating but doing so in a manner that is not oppressive to the common ordinary mwananchi. Again, I salute those who started harambees in this country because we have seen great strides of development.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to add my voice in support of the Public Fundraising Bill which was brought to the Floor of this House by Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o and his team. I congratulate them because in the past, harambees were abused. I remember we used to have politicians contributing a lot of money for construction of classrooms in many schools throughout the country. However, they would go back to those schools the following day and collect the money that was raised because they were friends to principals.

In the eyes of people, they seemed to have contributed money when in actual fact, they had not contributed anything to that school. It used to happen and I have full proof of that. However, we should not forget that the spirit of harambee is a very good idea because our own people in the counties are very poor. Some of them come from slum areas and they do not have sufficient money to either pay for their medical bills or for burial.

I remember I went to a slum area called Rafiki. As I was passing, I was told there was a dead body. An old lady had died in a small hut. I went in to see the dead body. We found the lady lying on a gunia covered with a very old blanket. The person in charge was a very young girl of about 12 years. She had a book sourcing for the harambee. In the book, you could see people had contributed Kshs10, Kshs20 and so forth.

Poverty is rampant in the country. Our people need us, as politicians to help them. They voted for us so that we work for them. Therefore, we should not dismiss harambees at the grassroots level. Harambees should be there even if we regulate them. We cannot regulate a harambee meant to raise Kshs10,000 or Kshs5,000 for school fees for a child, help in a burial of somebody or to pay for medical bills. There are common harambees like what I see around. The trend is where a Senator goes to a harambee to meet the Governor or Member of National Assembly and they contribute Kshs2 million or Kshs3million. As a Senator, maybe you have Kshs5,000 or Kshs10,000. That is why we need full accountability. If somebody’s salary is below the amount he is contributing, where are they getting a lot of money to lure the voters around? In the end, the common mwananchi will vote in the wrong leaders because of the money with which they attract voters. In my area, without money, I do not think you will be perceived as a capable leader.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. Let me from the outset commend those who started the harambee spirit in this country. We have seen a lot of good that has come from the harambees especially in the past. These include building of schools, clinics, supporting those who were not able to do certain social activities and so on. In some of the areas where education excelled, we know that many of those schools were built on the spirit of harambee. In the religious sector, many churches have been built. The religious sector is also part of our social life and contributes a lot to the nation and to the society. The benefits of harambee can certainly not be gainsaid. At the same time, there have been unscrupulous people who may have misused harambees for their own benefit. I think that the good definitely outnumbers the bad.

This Bill seeks to regulate mechanisms at the national and county levels of harambees. That is a good thing and I commend my colleague here for this Bill, which needs to be looked at carefully. As we regulate, we should not hurt the very people we are trying to help or support. I would like us to look at the grassroots. There are many people whose simple tasks are really momentous; they cannot manage them on their own; be it a deficiency of school fees, health care money, be it the passing on of a loved one in a foreign country and they have to bring them back and so on. There are simple things in life but it is their livelihood. How are we going to regulate those small harambees?

What surprises me sometimes is when I see the big people like politicians doing harambees for funerals and so on. Sometimes, it is abuse but most of the time, there is a need. I would hate to see a situation where we regulate to a point that those people at the grassroots are taken advantage of. There is a centre for getting the authority, whether it is a license or whatever; they have to get the license and whoever is giving it out wants a kitu kidogo. So, the money they are trying to raise to solve their problem starts finding loopholes.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, unfortunately our society is full of those things; putting roadblocks in peoples’ way. We used to hear stories where chiefs and other people would ask for chicken if someone does not have money because there was a harambee somewhere. I am completely against any forced harambees. I do not think this situation exists anymore. There was a task force that was looking into this issue and it should make the necessary amendment to make sure that the way we regulate will not hurt ordinary citizens. I believe there is still room for harambees. We still need harambees and we cannot do away with them at this moment.

I want to appreciate my colleague who said that Kenyans now look for more than just who has the money. In Sen. Hassan’s case, they would have elected those who went with Kshs1,000,000 but they elected him even if he contributed Kshs10,000 because they appreciated what he was going to do for them.

I do not want to think that Kenyans are manipulated anymore siasawise with money. They will still elect the people they think will help them. During my campaigns I heard people say; “chakula kwa fulani na kura kwa fulani”. They know who will deliver.

As I support this Bill, my passion is, when you are a Member of Parliament in Nairobi and I think in other places, people would come to you because the body is being transported out of Nairobi for burial, we had many of these cases especially for far-flung areas. It would be terrible to tell somebody to go and look for a licence or a permit. For the big harambees which involves big monies, yes, those ones we should regulate and make sure the money goes where it should be but for anyone who says they are taking their children overseas but they do not do so, it is a shame even to them. We should not make life difficult for that ordinary old mama or old baba who is trying to do something very important for his family but he is not able because of his situation in life.

All said and done, I support regulating but doing so in a manner that is not oppressive to the common ordinary mwananchi. Again, I salute those who started harambees in this country because we have seen great strides of development.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I rise to add my voice in support of the Public Fundraising Bill which was brought to the Floor of this House by Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o and his team. I congratulate them because in the past, harambees were abused. I remember we used to have politicians contributing a lot of money for construction of classrooms in many schools throughout the country. However, they would go back to those schools the following day and collect the money that was raised because they were friends to principals.

In the eyes of people, they seemed to have contributed money when in actual fact, they had not contributed anything to that school. It used to happen and I have full proof of that. However, we should not forget that the spirit of harambee is a very good idea because our own people in the counties are very poor. Some of them come from slum areas and they do not have sufficient money to either pay for their medical bills or for burial.

I remember I went to a slum area called Rafiki. As I was passing, I was told there was a dead body. An old lady had died in a small hut. I went in to see the dead body. We found the lady lying on a gunia covered with a very old blanket. The person in charge was a very young girl of about 12 years. She had a book sourcing for the harambee. In the book, you could see people had contributed Kshs10, Kshs20 and so forth.

Poverty is rampant in the country. Our people need us, as politicians to help them. They voted for us so that we work for them. Therefore, we should not dismiss harambees at the grassroots level. Harambees should be there even if we regulate them. We cannot regulate a harambee meant to raise Kshs10,000 or Kshs5,000 for school fees for a child, help in a burial of somebody or to pay for medical bills. There are common harambees like what I see around. The trend is where a Senator goes to a harambee to meet the Governor or Member of National Assembly and they contribute Kshs2 million or Kshs3million. As a Senator, maybe you have Kshs5,000 or Kshs10,000. That is why we need full accountability. If somebody’s salary is below the amount he is contributing, where are they getting a lot of money to lure the voters around? In the end, the common mwananchi will vote in the wrong leaders because of the money with which they attract voters. In my area, without money, I do not think you will be perceived as a capable leader.

leaders and managers we should be able to outgrow harambees and they will die a natural death.

My child will go through high school without me coughing a penny, because that will be guaranteed by the Government. If I have a health insurance that is working and I am sure that when my child gets out of school he will secure employment, why do we need harambees? We will be very self-sufficient. But until we get there, I would expect that harambees will be able to die a natural death. As it is right now, we have to live with it. I will, therefore, be looking forward to the amendments at the Committee stage to ensure that the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the Bill are removed. It should be easier to be cleared to do a fundraiser and make a report, as it is required by the Bill, to be cleared for any appeal that you make to the national level. But as it is, it will just make life very difficult for those people who are in the villages.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving this opportunity to also add my voice to this Bill. I will start by appreciating the Committee. I am a Member of this Committee that is chaired by Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o and deputized by Sen. Joy Gwendo. It has taken sometime for us to come up with this Bill which is in the Second Reading.

Harambees have been very useful in this country. Many people have been educated even overseas through harambees. Also through harambees we have helped our communities whenever they face challenges, especially with regard to paying hospital bills and meeting funeral expenses and other celebrations. We have depended on harambees to build schools, which should actually be a function of the Government. Unfortunately, harambees have been misused and some people have taken advantage of it. Parents have become lazy or failed to take up their responsibilities because they know that somehow they will approach Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs) , Members of the National Assembly, Senators or Governors to contribute.

We, as a Committee, noted that there is no accountability on the money that is collected through harambees. For example, out of Kshs100,000 contributed in a harambee, maybe only Kshs20,000 will be utilized for the purpose for which the harambee was organized. The rest goes to people’s pockets. That is why we came up with the measures, including what Sen. Martha has mentioned. For you to hold a fundraiser you must get a permit. The board should know about your harambee that is meant to collect money for a specific purpose. Many people approach leaders with many problems. If they are not assisted, they even send abusive text messages and a reminder that 2017 is around the corner. Some even say that they will ensure that you will not be re-elected. They even forget that some of us were not elected. We are here because of what we did for our political parties. Yes, harambees have played a bigger role in the society. However, it is the right time that we moved out of this system because there is a better way of doing things.

I always ask myself: Are harambees going to end poverty? Currently, we have devolution. We, as the Senate, maybe we should now demand that the national Government shares revenue equally with the county governments. The national Government should allocate 50 per cent revenue to the county governments and remain

with 50 per cent, so that the county governments are able to implement what is stipulated as their functions in the Fourth Schedule of our Constitution. The CDF has done a number of things. We also have the Uwezo Fund which was to benefit the young people of this nation, but was given to everybody. People can borrow this money and do business, so that we are not dependent on harambees. We also have the YEDF. The young people can also apply for tenders in the county governments and get this money to clear their local purchase orders.

We also have money meant for the old people. If it is given to people above 65 years, we will experience many problems; that when an old man dies we must fundraise so that he is laid to rest.

At the same time, we have different types of bursaries. We have bursaries given at the ward levels, there are those given by Members of Parliament (MP), those given by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and those given at the county level.

It is time we consolidated these types of bursaries so that every child who is in need is able to get it, unlike the way it is given to specific people. We have people in this country who do not know that this type of fund exists.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thought the governors would have seen the importance of the county development boards that were in a Bill that was passed by this House. This is the only way all the leaders participate in looking at the priorities of what is supposed to be done at the county level. When we do something at the county level, it means that it will affect the people at the lowest level. With this type of boards, we will solve these issues. We do not need to go to the villages to build churches and schools because somewhere at some place it has been catered for. I believe with this, we will solve these problems.

On a light note, recently we had the Beyond Zero marathon and the Office of the Deputy President offered Kshs7 million. We, as Senators, are the ones defending devolution and the county governments. We all know that health is a devolved function that is supposed to be carried out by the counties.

Unfortunately, the county governments are being underfunded towards this function yet money in a different form is being raised for the same. It is time to sit down and analyze what is supposed to be done by the national Government or the county government. If there is something that is supposed to be done by the county government, let money be devolved together with the function so that we do not suffer by going through fundraising for us to take care of our mothers, children and building schools.

With those few remarks, I beg to support this Bill.

leaders and managers we should be able to outgrow harambees and they will die a natural death.

My child will go through high school without me coughing a penny, because that will be guaranteed by the Government. If I have a health insurance that is working and I am sure that when my child gets out of school he will secure employment, why do we need harambees? We will be very self-sufficient. But until we get there, I would expect that harambees will be able to die a natural death. As it is right now, we have to live with it. I will, therefore, be looking forward to the amendments at the Committee stage to ensure that the bureaucratic bottlenecks in the Bill are removed. It should be easier to be cleared to do a fundraiser and make a report, as it is required by the Bill, to be cleared for any appeal that you make to the national level. But as it is, it will just make life very difficult for those people who are in the villages.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir.

of helping this child to be educated. However, the next thing you know the man has bought a matatu in the estate or in the village and he is running around with it. You wonder whether the money you contributed assisted this child.

You contribute money to take a child to Maseno University and the next thing you know, the child is at some local polytechinic. In our society and our socialization, it would be embarrassing to go and ask somebody whether the money that you contributed went towards the village polytechnic education. We really need to regulate harambees. Of course, we know harambees are good because they help in promoting our health and education. We even know that we, as leaders, both in this House and outside, in one weekend, you can have at least 10 harambees. Are you able to hack it and go to all these harambees?

How do you follow up on the contributions that you have made towards college and hospital bills? I have a personal experience where young people come to me and they want me to contribute towards a funeral, yet there is no funeral. They know very well that you, as a leader, you probably, do not have the time to go and verify that or you have another fundraising to go to. If we regulate these harambees, the person being approached to contribute knows that the harambee was geared toward the right thing and the money contributed has done the right thing that was contributed to. You as the person contributing know and question whether the harambee worked the way it was supposed to be and whether it is the right thing to do.

With those few remarks, I beg to support.

On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. While I respect my Senator, from my county, is he really in order to say that harambees are there because the Jubilee Government has failed and he knows very well that harambees started with the first President of this country? Therefore, is he in order to say that Jubilee Government has failed and that is why harambees are going on, when he know that harambee has been a tradition for Kenyans?

He is a politician; I cannot gag him from expressing his opinion.

Continue, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when the Government fails to provide social services - and the distinguished nominated Senator will soon come to terms with this reality. When she will then ask to be elected, is when she will discover that these social services are the very reason she is being asked to go and preside over a funds drive in order to raise funds for them to have access to them. It is not a laughing matter. We have done it for the last 15 years. Sen. Orengo has done it for the last 30 years and so on.

Harambees take place as they do today because the Government has failed---

On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Senator for Kakamega is really out of order to say that until one is elected---

Order! It is for me to say whether he is out of order or not, just state your point of order.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, is he in order to say that until you are elected to this House is when you can do any social activity in this country? I have carried out so many social activities in this country and I am still doing so. Therefore, I do not find it right for any Kenyan to be told that until you are elected to Parliament is when you deal with social activities. It is out of order completely.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when the Government fails to provide social services - and the distinguished nominated Senator will soon come to terms with this reality. When she will then ask to be elected, is when she will discover that these social services are the very reason she is being asked to go and preside over a funds drive in order to raise funds for them to have access to them. It is not a laughing matter. We have done it for the last 15 years. Sen. Orengo has done it for the last 30 years and so on.

Harambees take place as they do today because the Government has failed---

Order! It is for me to say whether he is out of order or not, just state your point of order.

or CT Scans will not be done because that equipment is now available in a Government facility free of charge.

So, the President demonstrated leadership. Swing the other side; what does he do? He then says that Kshs92 million will go to the African Court of Justice (ACJ). This is exactly the opposite because shortly after, the First Lady then goes through the trouble of begging to raise Kshs46 million. If only the First Lady had pinched President Uhuru in the night and told him “please, channel this Kshs92 million to the Beyond Zero Campaign, which is a worthy cause,” then there would not be a problem---

Order, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale!

I am sorry, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Being a happily married man, I am used to being pinched many times to be reminded---

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I am being very serious---

On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Is Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale in order to insinuate that Kenyan women get excited when they are pinched? Is this the way of loving and communicating to Kenyan women? Could the Senator substantiate or withdraw?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on this matter, we will not wish away corruption and harambees. The cardinal responsibility of the Government is to provide good governance. Until we rein in on corruption, we can wake up today and charge the distinguished Senator for Kisii on issues of Anglo Leasing. But to some of us who have had access to sit in that Office of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and who have had an opportunity to go to the Integrity Centre to see what is being done about corruption in that file of Anglo Leasing, we know that it is a very thin file like this.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I am being very serious---

Order! What I heard, Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale say is to the contrary. It is the men who enjoy being pinched by their wives.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on this matter, we will not wish away corruption and harambees. The cardinal responsibility of the Government is to provide good governance. Until we rein in on corruption, we can wake up today and charge the distinguished Senator for Kisii on issues of Anglo Leasing. But to some of us who have had access to sit in that Office of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and who have had an opportunity to go to the Integrity Centre to see what is being done about corruption in that file of Anglo Leasing, we know that it is a very thin file like this.

it was the same guy. This is why I am happy that Professor has put in a Clause for punishment for uttering false evidence.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is a programme in this country called Jicho Pevu. Jicho Pevu has spoken about this issue of public fundraisings over and over. I remember witnessing a case whereby Jicho Pevu followed a guy who comes to Ambassadeur Hotel at the corner of Ronald Ngala Street with a child whose whole head and the hands are bandaged. So, Jicho Pevu, followed this guy, in the evening, this guy unwrapped the bandage and, he found a very normal child with no single fracture; not even a bruise. So, as we protect the poor, we must also know that we have the poor who are also jeuri. It is so difficult to put all these things in law. However, it must be done because the person who is abusing that child is an intelligent adult who can scheme that kind of thing. We need to legislate against him. That is, probably, what Professor meant by “giving false information.”

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the final example is that I sat somewhere in this Chamber a few weeks ago and a Member of the “sky team,” told me that “Boni, you have no---”

Order! Order! Who are Members of the “sky team?” We have no Members of the “sky team’ in this House. We only have Senators in this House.

Are you still talking of members of the “sky team?”

No, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I have run away from that.

So, which Member are you referring to?

I have said “some member,” I did not say “a Member sitting in the Chamber when the Chamber was in Session.” I said sitting in the Chamber, probably, during a Kamukunji; it was not in a Session; it was when strangers are in the House. So, it could have been a stranger or a Member. This member then says that there is no way you can be a President unless you are a billionaire. I looked at the young man and I asked myself “does he know the history of leadership of this world?” The greatest leader who ever lived; Jesus Christ of Nazareth, did not even have a house; neither did Mandela. Even Kenyatta, they built one for him.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, my time is up. I beg to support.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I would like to thank Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislation on Harambees led by the able Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o for coming up with this Bill.

In the public domain, there seems to be some apprehension that the Senate is seeking to abolish harambees. After reading this Bill properly, I am convinced that is not the intention of the Bill to do so. If you look at the manner in which this Bill has been reported in the media and the information that has flown to people who do not have the privilege of sitting in this House, there is a perception that the Senate wants to ban harambees because politicians do not want to give out what they earn to public causes.

A proper reading of this Bill indicates that the Bill seeks to replace the Public Collections Act which is obsolete. When you read it, you will wonder why it should still be holding in this time and age. When you politicise this Bill, you will find people saying that Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o and Sen. Moses Kajwang and others by extension in this House will be fighting some people who go around flying in choppers and doing development modules that are hinged on harambees.

Where I come from, you will find fabulous leaders who have acquired wealth suddenly equating development with harambees. You will come across leaders spending close to Kshs500,000 to hire choppers from Nairobi only for them to donate Kshs100,000 in the villages. I am very happy that somewhere in this Bill, there is a clause that talks about the percentage that can be used by organisers of fundraisings.

We cannot use harambees to compensate for 50 years of historical injustices. In certain areas that we come from, we have seen leaders arguing that for them to develop their specific areas they have to continue carrying out fundraisings. It is that harambees have not benefited this country.

Recently, the First Lady organized a very commendable marathon which is aimed at raising funds to go into maternal wellbeing. When you have all these great ambulances and facilities, where do they deliver the women to? They still deliver women to rotten health facilities that we have ignored for years. We must look at some of those areas that we have historically ignored because the greatest appeals or some of the major appeals that we get as leaders on fundraising tend to relate to medical cases. If we can fix the health care sector, provide universal insurance and encourage our people to take last expense insurance which takes care of funerals, probably, some of these appeals will reduce.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, just like other distinguished Senators have said, harambees have worked despite some of the reservations that we have raised. We have seen schools, hospitals, dams and wells built. We have also seen certain private causes that have been funded through harambees. I, personally, benefited from a harambee when people came together to raise fees for my education. A number of people, including my parents and people that I know, have had their medication taken care of through harambees.

When I read this Bill, there could be one or two areas that we need to be careful about. Part 4 attempts to classify fundraising appeals. In my mind, I would like to make a distinction between public appeals for public causes and public appeals for private causes. A public appeal for a private cause would be someone going to the streets and telling people to help him secure a wife. That is a public appeal for a private cause. It is upon me to decide whether I want to assist him to get a wife or not. If I help him to fundraise and he does not get a wife, he will die in his own loneliness. I will not go and ask for accountability. However, where it is a public appeal for a public cause, this is one area that we must ensure that we insist on accountability as proposed in this Bill.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have seen the CDF or devolved funds that are supposed to be used for public causes being diverted to other things. I have walked around with other Members of National Assembly and you find them providing CDF cheques at a fundraiser. Therefore, making CDF look like it is also a fundraising avenue.

Another thing that has failed is that when you do public collections for public causes, like for construction of schools, there tends to be a lot of misappropriation yet we do not have proper modalities for demanding accountability. We have seen cases where once a secondary school conducts a successful harambee, all of a sudden, the school principal is building a hotel in the nearby town; he has bought himself a new car or married the new teacher who has just been posted to the school.

churches a long time ago. This has made young people at the universities to ask for money. In universities, when it is time to appoint student leaders, we have very many requests of those who want to vie. This is because they believe that for them to become, for instance, the Chairperson of Students Organisation of Nairobi University (SONU), they need Kshs15 million. These young people are very serious about it. They also want to have cars and are using harambees to do it.

As we move on with this Bill, I hope that Sen. Anyang’-Nyong’o of Kisumu County has looked at it and seen that we are not coming up with a law so that we continue with our practices. If you want to become a student leader, you need to convince your fellow students with the issues that will ensure that they remain and enjoy the services of the university. However, we do not need politicians to give students money to carry out flashy campaigns and yet these are children who still need their parents to continue paying their school fees. We have to change this attitude since it has brought animosity. It has also divided us very much.

As I conclude, we must ask ourselves whether we really need to continue holding harambees to support activities where the Government has already given resources. The Government has devolved resources to each county. Counties still have their local revenue which they have been collecting. This is money that the national Government does not question. Therefore, it is up to the county governments to budget and know what they will do in their five-year terms. However, Governors should not compete with the President when he gives money in harambees. The President could have collected money from friends and yet the Governor does not tell us where he got his money.

I support the Bill and hope that we will bring clear amendments. If we are carrying out public activities, let us all sit down as leaders from our counties; from Members of National Assembly, Members of the County Assemblies, Members of the County Governments, the Senators and the Governor. Whether they like it or not, Sang’s Bill could have cured the problems we have today. We would have had clear blueprints in every county to work with.

Therefore, I support.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I would like to thank Members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislation on Harambees led by the able Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o for coming up with this Bill.

In the public domain, there seems to be some apprehension that the Senate is seeking to abolish harambees. After reading this Bill properly, I am convinced that is not the intention of the Bill to do so. If you look at the manner in which this Bill has been reported in the media and the information that has flown to people who do not have the privilege of sitting in this House, there is a perception that the Senate wants to ban harambees because politicians do not want to give out what they earn to public causes.

A proper reading of this Bill indicates that the Bill seeks to replace the Public Collections Act which is obsolete. When you read it, you will wonder why it should still be holding in this time and age. When you politicise this Bill, you will find people saying that Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o and Sen. Moses Kajwang and others by extension in this House will be fighting some people who go around flying in choppers and doing development modules that are hinged on harambees.

Where I come from, you will find fabulous leaders who have acquired wealth suddenly equating development with harambees. You will come across leaders spending close to Kshs500,000 to hire choppers from Nairobi only for them to donate Kshs100,000 in the villages. I am very happy that somewhere in this Bill, there is a clause that talks about the percentage that can be used by organisers of fundraisings.

We cannot use harambees to compensate for 50 years of historical injustices. In certain areas that we come from, we have seen leaders arguing that for them to develop their specific areas they have to continue carrying out fundraisings. It is that harambees have not benefited this country.

Recently, the First Lady organized a very commendable marathon which is aimed at raising funds to go into maternal wellbeing. When you have all these great ambulances and facilities, where do they deliver the women to? They still deliver women to rotten health facilities that we have ignored for years. We must look at some of those areas that we have historically ignored because the greatest appeals or some of the major appeals that we get as leaders on fundraising tend to relate to medical cases. If we can fix the health care sector, provide universal insurance and encourage our people to take last expense insurance which takes care of funerals, probably, some of these appeals will reduce.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, just like other distinguished Senators have said, harambees have worked despite some of the reservations that we have raised. We have seen schools, hospitals, dams and wells built. We have also seen certain private causes that have been funded through harambees. I, personally, benefited from a harambee when people came together to raise fees for my education. A number of people, including my parents and people that I know, have had their medication taken care of through harambees.

When I read this Bill, there could be one or two areas that we need to be careful about. Part 4 attempts to classify fundraising appeals. In my mind, I would like to make a distinction between public appeals for public causes and public appeals for private causes. A public appeal for a private cause would be someone going to the streets and telling people to help him secure a wife. That is a public appeal for a private cause. It is upon me to decide whether I want to assist him to get a wife or not. If I help him to fundraise and he does not get a wife, he will die in his own loneliness. I will not go and ask for accountability. However, where it is a public appeal for a public cause, this is one area that we must ensure that we insist on accountability as proposed in this Bill.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have seen the CDF or devolved funds that are supposed to be used for public causes being diverted to other things. I have walked around with other Members of National Assembly and you find them providing CDF cheques at a fundraiser. Therefore, making CDF look like it is also a fundraising avenue.

Another thing that has failed is that when you do public collections for public causes, like for construction of schools, there tends to be a lot of misappropriation yet we do not have proper modalities for demanding accountability. We have seen cases where once a secondary school conducts a successful harambee, all of a sudden, the school principal is building a hotel in the nearby town; he has bought himself a new car or married the new teacher who has just been posted to the school.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to contribute to this very useful Bill, especially at this time in Kenya when we are trying to streamline and make sure that people do not fundraise just for the sake of it. Even though the issue of harambees has been so common in Kenya and, indeed, very useful in many ways, we know that it has been abused. We know of cases where people started off with a pre-wedding, but they never got married. We also know of people who “killed” their parents because of harambee. We lost it somewhere along the line as far as the process of collection and utilization of those funds is really concerned. This is why Sen. (Prof.)

Anyang’-Nyong’o came up with a Bill that is to regulate and structure the way harambees are conducted and how people go through the process of collecting those funds.

Right from the outset, I remember when this came up as a Motion in the Senate and the whole notion of streamlining harambees, it seemed as a herculean task. We wondered how we were going to make sure that we streamline and put structures in terms of the way harambees are structured. As I look at this Bill, I am proud to see what the Professor has been able to put together in very concrete format; for example, by setting the Fundraising Appeals Committee as a very structural body at a national level that will be able to coordinate the functions, give the licensing and direction for the collection of funds and also a county fundraising appeals committee.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is what the Public Collections Acts; Chapter 106 of the Laws of Kenya intended to do. However, it was not able to really set up these institutional architecture, so that it can align it to fit at the national and county levels and also include funds from other organisations for example religious and charitable organisations. So, as much as this Bill seeks to replace the Public Collections Act, Chapter 106 of the Laws of Kenya, it does this in a very innovative way, by putting specific structures in place to ensure that funds are collected in a very orderly manner.

The misunderstanding that has taken place that we just want to stop fundraising altogether, monitor or stop people from fundraising from the manner that they were used to is very inaccurate. It is also very unfortunate that as we know the media is capable of taking something that is very good and worthy, distorting it and presenting it to the public in a way that misrepresents the intention of that specific Bill. The intention of this Bill is very clearly outlined.

There are very important Clauses in the Bill. Clause 26, gives the process of licensing and how that is going to be done in details. For example, there are certain specific things which we sometimes do not take into consideration or take for granted. The full name and address of the person collecting funds must be known. If it is somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else, they should be known. It gives specifications on somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else.

Clause 4 of Section 26 gives specifications for somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else so that there are very clear details of the name and the purpose of the fund-raising, the date, the amount intended to be raised and so on.

The Bill also gives provisions for areas where even the amount that has been raised has to be stipulated so that it can be known how much it was raised from that particular appeal and what is going to be done in its usage. This model goes very close to Western models where when fundraisings are done, it is in a well coordinated manner so that there is a record of those people who were given the money, how they were given and what has been done. This is key for us because in the Kenyan context, we are very happy to collect the money, but we are not happy to follow through and find out what that money has been used for.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is the same problem we are having with county governments. The main problem is that the Senate has said it must audit the resources given to the counties. Likewise, this Bill also sets out very stringent auditing processes in Section 45 where the records and accounts of the fundraising must be collected and

audited to find out whether they were used for the purposes set out. This helps to a large extend because I believe even now the spirit of giving is reducing because many people they have been heartbroken over time. Most of the time the money contributed never reaches the intended purpose.

I have a feeling that if we go through a proper audit process to ensure that the money is used for what is being used for then it will spur an impetus in the people. There are many philanthropists who would want to contribute, but they are not sure where to put it. Sometimes, it is not possible to actually begin the process of following through, giving money. However, if there is a streamlined way in which I know I will give my contribution and it will be used for its purpose, then for those who want to be philanthropists, they will find it easier to have a coordinated way of contributing.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the issue of false representation is dealt with in Section 51. A caveat is put that there has to be a surrender of collections that have not been done in the accurate manner. These measures put in place will enable harambee contributions to be collected and the issue of false representation to be taken care of.

This Bill also takes care of a very important aspect that sometimes is overlooked in Bills, that is the bit about when there has been offense and it will be tackled. In Section 56, there is provision for offenses and a fine up to Kshs2 million or five year imprisonment. We have provisions for that and, especially in the Kenyan context. As long as caveats are not put into place, people tend to break that law.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, harambee was actually a dream for Kenyans. The word “harambee” comes from a bantu word called “halambe” which means pulling together. It is the people from the coastal towns as they were at the harbour as they were pulling goods coming in somebody would say “halambe” and others said “ooohh” and gave the courage to push and pull. It is instinctively in our blood. It is only that as we go on, we are abusing it more and more, therefore, making more and more people become less prone to want to make that contribution. I believe if we streamline these contribution in the way the Bill suggests, we will move away from the issues of usage of the money collected.

Section 55 is very important for the committee. It talks about the setting up of a social development fund. The money will be raised from fees collected from other donations and from the funds that are collected. Therefore, it is possible for the Committees to initiate some sort of social development. It is not indicated what sort of social development, but we believe that both the national committee and the county committees that are so critical within the devolved system will sit together and come up with ways and means of socio-development which will be very critical for development of various areas within specific counties and communities where money has been collected.

Looking through the objects of the Bill, you will see there is a critical need to have a structured process and a regulatory framework to ensure sufficient information is given to protect public funds from fraudulent use of money, misleading and coercive fundraising appeals. The objects also provide a framework for the establishment of social development. If we proceed, for example, to implement this and change the ways that harambees are done, it is not that harambees are bad. It is the way they have been done. It

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to contribute to this very useful Bill, especially at this time in Kenya when we are trying to streamline and make sure that people do not fundraise just for the sake of it. Even though the issue of harambees has been so common in Kenya and, indeed, very useful in many ways, we know that it has been abused. We know of cases where people started off with a pre-wedding, but they never got married. We also know of people who “killed” their parents because of harambee. We lost it somewhere along the line as far as the process of collection and utilization of those funds is really concerned. This is why Sen. (Prof.)

Anyang’-Nyong’o came up with a Bill that is to regulate and structure the way harambees are conducted and how people go through the process of collecting those funds.

Right from the outset, I remember when this came up as a Motion in the Senate and the whole notion of streamlining harambees, it seemed as a herculean task. We wondered how we were going to make sure that we streamline and put structures in terms of the way harambees are structured. As I look at this Bill, I am proud to see what the Professor has been able to put together in very concrete format; for example, by setting the Fundraising Appeals Committee as a very structural body at a national level that will be able to coordinate the functions, give the licensing and direction for the collection of funds and also a county fundraising appeals committee.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is what the Public Collections Acts; Chapter 106 of the Laws of Kenya intended to do. However, it was not able to really set up these institutional architecture, so that it can align it to fit at the national and county levels and also include funds from other organisations for example religious and charitable organisations. So, as much as this Bill seeks to replace the Public Collections Act, Chapter 106 of the Laws of Kenya, it does this in a very innovative way, by putting specific structures in place to ensure that funds are collected in a very orderly manner.

The misunderstanding that has taken place that we just want to stop fundraising altogether, monitor or stop people from fundraising from the manner that they were used to is very inaccurate. It is also very unfortunate that as we know the media is capable of taking something that is very good and worthy, distorting it and presenting it to the public in a way that misrepresents the intention of that specific Bill. The intention of this Bill is very clearly outlined.

There are very important Clauses in the Bill. Clause 26, gives the process of licensing and how that is going to be done in details. For example, there are certain specific things which we sometimes do not take into consideration or take for granted. The full name and address of the person collecting funds must be known. If it is somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else, they should be known. It gives specifications on somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else.

Clause 4 of Section 26 gives specifications for somebody who is doing it on behalf of somebody else so that there are very clear details of the name and the purpose of the fund-raising, the date, the amount intended to be raised and so on.

The Bill also gives provisions for areas where even the amount that has been raised has to be stipulated so that it can be known how much it was raised from that particular appeal and what is going to be done in its usage. This model goes very close to Western models where when fundraisings are done, it is in a well coordinated manner so that there is a record of those people who were given the money, how they were given and what has been done. This is key for us because in the Kenyan context, we are very happy to collect the money, but we are not happy to follow through and find out what that money has been used for.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is the same problem we are having with county governments. The main problem is that the Senate has said it must audit the resources given to the counties. Likewise, this Bill also sets out very stringent auditing processes in Section 45 where the records and accounts of the fundraising must be collected and

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this important Bill that has been brought by our friend, Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o.

As stated in its memorandum of objects and reasons, the principal object of this Bill is to provide for the establishment of a regulatory mechanism at the national and county levels, which oversee the conduct of fundraising appeals and provide for licensing and regulation of fundraisers and promotion of transparency and accountability in the conduct of fundraising appeals. This is, indeed, a timely and very noble objective. From the history of the harambee movement, it started with very noble objectives, as per the calls by the first President of this country. But over time, the harambee movement has been grossly abused and people have lost responsibility.

Today when a child is born, even men who never used to be called to such functions before, are now invited for harambee to go and see the new baby. So, we contribute to buy clothes for the new baby. As the baby grows up, we are called at various stages of his or her life. So, the baby ceases to be a personal responsibility. The responsibility for raising up a child is transferred to the community. When the baby gets sick or goes to school, we are called for a harambee. When that child has passed her examinations well, we are called to go and congratulate him or her. When he or she goes to university, we have to meet again to send that child there.

When he or she is now grown up and about to get married, we are called again to do a pre-wedding. It goes on and own. When they are grown up now and get sick, we are called to take them to India. Finally, when they die we are also called for another harambee to give them a decent escort out of this world. The harambee movement has been distorted and is now an instrument for disempowering people. It is an instrument for basically denying people their responsibility for their actions.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, time has come for Kenyans to be responsible. You have to take responsibility at a personal level, family level, community level and at the national level. We cannot use harambee to dodge these responsibilities. This matter is not new. This is an old debate in this country. Hon. Sen. (Prof) Anyang’- Nyong’o is very

well aware that for many years when we sat in Opposition Benches, one of our agenda was strategizing how we would remove the burden of harambee from the backs of our people.

Those days, it was not a joking matter. We remember the harambees were compulsory during the one party days, especially when some people had to take some money to Kabarak, the wananchi were really harassed by chiefs, their chicken taken and sold by force so that they could donate “generously”. However, it is only a quarter or less of that money which went to those harambees. The harambees made the chiefs rich. That is why when we went into Government in 2003 and I was appointed the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the first thing I did was to appoint a task force on harambees. That task force was headed by the then Member of Parliament (MP) for Subukia which was Nakuru North constituency, Mheshimiwa Koigi Wamwere and other luminaries like Rev. (Dr.) Timothy Njoya. They went round this country, taking the views of wananchi, the common people about what they think about harambeees and what should be done.

It became very clear from that report. The report is available and I do not know whether this Committee looked at it. What came out was that this harambee movement was not really genuinely helping our people. It was forced generosity by politicians who were out to manipulate the people. The harambee was a game of the rich and the elite. If you hear people are contributing money to take a student to India or a patient to India, it is not the poor peasant in the village who is being taken to India. Those ones die here at KNH or at the local hospital in Migori or other places.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if it is you, we shall all gang up to take you to India. However, that poor voter in the county, even if he calls many harambees, they will never raise enough money to buy an air ticket. Even when we have harambee for taking students to the United States of America (USA) and other overseas universities, it is never the peasant’s child for whom we are doing the harambee. It is the harambee for the local chief, former MP, or for the chairman of the old county council. It is the local elites whom we are supporting through this movement to continue doing better.

From the analysis of that report, harambee was never really genuinely for the poor; it was a game of the rich and the powerful. This is not to say that there is no need for harambee; there are ways of structured philanthropy, we have charities for instance in United Kingdom (UK) where you contribute little amounts of money, but when it is pooled together, it is a lot of money and used in a targeted manner, it can be used to transform society or support courses.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a group like Amnesty International is funded by very small contributions like GB£1 or GB£10. In the end, it is a big international movement with a lot of money. Oxfam also relies on contributions from small donors, but they have an impact; addressing issues of human rights and social justice in the world. So, the time has come for us to rethink how we can organize philanthropy in this country in a manner that can help our people.

I know the soft spot that we have in all this is. If one is heard to be talking against harambees, you are made to look heartless and cruel; it is as if you want people to die. That is not really the case. What we should be thinking about is; what system can we

introduce which will give universal health care to all the Kenyans, whether they are rich or poor?

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o had proposed a very good idea; that we do a very modern facility in this country where we will bring in those top experts from abroad so that we stop sending people to India. Instead, we would have specialists in this country so that Kenyans are treated locally. When I travelled to Abu Dhabi, I found that plan working. The King there said that no citizen of Abu Dhabi will be treated abroad, including himself. So, he was ready to sponsor any top medical expert from anywhere in the world to come and treat people in his own country.

If we introduced this plan in this country, it would help in very many ways because there is no patient who travels to India alone. You travel with a relative and sometimes by the time you get to go there, you would have already been treated at KNH, from where you are then referred to India or South Africa by some medical practitioners. So, it is a very expensive exercise. If we could find a way of cutting that traffic of going to South Africa, India or to other places through building a modern facility here and bringing those experts here, that is one way we will be helping our people better.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I completely support this question of universal health care through expansion of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). It is one way of cutting out and reducing these harambees. We have the Value Added Tax (VAT), which is now at 18 per cent. I would not mind if we could increase VAT by another two per cent so that we dedicate one per cent to a medical fund which we can use for taking care of those of us who are not covered by any insurance or those of us who cannot afford to pay their medical bills, instead of sending them to struggle with harambees.

Similarly, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we can look at areas where harambees can be restricted. Harambees are not meant for everything. They are either for medical---. Those are the most serious ones. I am a Christian and I know that some of the projects we are getting from the churches are unrealistic. God is everywhere. He can even be worshipped under a tree and He can still hear your prayers. But there appears to be competition by churches to build monuments or pyramids; and the bigger you are, the more blessed you are. So, the kind of requests that we are getting, as Senators or Members of Parliament now, the church committee will meet, organize themselves, maybe get a donation from an architect who will draw plans for a hall of Kshs20 million and then they appear in the Senator’s Office. They will say “mheshimiwa, you know we supported you fully and now this is a small request that we are making to you to help us and God will bless you immensely.”

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this important Bill that has been brought by our friend, Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o.

As stated in its memorandum of objects and reasons, the principal object of this Bill is to provide for the establishment of a regulatory mechanism at the national and county levels, which oversee the conduct of fundraising appeals and provide for licensing and regulation of fundraisers and promotion of transparency and accountability in the conduct of fundraising appeals. This is, indeed, a timely and very noble objective. From the history of the harambee movement, it started with very noble objectives, as per the calls by the first President of this country. But over time, the harambee movement has been grossly abused and people have lost responsibility.

Today when a child is born, even men who never used to be called to such functions before, are now invited for harambee to go and see the new baby. So, we contribute to buy clothes for the new baby. As the baby grows up, we are called at various stages of his or her life. So, the baby ceases to be a personal responsibility. The responsibility for raising up a child is transferred to the community. When the baby gets sick or goes to school, we are called for a harambee. When that child has passed her examinations well, we are called to go and congratulate him or her. When he or she goes to university, we have to meet again to send that child there.

When he or she is now grown up and about to get married, we are called again to do a pre-wedding. It goes on and own. When they are grown up now and get sick, we are called to take them to India. Finally, when they die we are also called for another harambee to give them a decent escort out of this world. The harambee movement has been distorted and is now an instrument for disempowering people. It is an instrument for basically denying people their responsibility for their actions.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, time has come for Kenyans to be responsible. You have to take responsibility at a personal level, family level, community level and at the national level. We cannot use harambee to dodge these responsibilities. This matter is not new. This is an old debate in this country. Hon. Sen. (Prof) Anyang’- Nyong’o is very

well aware that for many years when we sat in Opposition Benches, one of our agenda was strategizing how we would remove the burden of harambee from the backs of our people.

Those days, it was not a joking matter. We remember the harambees were compulsory during the one party days, especially when some people had to take some money to Kabarak, the wananchi were really harassed by chiefs, their chicken taken and sold by force so that they could donate “generously”. However, it is only a quarter or less of that money which went to those harambees. The harambees made the chiefs rich. That is why when we went into Government in 2003 and I was appointed the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the first thing I did was to appoint a task force on harambees. That task force was headed by the then Member of Parliament (MP) for Subukia which was Nakuru North constituency, Mheshimiwa Koigi Wamwere and other luminaries like Rev. (Dr.) Timothy Njoya. They went round this country, taking the views of wananchi, the common people about what they think about harambeees and what should be done.

It became very clear from that report. The report is available and I do not know whether this Committee looked at it. What came out was that this harambee movement was not really genuinely helping our people. It was forced generosity by politicians who were out to manipulate the people. The harambee was a game of the rich and the elite. If you hear people are contributing money to take a student to India or a patient to India, it is not the poor peasant in the village who is being taken to India. Those ones die here at KNH or at the local hospital in Migori or other places.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if it is you, we shall all gang up to take you to India. However, that poor voter in the county, even if he calls many harambees, they will never raise enough money to buy an air ticket. Even when we have harambee for taking students to the United States of America (USA) and other overseas universities, it is never the peasant’s child for whom we are doing the harambee. It is the harambee for the local chief, former MP, or for the chairman of the old county council. It is the local elites whom we are supporting through this movement to continue doing better.

From the analysis of that report, harambee was never really genuinely for the poor; it was a game of the rich and the powerful. This is not to say that there is no need for harambee; there are ways of structured philanthropy, we have charities for instance in United Kingdom (UK) where you contribute little amounts of money, but when it is pooled together, it is a lot of money and used in a targeted manner, it can be used to transform society or support courses.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, a group like Amnesty International is funded by very small contributions like GB£1 or GB£10. In the end, it is a big international movement with a lot of money. Oxfam also relies on contributions from small donors, but they have an impact; addressing issues of human rights and social justice in the world. So, the time has come for us to rethink how we can organize philanthropy in this country in a manner that can help our people.

I know the soft spot that we have in all this is. If one is heard to be talking against harambees, you are made to look heartless and cruel; it is as if you want people to die. That is not really the case. What we should be thinking about is; what system can we

introduce which will give universal health care to all the Kenyans, whether they are rich or poor?

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o had proposed a very good idea; that we do a very modern facility in this country where we will bring in those top experts from abroad so that we stop sending people to India. Instead, we would have specialists in this country so that Kenyans are treated locally. When I travelled to Abu Dhabi, I found that plan working. The King there said that no citizen of Abu Dhabi will be treated abroad, including himself. So, he was ready to sponsor any top medical expert from anywhere in the world to come and treat people in his own country.

If we introduced this plan in this country, it would help in very many ways because there is no patient who travels to India alone. You travel with a relative and sometimes by the time you get to go there, you would have already been treated at KNH, from where you are then referred to India or South Africa by some medical practitioners. So, it is a very expensive exercise. If we could find a way of cutting that traffic of going to South Africa, India or to other places through building a modern facility here and bringing those experts here, that is one way we will be helping our people better.

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I completely support this question of universal health care through expansion of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). It is one way of cutting out and reducing these harambees. We have the Value Added Tax (VAT), which is now at 18 per cent. I would not mind if we could increase VAT by another two per cent so that we dedicate one per cent to a medical fund which we can use for taking care of those of us who are not covered by any insurance or those of us who cannot afford to pay their medical bills, instead of sending them to struggle with harambees.

Similarly, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we can look at areas where harambees can be restricted. Harambees are not meant for everything. They are either for medical---. Those are the most serious ones. I am a Christian and I know that some of the projects we are getting from the churches are unrealistic. God is everywhere. He can even be worshipped under a tree and He can still hear your prayers. But there appears to be competition by churches to build monuments or pyramids; and the bigger you are, the more blessed you are. So, the kind of requests that we are getting, as Senators or Members of Parliament now, the church committee will meet, organize themselves, maybe get a donation from an architect who will draw plans for a hall of Kshs20 million and then they appear in the Senator’s Office. They will say “mheshimiwa, you know we supported you fully and now this is a small request that we are making to you to help us and God will bless you immensely.”

driven to steal so that you can come and impress the church. It becomes counter- productive. These projects which you assist in the name of God might be the ones to send you to hell. So, the time has come for us to be very frank; to reason with our people.

Sorry, it seems my time is up. I beg to support.

As I support this, indeed, I know it will help those who call for harambees and end up incurring expenses. Somebody may call for a harambee where they need to collect Kshs50,000 and yet they cook food worth Kshs60,000. At the end of the day, they end up with Kshs20,000. You will then start wondering how the harambee has helped the community or the person who was in need. I recommend that if we have this as law, then it will protect the interests of people with genuine harambees. That will help us to move on as a country. The genuine people who need support will also benefit a lot.

It is high time that we, Members of the Parliament, recognised the importance of giving equal opportunity to the people we represent. Our people are forced to come up with harambees to support their needs. I wish churches were given a small percentage from the CDF for constructions. A church is like a hospital. However, at the end of the day, we depend on harambees to support churches.

If churches do not have good facilities then a person seeking to have spiritual healing cannot be helped. You cannot have faith while inside a church building that is leaking and one which has a lot of dust. To reduce harambees that are unnecessary, we need to know what groups have been left behind without any support of Government and how we can help them.

With those remarks, I support.

An

Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o.

Yes, Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o. Thank you very much for reminding me.

The issue of harambee is a noble cause, but it is sometimes misused and it becomes meaningless. I want to support the harambee spirit because it is a noble cause, helping one another to achieve an objective that will benefit a society, community or family that is in hardship. Indeed, it is important to have these harambees being controlled by having a body that will control the way they are being managed and run, for us to have something that will touch the life of a person in the community. If I can remember or flashback to some years back when harambees were banned and the CDF came in place; when you look at the challenges that the common mwananchi or Kenyans citizens were facing through the harambee process, you find that the banning of harambee helped so much and the community and CDF came in place to support.

So many projects have been done, especially construction of schools and other facilities. However, sometimes people or the community is forced to come up with harambee to support the neglected projects that are normally called “white elephants” because of political reasons, whereby after the sitting Member of National Assembly, maybe did not manage politically, the incoming new Member ignores the projects that were started by the former Member. So, it is the community again, through their initiatives that is forced to come up with such a harambee to support the finishing of such projects.

These harambees support the education systems. When you look at the way bursaries are distributed under the CDF, you will see that they are not given out equally. Some parents, due to political reasons, are forced to come up with harambees so as to support the education of their families and to pay hospital bills. If we have a body that will monitor harambees, then we will have some sanity in the whole thing. We will also create genuineness in harambees that are held.

At times you can go to your constituency and find that you have almost 20 harambees on one Saturday. One is left wondering how to divide himself so as to attend all of them. It is even more difficult for us, Senators, who do not have other sources of money, but depend on salaries. As my colleague has said, when you give out small amounts, people are left gossiping and saying; “a whole Senator is giving us Kshs5,000 or Kshs2,000.” When you multiply the Kshs5,000 by 20, you will find that you cannot make it.

As I support this, indeed, I know it will help those who call for harambees and end up incurring expenses. Somebody may call for a harambee where they need to collect Kshs50,000 and yet they cook food worth Kshs60,000. At the end of the day, they end up with Kshs20,000. You will then start wondering how the harambee has helped the community or the person who was in need. I recommend that if we have this as law, then it will protect the interests of people with genuine harambees. That will help us to move on as a country. The genuine people who need support will also benefit a lot.

It is high time that we, Members of the Parliament, recognised the importance of giving equal opportunity to the people we represent. Our people are forced to come up with harambees to support their needs. I wish churches were given a small percentage from the CDF for constructions. A church is like a hospital. However, at the end of the day, we depend on harambees to support churches.

If churches do not have good facilities then a person seeking to have spiritual healing cannot be helped. You cannot have faith while inside a church building that is leaking and one which has a lot of dust. To reduce harambees that are unnecessary, we need to know what groups have been left behind without any support of Government and how we can help them.

With those remarks, I support.

Hon. Senators, we have come to the end of today’s House Business.

The Senate, therefore, stands adjourned until tomorrow, 11th March, 2015, at 2.30