Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Raila surrenders gift to Parliament


Raila surrenders gift to Parliament

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Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) hands over gifts to Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende, at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi, June 4th, 2012. The gifts were presented to the PM during his recent visit to Turkey. PHOTO/STEPHEN MUDIARI
Prime Minister Raila Odinga (left) hands over gifts to Speaker of the National Assembly Kenneth Marende, at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi, June 4th, 2012. The gifts were presented to the PM during his recent visit to Turkey. PHOTO/STEPHEN MUDIARI  
By DAVE OPIYO dopiyo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, June 4  2012 at  18:26
Prime Minister Raila Odinga has surrendered to Parliament a gift he received while on official duty in Turkey last week.
Mr Odinga had been given a handmade decorative Turkish glass bowl, decorative glass, brass ewer and plate from a group of businessmen in Istanbul.
He had led a high-powered government delegation to attend a conference on Somalia between May 31 and June 1.
Mr Odinga, who was accompanied by his legal and constitutional affairs advisor Paul Mwangi, handed over the gifts to Speaker Kenneth Marende at a news conference in Parliament on Monday.
Mr Marende in turn handed over the gifts to Dr Idle Farah, National Museums of Kenya director general.
The PM said his move was prompted by provisions of the Constitution, which require that such gifts be handed over to the State.
Article 76(1) of the Constitution reads; “A gift or donation to a State Officer on a public or official occasion is a gift or donation to the Republic and shall be delivered to the State unless exempted under an act of Parliament.”
Similarly, Section 11 (3) of the Public Officers Ethics Act states: “A public officer may accept a gift given to him in his official capacity, but unless the gift is a non-monetary that does not exceed the value prescribed by regulation, such gift shall be deemed to be a gift of the Public Officers Organisation.
“Under Section 3 (2) (a) of the Act, the responsible ethics commission for senior members of the Executive is the Powers and Privileges Committee of the National Assembly,” said Mr Odinga on Monday.
“In compliance with the above legal provisions and with the code of conduct and ethics for members of the National assembly, I hereby declare to you as Chairman of the committee receipt of the aforesaid gifts and hand them over to you on behalf of the republic,” said Mr Odinga.
Mr Odinga said State Officers should now make it a habit of returning gifts given to them while either on official or personal duties.
“We all know that during their functions especially in the rural areas, they are often showered with gifts including cows and goats. Instead of slaughtering them, they should surrender them to the State as is required by law,” said the PM.
“This law needs to be respected,” he went on adding that his move to surrender it was voluntarily.
“My conscience did not allow me to keep it,” said the PM.
Mr Marende on his part said the handover of the gifts was a clear indication that the constitution was indeed at work.
“This symbolizes that indeed the provisions of the constitution are working,” said the Speaker.
He however warned State officers who fail to adhere to this requirement that they risked being penalized.
He said with the Act now in place, all that remained was coming up with regulations that will guide the value of gifts which should be surrender to the State.
“The gift given to the PM appears to me to be gold plated if not solid gold…its value is definitely upwards of sh50,000.We shall therefore come up with these regulations that are so far missing from the Act.”

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