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"id": 192986,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/192986/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Were",
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"speaker": {
"id": 153,
"legal_name": "David Aoko Were",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Budget Speech. Many hon. Members have said that it was a well-planned Budget. My worry is that the figures that were quoted seem to be too high. I am not able to understand how the Minister is going to bridge the deficit of over Kshs100 billion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to mention a few points which the Minister touched on. First is the issue of roads. It is good that the Minister has spared Kshs65 billion to be used on the construction and maintenance of roads. My problem is that the time taken to construct roads is too long. We have realised that contracts are given out, and it takes up to five years before a contract is completed. We should come up with a system where the time spent on road construction is reduced. The other problem affecting this issue of roads is the distribution of the roads being 1298 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 19, 2008 constructed. Some areas are actually marginalised when it comes to the construction of roads. In some areas many roads are tarmacked, even where there is very little traffic, while the roads with heavy traffic are ignored. I would request that the issue of distribution is looked into, so that it is done fairly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of the railways system, it is surprising that for 100 years we have not constructed a single inch of railway line, while it took the British five years to construct the railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu. We have gone for more than 40 years without constructing even one inch of railway line. This is an area that should be considered, because our roads are being damaged. Many goods coming from Mombasa come by roads. Most of the trucks are too heavy. Whatever kind of road we construct, it is very difficult for it to withstand the kind of trucks that we have. If we take, for example, the road between Mombasa and Nairobi, the completion of works was three years ago. But if you travel on that road right now, it is already damaged. This road, which was supposed to last a period of between 10 to 20 years, has been damaged within a period of three years. So, what the Government should emphasise on is the railway line. We should construct more railway lines and repair the one that we have so that we can transport goods through the railway lines. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister talked about Kshs6.8 billion for rural electrification. That is a very good idea. So many projects are going on in the country. But my worry is that most of them are taking too long to complete. You will find a project that is running for only five kilometres taking a period of over six months to complete. What we have realised in most cases is that we have very few contractors who are awarded those jobs. So, you will find a contractor having ten jobs and there is a problem of finance. I have an example of a project in my constituency worth only Kshs5 million. It is about four kilometres long. It took close to a year to complete. When we tried to find out the reason for that delay, we discovered that the contractor had so many other jobs. He has to sink in his own money, reach a certain stage before he can be paid. So, it reached a point where he was unable to do all those jobs because he did not have enough money. Therefore, it would be my request that those jobs be distributed to many contractors, rather than relying on very few contractors. The time taken to complete those contracts takes long. We have also realised that even on completion of those projects, the common man has found it very difficult to tap that electricity. Why? Because it is too expensive! You will find that a transformer is there and when people apply for electricity, they are told to pay Kshs100,000. Primary schools are asked to pay Kshs200,000. It becomes very difficult to enjoy the benefits of electricity. You will find the transformers there, but there are no connections. Why? Because it is too costly! So, the Ministry of Energy should look into ways of making connection charges affordable to the common man. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are happy with the Government's efforts to ensure that most of our people get education. We have free primary education and we have subsidised secondary education. I am calling it subsidised because the Government is not footing the whole amount. But because of that, the number of students has increased both in primary and secondary schools at a very high rate - more than 10 per cent. However, the number of teachers and facilities has not grown at the same rate. Books are also a problem. It is my request that the Ministry, although we have been promised that 6,000 teachers will be employed--- I look at it as a very small figure. We should have been talking about, at least, three times more than that, to alleviate the problem that is existing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from the sugar industry. We are talking about Vision 2030. We are planning to be an industrialized nation. If we are planing to become an industrialized nation, we must also consider the existing industries. How will you become industrialized when the existing industries are in danger of collapsing? We saw the textile industry June 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1299 go down the drain. The sugar industry is in danger! Most of the sugar industries that we have in this Republic are on their death beds, maybe, except, Mumias Sugar Company (MSC). There is a grave danger of the sugar industry also collapsing. So, if we are planning to become industrialized and, at the same time, the existing industries are in danger, how will we achieve that? So, it is my request that the Government looks seriously into the sugar industry which, in fact, is relied upon by 6 million Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, because I am seeing that time is moving very fast, we, as hon. Members, have an oversight role. Right now, we are discussing the Budget. We are appropriating funds. It is our duty also to know how that amount is used. It is our duty to ensure that the amount is invested properly and spent wisely. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is one issue that is coming up regarding the Department of Defence (DoD). There is a mini Goldenberg or mini Anglo Leasing which is about to come up. A tender was issued! Tenders were returned. After returning, an evaluation was done on the basis of performance, reliability and maintainability. That tender was for procuring motor vehicles. Ranking was done from number one to number seven. The Tender Board awarded the contracts to two bidders. One was Cathic of China and Renault. They had very good reasons as to why they awarded the tenders to the two tenderers. The reason was that if you purchase from one, there is always a tendency of that one tenderer to hold the DoD to ransom. When it comes to support services, spares and maintenance, you have a problem. So, that is the wisdom which informed the Tender Committee to award the tenders to the two bidders. What we have learnt is that Cathic has already received the Local Purchase Orders (LPOs) and have already supplied. The second company has not received the LPOs. There is something going on at the DoD. Maybe, money is changing hands so that they give the remaining order of 175 vehicles to Cathic while, it was stated very clearly that the other reason for awarding the two bidders was on the basis of performance. Those vehicles were checked---"
}