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"id": 101062,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/101062/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Manson Nyamweya",
"speaker_title": "The Member for South Mugirango",
"speaker": {
"id": 391,
"legal_name": "Manson Oyongo Nyamweya",
"slug": "manson-nyamweya"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Member of Parliament for South Mugirango Constituency. First and foremost, I want to thank the people of South Mugirango for giving me overwhelming support. The voter turnout in that by-election was 81 per cent. That shows the determination of the people of South Mugirango to make their own independent decision against the big parties which came to campaign for their candidates. The first thing I want to say is that the candidates who vied did not have a problem. The problem we have in South Mugirango is the way the Coalition Government is treating us in terms of resource allocation. However, before I say that, let me make a point here on an incident that we experienced during the counting of the votes. The exercise was disrupted. Mheshimiwa Orengo is here. He raised an issue which may have been legal or illegal. I do not know about that. However, he knows about the issue that he raised. It is, indeed, a major issue affecting our elections, even as we go for the forthcoming referendum. If you show people the results and you change your mind and stop it midway, it will bring misunderstanding and confusion. So, if there is an issue to be changed--- I ask Mheshimiwa Orengo, the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs to amend that. So, as we go for the referendum and any other future elections, they will be fair, free and transparent. We will have a system that this nation trusts. What happened there is that the Interim Independent Electoral Commission (IIEC) officials were intimidated by some Ministers who were there. They stopped the exercise. I do not blame them for doing so. The Commission is interim and the officials want their jobs back after two years. Hon. Members are the ones to employ them. It is an issue which we should all look at. It should be addressed in this Parliament before we go for any other election, so that it is free and fair for everybody to see. My other point is that I have seen the development expenditure estimates. I have looked through it. This House is approving Kshs222,637,997,232. In South Mugirango, where I come from, they have allocated Kshs5 million for construction under the Office of the President. The money that was allocated for roads has been removed in this financial year. In the next financial year, that money is there. I am glad that the Right Honourable Prime Minister is here. When he was in South Mugirango, he saw the roads that we have. I plead with the Government - and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance is here - to know that it will not matter to the people of South Mugirango whether this Budget is passed or not. That is because they will not be affected. They are getting nothing from the central Government. When you look at the allocations in terms of roads--- In terms of water, we got Kshs10 million. I have gone through the estimates in the Budget. So, clearly, there is bias in resource allocation. I ask the people concerned to take the necessary steps and be fair in allocating resources to all the regions. Where I come from, the roads are very bad and yet the place is very fertile. During the campaigns, some people came using helicopters. They did not use the roads. Farmers there are hard working but they need support from the Coalition Government in terms of allocation of funds. What they did was against the Coalition Government and not against any individual party. The Coalition Government is not giving us services. We have been marginalized. That is all we are asking; that we be part of this country. We pay taxes and this is embarrassing. I want you to look at the estimates for South Mugirango and go through them. Finally, hon. Members, I am a new person here. I do not understand how the Minister for Roads could give no money to South Mugirango. We have been promised roads by senior Government officials while the Prime Minister and the Vice-President were present. You cannot believe what we are doing as a Government. I will urge the concerned parties to take the Gusii people seriously. The message is very clear to everyone. We want to be on our own and we want to be respected as a community. We want to be understood so that we are not taken for granted. As I have said, the Government has tried in the allocation for the recurrent expenditure. However, for capital expenditure, I will not support this because I do not see a reason why I should do so. I do not know where the money is going. I represent the people of South Mugirango. I cannot support this. On recurrent expenditure, that is fine. It is in order. The Government must run. The Ministers must buy ink and drive their cars. However, on development, I beg to oppose."
}