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{
    "id": 1129045,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1129045/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 440,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ol Kalou, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Kiaraho",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2648,
        "legal_name": "David Njuguna Kiaraho",
        "slug": "david-njuguna-kiaraho"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance to air my views. First and foremost, I would like to state how disappointed I was with the former proposals at one point in time as a Member of this Committee. I am an architect by profession. Some of the issues which were being pushed forward were very disappointing. However, I thank our Chairperson and the Committee – so, I should also be thanking myself – for listening to the views from various stakeholders. Having navigated through all the views which were given, what is in front of us makes a lot of sense. There are three cardinal points. There is the issue of increasing the term of the Director- General from three to five years, which is okay. There is also the issue of reducing the time period for experience from 15 to 10 years. However, of major concern was the issue of opening up the post of Director-General. As an architect, in any project, we are called the lead consultants. We oversee what the mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, interior designer and surveyor are doing. All other consultants fall under the lead consultant. In my view, the Director-General is the head of whichever agency he or she is leading, whether it is the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) or the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA). If the seat of Director-General is occupied by someone who does not have the technical understanding and know-how, that would open up an avalanche of chaos. Why do I say this? Just put yourself in this particular situation. Here is a Director-General who has gone to negotiate for some donor funding. When negotiating, there are so many technical terms which are used that he or she will need an engineer by his or her side to interpret what those people are saying. Currently, we see our Director-Generals inspecting roads in various areas in Kenya. If, for instance, we had a Director-General who goes to inspect a road in a particular section, but he or she does not understand any issue pertaining to that road, he or she will have to consult an engineer. When tenders are done, they are based on Bills of Quantities (BQs) and engineering drawings. A Director-General should be someone who, when given those tender documents or drawings, at a glance, he or she should know what they are about. It will be very unfortunate if, as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of that agency, you are just given the BQs and some drawings for a tender, told that the tender costs a certain amount and your work is just to append your signature without knowing what you are signing for. This is one area that I feel will be totally misused. We must agree that those three agencies have been moulded and formed over years in such a way as to achieve the main objective in the roads sector, which is to make that sector better through better delivery of services. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}