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{
"id": 1129123,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1129123/?format=api",
"text_counter": 518,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kaiti, WDM-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Joshua Kivinda",
"speaker": {
"id": 13353,
"legal_name": "Joshua Kivinda Kimilu",
"slug": "joshua-kivinda-kimilu"
},
"content": "and arrowroots. The topography of my constituency is hilly and there is need for road maintenance almost every year. During the rainy season, the roads are swept away. For any country to achieve sustainable development, it must have good roads. Without roads, we cannot talk of development. I support the extension from three years to five years. When we were elected in 2017, we thought 2022 was too far away. Four years down the line, we have done a lot. As a Member of Parliament, one has so many projects. In fact, when you look in your diary, you find that you have not done much during the five-year period. So, three years is a short period for any person to budget and plan. I support the five years because I know the director- general will be in a position to plan and go to the ground to see what is happening instead of sitting in the office and getting reports from junior staff. As I have said, I support this amendment because in my constituency, there is a road from Sultan Hamud to Kilome, which started around six years ago, but has not been completed. The road was started in 2016. When I became a Member of Parliament, I met with the director-general and we had very good discussions about it. I pushed him to complete it because I felt it had delayed and my people were expecting it would take two to three years to be completed. One or two years later, we got a new director-general and I had to go back to discuss with him about the same road. The new director-general knew nothing about it! That is why I insist that a period of five years is important. So, before a director-general exits from the position, he must ensure that the work he started is completed. I also support the 15 years’ work experience because when we employ people with good work experience, they do a good job. The contractors doing roads should be supervised to ensure they do a good job. Some contractors are tricky and if not well monitored, they can do unsatisfactory works. We need accountability. If a director-general has 15 years’ work experience, I can smell accountability from such a person. We need someone who can take care of our money. It is too painful when you tour your constituency and hear people saying that a road which was done six months ago is damaged. When you research to find out what happened, you understand that the contractors did a shoddy job. According to me, we are doing well in the education sector because of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF). We should come up with a formula where roads can be monitored by the Members of Parliament. Village roads are devolved and are under county governments, but when you go to your constituency, people tell you: \" Mheshimiwa, a certain road has not been done and we are waiting for you to do it.\" They do not even know that roads are devolved and they should question the county government. Since the county government has not done the roads, they hold you accountable. In future, we need to think of how we can allocate money for roads and take them back to the national Government, so that we can be monitor from our end. I have heard Hon. Maanzo talking about a road in my constituency, namely, the Ukia-Emali Road, which we have been pushing to be tarmacked for the last four years. Our people are waiting to see well-done roads. If a director-general can track where he started five years ago, he will do good work. This will help Members of Parliament to know how to talk to their people and answer questions to do with roads. I support this Bill. As Members of Parliament, we need to come up with a formula of allocating funds to tarmac only 10 kilometres in each constituency. This will help us make our country look uniform and support development in our constituencies. I support and thank the Committee for a job well-done in this Bill."
}