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{
    "id": 113944,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/113944/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 290,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "I was listening to my friend, Mr. Ethuro, and I would like to support his points of view, especially with regard to infrastructure. You realize that when the railroad is built from Lamu to Sudan and we also have a refinery in Lamu through which the Southern Sudan will be exporting its oil wealth, this will be a tremendous boost to the economies of the two countries. Indeed, the opening up of the northern part of Kenya will begin. That is a potential bread basket for this country. If you have travelled to northern Kenya, you will realize that the water table is not that far down. That is why you do not have sandy deserts there. If anything, we have shrubland. This means that those plants growing there must have access to some water. What is happening at the moment is that when it rains, we do not manage that water properly. It becomes a destructive force like you saw happening in Samburu the other day. We need to build dams and wells which will help bring this water back into the earth and help raise the water table for purposes of plant life and animal life. Another thing that will happen when northern parts of Kenya are opened up through effective building of infrastructure is that there is a problem we have at the moment of poor healthcare in that area. This will also be dealt with. When the area is not properly settled, during drought, animals die. When heavy rains come, those carcasses are pushed by water into streams and people begin drinking the water from the streams and water borne diseases become a menace. So, there is all the reason for the opening up of the northern part of Kenya by proper infrastructural development and encouraging more permanent human settlement. At the moment, you really cannot blame the people of northern Kenya for being migrant because they migrate in search of pasture and water. Were there to be proper sources of water and pastures, they would behave very rationally and settle around those areas which have the natural resources that they need. This is the history of many countries where the proper management of water and irrigation has helped in improving human settlement and the proper use of natural resources by human beings. I think it is very important that there is an urgency for the development of infrastructure all over Kenya and particularly in northern Kenya. One of the problems we have in terms of infrastructure development is our procurement laws. It becomes very difficult to move a project expeditiously when procurement laws make the movement sluggish. It was thought that when you put many roadblocks in procurement, you will fight against corruption. The reality, however, is when the procurement process becomes more complicated, you actually create checkpoints for rent seeking. Those checkpoints for rent seeking are quite often not used for transparency and accountability but more for fudging the process so that people can seek rent. During this financial year, as we come up with a new constitution and review certain laws, we should think very seriously about how to have a user-friendly procurement law or legal regime. We should have user friendly schemes of procurement services and goods that will aid and help the rapid development of this country. As I have frequently observed, this country is a nation of great potential but a disappointing under-achiever. If that was not the case, we would obviously have developed as fast as South Korea, Malaysia and even Indonesia but we have not done so. If you look at the results, it is like Malaysia, their resource space is nothing compared to ours. Kenya is perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of the earth. I think God created this country when he was in a very good mood and wanted to give us all the varieties of geographical features and natural endowments that are very unique on the face of the earth. This should be used for the development of this nation. The fact that we are on the equator means that we have very good access to the sun, but we have not used that to develop solar power and solar energy."
}