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{
    "id": 1183233,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1183233/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1912,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohammed",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, with all the failures of devolution, and with no NG-CDF, for you to get development from the national Government, the President must visit your locality. That is the only time you can get development in Kenya. That is how the country has been structured. You have to wait until he appears in your territory, the way we believe that Jesus will come back, so that you tell him how your schools are in problems and how you have bad roads. That explains why some Members from the Minority side are trooping to the Government side. The notion is that they are looking for development for their constituencies. Why should you look for development in the Executive when getting money for your constituency’s development is your constitutional right? You are paying taxes like any other Kenyan. You do not have to beg for development. It is your constitutional right for roads to be constructed in your constituency. It a constitutional obligation for roads to be constructed in my constituency. Any Government that is in place must construct roads in my constituency. I do not have to beg anyone for roads to be constructed in my constituency. Neither do I have to wait for the President to come to my constituency so that I get development. If that is what it will take me to wait, I will wait. We will wait until the cows come home. This country has moved on. Kenyans are empowered under the new Constitution. You do not have to go asking for any favour. Neither do you have to lick anybody’s boot so that you get development in your constituency. Getting development through NG-CDF is a constitutional right even though some people are saying it is not. It is just the Act that has just been nullified by the court. I strongly believe that the Act had aligned the NG-CDF with the Constitution. There was no role of Member of Parliament in managing NG-CDF affairs according to the Act. The NG-CDF was being operated by a Board. The same Board is the one that sits with the people in the constituencies to identify projects they want implemented. The Board then submits the proposals to the NG-CDF Board, which funds the identified projects. You remove NG-CDF when you can see the corruption and lethargy that is in the devolved governments in this country and expect me to wait for the President to come to my constituency for me to have development? Many Kenyans are going to suffer without NG- CDF. If we go that route, many children will not go to school, and we will not have police stations to take care of security in our areas. I do not know when the President will come to my constituency so that I ask for development. We cannot suffer when we have mechanisms through which to help our people, as the main law-making institution in this country. I urge the ad hoc Committee being formed through this Motion to expedite this matter. They should report back to this House within 90 days, as per the Standing Orders. Since they are also Members of this House, they know the urgency of this matter. Their mandate is just to collect views from Kenyans. The membership of the Committee can divide themselves into groups and collect views from different parts of the country simultaneously. I promise you that the information that the ad hoc Committee will gather from the people in the villages will be shocking. Every Kenyan in every village they will go will testify that one of their children, parent or other relative has benefited from NG- CDF in terms of school fees, roads and security. When the ad hoc Committee starts conducting public hearings, they will be shocked by the overwhelming response they will get from the people. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I wish this kind of public indictment could be done on other funds, including devolution funds. Today if you ask Kenyans what their thoughts on devolution are, you will be shocked with the kind of feedback you will get from them. I do not want to belabour the point. Personally, I believe the issue of the NG-CDF is not a constitutional issue or a legal issue but a conspiracy in the country to fight it. The Judiciary is being used to execute that conspiracy. As you know, the Executive will not support the NG-CDF. With the economic crunch that the country is facing, they will be happy not to be required to send Ksh40 billion or Ksh34 billion to the constituencies every year. That is money they can use on other things. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}