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{
    "id": 1238402,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1238402/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 69,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport and Public Works",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank my friend Sen. Veronica Maina for this question. It speaks to the core issue of pending bills and roads that are pending. I do not know if she was insinuating that in Sen. Mungatana’s analogy, the Kandara-Mau Mau Road was malaria and the one for Tana River is heart attack. I want to correct an impression that might be easily created about the roads that have not been constructed. Most of those roads, including the Mau Mau Road, have been pending for over two years. Mau Mau Road was started like three years ago and barely 10 per cent of the works was done. Machines were taken there, but nothing was done. So, these roads have been pending way before the election of the Kenya Kwanza Administration. Those roads have historical problems of neglect. Sometimes you ask yourself whether procurement rules were followed. The procurement law requires that before you tender for a road or any project, you must have a budget for the entire resources. Perhaps there was a budget, but it was diverted to other things. I do not want to be political here. However, a lot of it was diverted for the past two or three years to do things that were not the core mandate of the Government as per its own budget. I can tell Sen. Veronica Maina, that some of the roads have been pending from as far as the Financial Year 2015/2016. For example, if you go to Tharaka-Nithi, there is a road called Chakarika/Marimanti, which has been pending from Financial Year 2015/2016. You saw another road in Nyandarua County. We were there the other day and people were asking why we were relaunching a road that was launched in 2016/2017. It is because it was launched and then left. No money was given. So, a number of those roads have absolutely nothing. I have seen some politicians who want to ride on these things and say that this Government is not doing our roads. They should first go back to history and ask themselves since when have these roads been pending? They have been there for about six years. On average, all pending roads are about five to six years old. Some extremes are about eight to nine years. As I said, it is not for me to write another book of lamentations. It is for us to resolve the problem. We promised as a Government, both in our manifesto and in utterances that we are going to make sure that all the pending roads are completed. We will not start new roads until we complete the pending roads. In addition, if we have to start new roads, it will be the ones we have discussed with our development partners, where they will give us concessional support to build them. That is why my meetings with leaders always helps us to identify key critical counties that were never considered for the construction of roads so that when we get concessional funding and support from development partners, we can channel them to the ones that are absolutely new."
}