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{
    "id": 1277905,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1277905/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 270,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sotik, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Francis Sigei",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to also ventilate on this very important Motion. From the outset, I support this Report. Many speakers have mentioned the shortcomings of the Report. However, the Committee has done a good job. I am a first-timer in this House. In the past, we used to have only one parliamentary investigation committee that dealt with audit queries. I am in the Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education. What this Committee has done is to bring out several issues that are an impediment in implementing Government policies. I am the Member of Parliament for Sotik. When I took over, I gave an undertaking to invite management teams of three funds: the Women Enterprise Development Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, and Uwezo Fund to come to my constituency to enlighten my people on what they are mandated to do. Our women in Sotik do not know of the existence of the Women Enterprise Development Fund. There are a lot of problems. One, is lack of awareness and two, the amount of money that is given to these women by the Women Enterprise Development Fund. It is very little. It has very little impact on our people. The objective of these special funds was to improve the lives of our people in the rural areas. However, I do not think it has done much. We need to address issues of structure and capacity of our people. In my area, people who are manning the Women Enterprise Development Fund are not known. I support this Committee but we need to look at the legal issues. What are these fellows doing? These fellows cannot answer audit queries! So, I support the Report and recommend that we go out of our way to dig deeper into issues concerning the funds just like what my colleague said about the Equalisation Fund. This is a serious issue. The Government should take deliberate actions to ensure that those areas that are marginalised are given special attention. If the Equalisation Fund is to have impact in this country, we should do more than what the Committee has done. We need to do a study on what the Fund has done in these regions, especially the arid and semi-arid areas. I would like to see a change. Where are the officers who man these funds? What are their qualifications? Are they visible in the regions? In Sotik, I have not seen these fellows and I would like to see them. 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."
}