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{
    "id": 1277924,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1277924/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Marsabit County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Naomi Waqo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I am ready to give my input on this Motion. From the outset, I support the Report and congratulate the Chairlady, Mheshimiwa Fatuma. I must congratulate you for doing this. You have also presented the Report in a very good way. That is why we are here to support you. Continue with that spirit. For some of us, the sky is the beginning. Thank you. Hon. Temporary Speaker, this Report is what Kenya needs today, putting into consideration the many challenges that we have gone through. We know very well that this Report covers the area that most of us belong to, especially women representatives. The Women Enterprise Development Fund, Youth Enterprise Development Fund, funds for people living with disabilities and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) are all special funds. Some of us do not even know how to access and help our people to get the funds. The Report has brought out the weaknesses and challenges that are there. If we put all of them in order and the Report gets the attention that it deserves, then we can be sure that a lot of transformation will take place. Some things will change and we will overcome the challenges. The Report speaks about Equalisation Fund, the Women Enterprise Development Fund and the Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund. Kenya does not have food today. We are importing it. Just a few months ago, many of us were in crisis because we could not get enough food to feed our people. If this Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund is taken care of and well utilised, I know very well that we will not be where we were just before the rains. Hon. Temporary Speaker, if you look at the Women Enterprise Development Fund, a you will find that lot of mismanagement has taken place. Women who need to run businesses suffer because they cannot access the funds that are there. Sometimes it is the rich who get the money and they enrich themselves. The poor who would have been uplifted and the poverty levels in their lives reduced are still there struggling. We are talking about the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. We know that many of our young people are not employed in Kenya today. We have graduates in our homes who got First Class Honours and Second Class Honours, but are not employed. Some of them are depressed and cannot support themselves. Some are at the age of starting their families, but because of financial constraints, they cannot even imagine of having a girlfriend, leave alone marrying a lady. If all these Funds are well utilised, they can reduce and overcome poverty in our counties. They can serve a very good purpose. However, we have not been good stewards. That is why the Committee observed too many things. There are late submissions of accounting documentation. Why does it happen? If we have qualified people in the office, why should we have that problem? They should report, place everything in place, and cite the gaps that are there so that they can be sealed, and we move on. A lot of negligence has happened in the past. People have not been good stewards of the resources that God has put in our hands. That is why many Kenyans who would have benefited from these funds are still suffering today. There is failure by accounting officers to submit the necessary documents. If they cannot do their work, why are they in those offices? They have their job description, but they still cannot do that particular one. Matters to do with finance and money are very sensitive. We know very well that if you are not careful with handling your own cash, you will end up being poor. This country has dropped to the level we are today because we have wrong people in offices. I want to speak about the Civil Servants Housing Scheme. This is something that would have transformed the lives of civil servants. Unfortunately, many of our civil servants who have retired... You know when they are in Nairobi or small cities, they rent somewhere, but after they retire, they have nowhere to lay their heads. That is why many of them are depressed and some die before their days. If we can put this in place, then many of our civil servants will 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."
}