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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. ole Metito",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Regional Development Authorities",
"speaker": {
"id": 199,
"legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to also contribute in support of this Motion on Vote 35. First of all, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister, Assistant Minister, Permanent Secretary and able technical team for a job well done in very difficult conditions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will agree with me that this Ministry deals with capabilities which are not of their own making. Talk of HIV/AIDS scourge, food shortage, floods and IDPs. These are the issues this able team in this Ministry face on day in, day out, basis. They are not of their own making. Given the limited resources and that needs to be explained because my colleagues have talked about it, they are really in a much stressed situations. This Ministry needs a team of good people who have a good heart o assist the people. I always see it as a Ministry that is always out there to save lives. What we need to do for this Ministry to achieve its objectives fully is to give what we call grassroots support and offices. At the moment, this Ministry lacks totally grassroots presence. That is in a way, limiting their efficiency and effectiveness in deliverance of services to wananchi. The only grassroots presence you can attach to this Ministry is the Constituency Aids Control Committees (CACCs). That is the only structure we can say is on the ground with respect to this Ministry. When they want to distribute relief food, they have to turn to the Provincial Administration which is in another Ministry. When they want to deal with IDPs, they turn to the Provincial Administration which is in another Ministry. In the past, we used to have officers from the Arid Lands Programme who were called Drought Management Officers. They used to be at the district headquarters. Those officers used to be under this Ministry. But as I speak now, that department was transferred to the Ministry of State for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands. By going out to seek support from other Ministries on the ground to implement their programmes, causes this Ministry delay. That delay is often blamed on this Ministry, but it is not of their own making. So, I would propose that this Ministry be given enough funds to establish their own co-ordinators on the ground. A Ministry that is always there to fight disasters and calamities should actually have a permanent presence on the grassroots."
}