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{
    "id": 135636,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/135636/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 444,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "August 12, 2009 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2569 Mr. ole Lankas",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also stand to support this Vote of the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, which is very critical. We all agree that planning is very crucial. Planning runs through all other Ministries, and proper planning is what we are talking about. I want to start by saying that there used to be what we used to call District Focus for Rural Development Approach, which is the bottom-up approach. This takes us to the DDCs in the districts. I do not understand whether the DDCs in the districts are as effective as they used to be. The district is the centre for planning and these committees are very critical in planning. However, the way they are operating now is like the DDCs are no longer taken seriously. There is a gap. In certain areas, like the arid and semi arid lands, the DSGs, food security group meetings, seem to have taken over from the DDcs. So, I do not know whether the policy has changed because the DDCs are now supposed to be the fora for planning and that should be the case. So, I think the Minister should find out what is happening. The meetings are held at the whims of the DCs or the DDOs. They are no longer as co- ordinated as they used to be. The other issue I wanted to talk about is facilitation of the DDOs in the districts. This has been mentioned by my colleagues. However, I want to add that these are very important people in the districts. They are the secretariats for the DDCs. They move around to evaluate projects and they monitor projects. However, unless they are facilitated, we will end up with many stalled projects in the districts. There are so many stalled projects that date back many years ago. In fact, there is one project which I want to bring to the attention of the Minister; Lamu. This is directly under the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030. The objective of the project was to come up with a district documentation center. A lot has been done up to the roofing level. A lot of money has been used there but up to now, that project is still stalled. These are some of the things that occur as a result of poor facilitation of the DDOs. The staffing levels in the DDO’s offices is very poor. You will find that it is only the DDO who is there. Some are lucky to have secretaries but others do not have. However, these men are expected to implement this noble work of coordinating development at the district level, which is the planning unit for the Ministry and other departments. These are some of the areas which should be looked into. Still on the DDCs, the DDCs recommend projects or programmes but they do not have legal capacity. This is where the problem is. They pass projects with the leaders, but it just becomes a recommendation. When these project proposals come to Ministry level, I think it is left to the discretion of the Ministry staff to take what they want. We cannot challenge their decision because the DDCs have no legal backing. So, it is high time that the DDCs were empowered legally just like the CDF is, so that they have legal capacity when they decide on projects."
}