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{
    "id": 146944,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/146944/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 263,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The issue of vehicles has been talked about. The Minister said that the vehicles to be used should be 1800 ccs. Even in the last Budget, the former Minister for Finance talked about vehicles being disposed, so that they could raise some money to do other things. However, some of those vehicles are still gathering dust wherever they are. We are losing a lot of money. Some of the few vehicles that have been disposed of have gone for less than Kshs500,000. It beats the purpose. So, I think the Minister has to do his mathematics properly and make sure that we have enough returns on these vehicles. There is no point of getting them out of the road if we are not going to sell them. Some of them end up gathering dust in the parking bays. The process of disposing them must be as open as possible, so that everybody knows and for accountability purposes. I urge the Minister to commit himself and give us some reports on what has been disposed of. It is going to be a plus for him. It is very easy for him to give us quarterly reports telling us the number of vehicles they want to dispose of and the amount of money they intend to get, so that we know whether we are benefiting or not. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other commendable thing which I have seen and have thought about for a long time is the issue of congestion in town. Year in, year out, we have had Ministers for Transport. However, none of them thought about improving the rail line, so that we have easier means of transportation. The other day, I saw in the newspapers somebody showing how the rail line is likely to look like. I think that is a milestone. I know we have got a lot of corruption in this country, particularly when it comes to tendering. I have a project in my constituency where the Ministry of Local Government gave Kshs98 million in the last Budget. This job is starting now. The reason for this is procurement officers are pulling strings left and right in order to find the right person they can strike a deal with. It ends up taking a lot of time. A project like that which was to cost Kshs98 million is now going to cost about Kshs200 million. These are the kind of things we are talking about. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister allocated some money on the water resources. I remember there was a Motion in this Parliament about water as a resource in this country. Right now, there is a lot of rain in some parts of the country yet the water is going to waste. I have seen situations in the Kazi Kwa Vijana programme where the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is trying to construct some water catchment areas in some schools in the constituencies. However, I think that is something we need to pay a lot of attention to. There is a lot of water that goes to waste which we can harvest and have enough water in this country. The Minister also talked about the roads and the Port of Mombasa. We lose a lot of money in form of charges and so on because of delays at the port. That is one area, combined with tourism that could earn this country huge revenue and foreign exchange. These are aspects that technically, the Government should get into. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know the reason the Minister did not put a lot of money into agriculture. We have seen what we have gone through with drought and lack of enough food resources and storage. We used to have field extension services in agriculture and livestock production. I think if these aspects of the economy are revived, it will be very easy for us to be self sufficient in food production. I know that at a later stage, there would be some re-allocations here and there. I would like the Minister to consider putting more money into agriculture. The resources are meager but agriculture should be a priority."
}