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{
    "id": 149273,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/149273/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 539,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to comment on what I think is a very fundamental and important Report by the Committee. I will be extremely brief. I had the rare distinction of working as the Medical Officer in charge of all the prisons, the police and the army in 1967 and 1968. So, I am fully conversant with the type of conditions in our prisons. I used to travel extensively, looking at the conditions of our prisons. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the things that is coming out quite clearly is that, since we are desirous of elevating the living conditions of the workers, particularly of prisoners and prison warders, the amount of funds generated from the various prison activities should be ploughed back in order to improve the lot of prison warders, who are in a very difficult situation. I know that the Mover wants to have some minutes to reply; so, we should conclude this debate. Secondly, the issue of merit in promotion of the warders must be looked into. Some warders have been stagnant in their positions for as long as 30 or 34 years, without any inkling of a promotion. I suspect they have been demoralised due to lack of a programme that recognises talent and awards promotions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was once the Minister for Local Government. I was responsible for creating the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF). At that time, the incomes of all local authorities were so meagre that the local authorities were hardly meeting even their own recurrent expenditure. There was no single cent left for them to apply to development activities in their various areas. Therefore, it was a hand-to-mouth situation. When we were creating the LATF, it was supposed to be 5 per cent of National Budget, but at that time the Treasury decided that it would be at 2.5 per cent. If you notice, one of the programmes that came out quite beautifully was the beautification of all our towns. We had a pilot programme in 25 towns, including Nairobi and Mombasa. What am I saying? I am saying that if these funds were appropriately applied, then development in our local authorities would have been such that they would have realised a difference in terms how they have been running."
}