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"id": 181603,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kaino",
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"legal_name": "Boaz Kipchumba Kaino",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. I was on the Floor seconding the Motion by Dr. Eseli. The intention of this Motion is to bring about fair distribution of resources in this country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, you will realize that, immediately after Independence, some regions in this country were favoured. Some were well developed and, even today, as we are speaking here, some regions in this country are actually well developed. Some are under-developed while others are developed. So, the Motion seeks to bring about equal distribution of resources according to the development levels of such areas. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am not saying that some regions were favoured against the others. But I am just saying that in the past, there were some very powerful Ministers in the Kenyatta Government, Moi Government and even Kibaki Government! When those very powerful Ministers say something, it is almost absolute. No one reverses what they say. So, this Motion is very important. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, if we really love this country and we desire that it develops, we should examine, determine and gauge the development status of each area. So, before we give out the resources, we should examine and determine the status of development of every section of this country. When the resources are given out, it would be according to the desires and needs of those areas. Otherwise, we shall end up having some parts of this country being donors to other sections of this country because they are well developed and some are extremely under- developed. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the recent past, in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, for example, we have seen more than Kshs500 million going to one constituency or even several constituencies in one district. There are some parts of this country which are connected with clean piped water which is safe for drinking, while some people walk for many kilometres looking for water! They walk for a whole day in search of water when other people have tap water 3088 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE October 29, 2008 in their houses. Such people have the energy to do other development and income generating activities! Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there are some areas which have well developed schools. They have schools which send 100 students to the universities. But when you go to areas like Garissa and Marakwet, you can hardly get ten students going to the university! You can compare the number of students who go to the universities from one district like Marakwet, to just one school in the developed areas, which sends about 100 students to the universities! You can get an entire district taking only ten students to the universities. How do you compare those areas? Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we want a situation where a proper study of the regions is done before resources are actually allocated. We should examine them in terms of schools, roads, water distribution and so on. Once we know that, we should allocate more resources to those areas. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is very important to mention that very little resources get to areas which are the least developed. It is like a drop in the ocean because the problems there are enormous! If what we give there is equal to what is given to developed areas, we cannot see any improvement. So, the other areas continue to develop very fast and so rapidly that they can actually compare to Europe! Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in Kenya, we are very lucky to have a Government that has introduced devolved funds. But if we are not careful about that, we shall leave other areas that have been left behind for many generations. They will go backwards because the other areas are developing more rapidly, while others are just left like that! We are in one Kenya and we want to develop together! I know that not everything can be equal. There is nothing that can be equal but we want to bring other regions just close. We do not want to leave other regions very far behind. We need to bring them closer to us and ensure that the money which is allocated to regions that are developed is more or less distributed to the less developed areas. So, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I conclude my seconding remarks, I beg my colleagues to see this country as one. We should see every region and citizen of this country as very important. They deserve services! They deserve water, education, better roads and better agricultural activities in their areas. I beg hon. Members to support this Motion and ensure distribution of resources to the less developed areas. We should examine the development of each part of this country, so that when we are sharing resources, we do so knowing that we are doing what can make some impact on a particular community. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}