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"id": 182951,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/182951/?format=api",
"text_counter": 191,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Water and Irrigation",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
},
"content": " Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. First of all, I want to congratulate the hon. Member for bringing this Motion. I rise to support it. This Motion should have come yesterday; it is long overdue. As I speak, the country has 210 constituencies and already we have 148 districts which are recognized by the Provincial Administration. One would wonder whether it is not discriminating against other Kenyans now that we have only 62 constituencies that are not districts. This is not an issue that should just be discussed here and no action is taken. This is because whenever we pass Motions in this House, it is the duty of the Government to go ahead and implement them. But for this Motion, we are demanding that it must be implemented. This is because districts have been dished out all over the country since Independence. Therefore, we do not have to consult. In fact, we should be debating this Motion and, at the same time, have a petition to the President and the Permanent Secretary in charge of internal security, so that they can go ahead and implement it immediately. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, what we should be arguing about is the Budget allocation for District Commissioners (DCs), which Parliament should approve in the next financial year. In the meantime, DCs should be immediately sent to the remaining 62 districts, so that those districts are not discriminated against in one way or the other. Most Kenyans have been October 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2897 discriminated against in one way or the other. For instance, in this country, the district is the basis on which Government resources are allocated. Therefore, if one district has three constituencies, it will be discriminated against in one way or the other. I will give an example of each of my arguments. Looking at the way resources are allocated to the Ministry of Roads, for instance, if every district is to receive Kshs11 million, if your constituency happens to be lucky to have a district of its own, like mine, then your district will have Kshs11 million. However, Dr. Eseli might be sharing a district with three other Members of Parliament. In this case, the three constituencies have to share the Kshs11 million equally. This would mean that my constituency would have Kshs11 million for roads, while Dr. Eseli's constituency would have to share the Kshs11 million with three other constituencies. That way, you are discriminated against. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, allocation of Government resources should not be concentrated in one area, while other areas suffer. Recruitment of Administration Police (AP) officers, Regular Police officers and Military personnel, as well as recruitment of teachers, is based on the districts. If 10 AP officers were recruited from my district, and 20 officers were recruited from Dr. Eseli's district, given that Dr. Eseli's district has three constituencies, it would mean that those constituencies are discriminated against. At the end of the day, there is no way their constituencies can have the same number of recruits as that of a constituency which is a district on its own. In terms of recruitment of staff and admission of students to colleges, constituencies which are also districts are advantaged, because this is done based on districts. Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTC) base their admission on districts. Teacher training colleges also base their admission of students on districts. We do not require any professor to conduct any research to know that this is unfair. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Government to rectify this mistake. The Government should take its responsibility and ensure that we implement this Motion, once it is passed, so that Kenyans can feel represented adequately. Once an area is declared a district, you automatically have a District Commissioner (DC), who must go to there with a vehicle. A district must have an Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD). He must go there with a vehicle. That district will have more than one Officer Commanding Station (OCS), who will go there with an additional vehicle. So, even in terms of administration, if a constituency is a district on its own, it is better off than that constituency which is sharing the same DC with two other constituencies. When it comes to deployment of officers, if your constituency is a district, every Ministry will send a Head of Department to that Ministry. Your district will have a Medical Officer of Health (MOH), District Agricultural Officer (DAO), District Veterinary Officer (DVO), et cetera . Therefore, your district will be better placed than that district which is serving three or four constituencies. The passage of this Motion should serve as a temporary measure. We should ultimately have a Constitution which will take care of the issue of equal representation because, even if all constituencies become districts, some people will still be discriminated against, because some constituencies have more people than others. That is why I support the Motion that has been tabled in this House, seeking to review the number of constituencies, so that we can have equal representation. That is why we are calling upon our two principals to also speak out clearly on their position about the issue of reviewing the Constitution. We cannot keep on arguing on Motions here. We bring Motions like the one on the Floor because we are desperate, because no action is being taken. We should push for the review of the Constitution, so that all these issues can be addressed for the first time. If we had addressed the issue of constituencies, we could not have had 2898 PARLIAMETARY DEBATES October 22, 2008 tribal clashes or the post-election violence that occurred at the beginning of this year. If we had constituencies as the operational centres of the Provincial Administration, it would have been easier to deal with the post-election violence, because every constituency would be having a DC, an OCPD, several OCS and enough vehicles. So, they could have responded in good time. My constituency suffered even though there were no clashes there, simply because my DC had to deploy all the vehicles to the neighbouring Laikipia West Constituency, so that they could take care of the matters that were happening there. A district like Kiambu District was affected by the post-election violence because, immediately the APs were deployed to the affected districts to quell the violence, thugs in Kiambu and other unaffected districts took charge. Therefore, we should not only convert constituencies into districts, but also have a marshal plan for equipping our APs and regular police officers. Even if we create all these districts, but police officers lack vehicles and communication equipment, it would be useless. My constituency is a district of its own. However, my people are still suffering. Theft takes place every day in town. Why? As much as we have the DC and the OCPD, they are ill-equipped. There are no enough officers to represent the Government. There is no equipment or means of transport. Nothing is there! Therefore, for the first time, we must address this question. You cannot be a rich nation if crime is rampant. There is no way we can talk about peace in this country, if crime is rampant. We must make sure, for the first time, that this Parliament is able to vote. After every constituency becomes a district, we must vote enough money to equip the regular police, APs, DCs and DOs. There can be no peace in this country if you cannot rear even a single head of cattle or goat. You cannot even keep five goats, because thieves come for them inside your house. So, we are really threatened. There is no way we can improve our children's education standards, our people's health or anything unless we take action in equipping our security officers. My last point is that, for the first time, this House should not be taken for granted. Let the Bills relating to the review of the Constitution be tabled here. That is our work, and we should not have any other work. That was the Fourth Agenda of the Kofi Annan-led peace talks. Strangely, all of us are reluctant. We do not want to do it. I do not want to mention names, but our leaders, with whom I sit on this side of the House, are not talking about the review of the Constitution at all. They are waiting for the current constitutional order to prevail. They are waiting to become Presidents and use the same powers whose removal we have been fighting for, for the last 17 years. Even if it means Parliament adjourning to discuss this issue as a matter of national importance, it should be done. We must shame those leaders who are not ready to take their responsibilities and ensure that we address the issue of constitutional review. We must allow Kenyans to know how they will participate. Things have drastically changed. After the post- election violence, a number of new issues arose. We should not be limited to a few documents that are already known, to guide the constitutional review process. We must be allowed to bring more memoranda and allow Kenyans to participate in the actual review of the Constitution. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}