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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kamama",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
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"legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for granting me this time. I wish to support this Motion and congratulate the Minister who is my good friend and the Permanent Secretary who was my lecturer at Egerton University and also a distinguished economist. If I may remind you, the Permanent Secretary for this Ministry was the first person to get a First Class Honours in Economics from Baringo District. Be that as it may, I think this Ministry has the right personnel. It has the right professionals to steer this Ministry to greater heights. I want to take you back to where we came from after Independence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we pledged to Kenyans that we were going to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and diseases. However, 40 years down the line, because of poor planning, we are still grappling with poverty, diseases and illiteracy. When you look at Sessional Paper No.10 on African Socialism and It's application to planning, it really emphasises on how poverty, diseases and illiteracy could be eradicated in this country. We are not safe. People are still illiterate. If you go to places where I come from together with hon. Ethuro who is also a former Assistant Minister in this Ministry, illiteracy and poverty levels are still high. Hunger and famine are the order of the day. What have we done as a Ministry to actually ameliorate the situation in those specific areas? In this case, I am talking of the entire North Rift, North Eastern and the land that is being occupied by the marginalised people of this country. So, we still have a long way to go and we all know that we came up with policies. Under Sessional Paper No.10, this Ministry has come up with so many consultancies and programmes. We can talk of the District Development Committee (DDC), the Nyachae Vision on the Rural Development Strategy and the Rural Development Fund. All these did not take us anywhere but I have a lot of trust that the so-called Vision 2030 will make a difference, only if we structure and implement it in the short-term strategy, medium-term strategy and the long-term strategy. Of course, we have to adhere to a serious implementation matrix that will make sure that we achieve the objectives and targets that we are supposed to achieve, whether in the short-term, medium-term or long-term. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we used to hear of, \"water for all by the year 2000\". I think these guys were just joking. Eight years down the line, people do not have water. Poverty is still the order of the day. So, we need to plan for water and take it to all sub-locations in this country. We need to have a budget. We should not depend on CDF. I am not sure whether the Water Services Boards that were formed the other day are that effective. We need plans to have water and education in all the sub-locations. I know of many sub-locations in the North Rift and North Eastern without schools but we have people in those areas. They are there with their families. They do not have schools and hospitals. Serious planning is mandatory and is needed like yesterday. So, I am sure that hon. Oparanya and his team will make a difference. 2870 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 21, 2008 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to touch on planning for energy in this country and, in this context, I want to refer to safe energy. We need to have geothermal and wind power. I want to remind the Minister that there is a lot of potential in wind power especially in the North Rift, Upper Eastern and North Eastern Province. Turkana South constituency, for example, has the capacity of producing 350 megawatts through wind power. Why can you not exploit this, instead of concentrating on Sondu-Miriu which has the potential of giving us 70 megawatts and it takes forever to construct? It has been there since, I think, I was in college. So, we need to do something on wind power. We can generate 500 megawatts from Chalbi District in North Horr. Why are we wasting time on hydro-electric power? Recently, I had the privilege of visiting a nuclear power station in South Africa in some place called Darlin Daba. These people established their nuclear power station in 1965 when I was born and right now, using that nuclear technology, they are able to generate 20,000 megawatts of safe and clean energy. Why can we not take this direction? We now have a potential of between 1,300 to 1,500 megawatts. That is paltry. For us to industrialise, we actually need something above 20,000 megawatts so that we can even export it to Southern Sudan and Somalia, hoping that they will sort out their issues very soon because they are also a pain in the neck. So, I want to support the plans of the Ministry. On the issue of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) disbursements, it is going on well. But we need an addition, something close to about 10 per cent of the total Budget or revenue. That is acceptable and it will not be opposed by this Parliament. We just need the Minister to bring the Motion here and we will pass it. On the issue of distribution, there are quite a number of variables that are used. But in this case, poverty and population are used as variables. However, I am surprised that some areas are still getting very little allocation, yet they are very poor. Other areas are benefiting because of their population. We need to balance. But let me warn you, Mr. Minister, that do not ever reduce any amount from the thresholds that were set. We need to move from there. If a constituency was getting Kshs41 million, like my constituency, if I get less than that, it will be a big problem for us down there. So, you need to move from there and get much more money. On the issue of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and Women Enterprise Development Fund, I think the amounts are still low. The way these funds are being administered begs a lot of questions. The Ministry needs to increase this amount. We also want a bit of professional management, because when you ask the people whether they are really happy - and the Ministry can confirm that through research - they will confirm to you that it is not doing much. So, we need to increase the amount and run this kitty in the most professional way possible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, I want to really thank the Minister. He was a very active Member of the Committee on Finance, Planing and Trade. We know his role when it came to discussing matters concerning finances. We want to believe that together with his team, he will make a difference. He must also make Kenyans understand what Vision 2030 is all about. We want it understood in the next five or so years. We want to see the results. When we talk about having efficient ports in Lamu and Malindi or proper infrastructure in the Northern Corridor, we want to see these things actualised. We do not want to die before we see them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support the Ministry's Vote and wish the Minister and his team good luck."
}