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"id": 184454,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Affey",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion on the Vote of the Ministry of Local Government. I have a strong attachment to this Ministry since I once served as the Minister for Local Government and, therefore, this Vote has my absolute support. This is a grassroots Ministry. It is a Ministry that has a substantial role. In fact, it has a more important role than the Central Government itself and, therefore, any support given to it is given to the Kenyan wananchi on the ground. Therefore, with those remarks, it does not take a lot of time for this Vote to be given support by the House. I have absolute confidence that the Minister and his officials will fairly use the resources allocated to them in the manner in which they are meant. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the other issue of local authorities, critically here we are talking about councillors who are the leaders on the ground. Over time, the welfare of councillors has become a matter of national debate and just the other day, particularly yesterday, one of the party leaders said that it is not justifiable for the councillors to get this increment of salaries that they have sought. I want to differ and say that the Minister and the Ministry must put in place mechanisms that can be able to allow these councillors to attract allowances and salaries that are respectable and in line with the very sensitive job that we have asked them to do on behalf of our people because they are elected by wananchi. Most of them get allowances from revenue generated from local authorities. I am pleased to know that the Minister himself has planned to see how these allowances can be paid from the Consolidated Fund because not all councils are rich and able to sustain the workforce of councils and councillors themselves. Therefore, there is need by the Ministry and the Central Government to make a deliberate effort to see how these councillors can be paid outside what the councils generate. That means that the Minister must bring the relevant legislation to Parliament and I am sure it will have the full support of the House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we as a party indeed wanted to move a motion in order to see how councillors in Kenya can benefit directly from the Consolidated Fund. I heard the other day that some Members from Rift Valley Province were also planning to do the same. I think they stole the idea from us but we still can play a complementary role and see how the councillors can be paid decently by the Central Government. That should be done as soon as possible. My main concern as far as this budget is concerned is that there are quite a number of local authorities which have been established following the creation of new districts. Where I come from in Wajir, Habaswein District has been curved off from the larger Wajir District. It is depressing to note that to date, the Ministry of Local Government has not done the necessary delineation. Habaswein District is there but still the council is controlled and managed from Wajir District. Now, that is clearly conflict of interest and I would like to urge the Minister as a matter of urgency to see how this council can be created and a clerk be dispatched to Habaswein in order to service the needs of the local people because there is a big catchment area of livestock market there. We October 14, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2703 have a very big market there but it is not fenced. The market has no water, toilets and other facilities that human beings require. When the Minister spoke about providing necessary funds in order to provide these market places with the money, Habaswein did not appear in his radar. I want to plead so that this town gets a clerk and the benefits that the Ministry of Local Government provides all other councils and that this should be done as soon as possible. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of reforms, particularly in the local authorities, which quite a number of my colleagues have spoken about, require to be fast-tracked. It would not be a good thing for this country if in the next general election, which is a few years from now, we compel mayors and chairmen to be elected by the councillors themselves. We cannot allow a group of 15 to 20 people to elect the chief executive of the council in the name of the mayor or chairman. We must give the local population in that particular municipality or county council an opportunity to elect the leader that they want. That leader might not necessarily even be a councillor of a ward. We must give the opportunity to our people to elect leaders directly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government has spoken about the use of LATF money. There is a substantial amount of money going to our councils. However, the oversight role has been poor. Year in, year out, huge amounts of money are released from Nairobi, but the oversight role for these funds has been weak. I would like to encourage the Minister to send teams to the local councils in order to establish exactly how this money is utilized because that is the only way that the money can be of use to the people that it was intended for. Mr. Deputy Speaker, there is a matter that we have spoken about, at least, as elected Members of Parliament from Wajir for sometime; that is, the Wajir sewerage system. It is a shame that after 45 years of Independence, the people in Wajir District still rely on bucket latrines. It is unsafe! It is both an environmental and health problem. It is a shame and a stigma to the conscience of the Kenyan people. Every year when I look at the Ministry's budget, nothing is factored towards this sewerage system, yet when we visit the Ministry's offices, we get sufficient comfort. I would like to let the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government know that comfort and sympathy are good, but what we need are resources. He must go out of his way and visit that place, because it is the only place of its kind in the country. You cannot find a place like Wajir District anywhere else in Kenya today after 45 years of Independence, yet what we require are resources that can make the environment healthy. He must understand our plight. In Wajir East where this place is located, there is a Member of Parliament from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government's party. I think if you do not perform, next time you have no authority to come and talk to the people of Wajir East and ask them for that seat. The only way that there can be some comfort is if he goes out of his way to construct the sewerage system in Wajir Town. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue that I want to speak about is Nairobi City Council, particularly a place called Eastleigh. Eastleigh has an economy within an economy. The resources in Eastleigh are equivalent, if not more, than what we have in the Central Business District (CBD). Yet, if you visit Eastleigh today, the roads are impassable, the sewerage system is terrible, the telephone lines are not working in most places and the street lights are not even there. So, there is sufficient revenue that the City Council is collecting from that place, yet there is no deliberate effort by the Ministry or even the Council itself to see how best the services there can be addressed. I would like to plead with the Minister to see how best that can be done. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue is why the City Council of Nairobi allows everybody to develop where he wants. In a place called Kileleshwa, where some of us stay, it is an eyesore. Water is becoming a problem and electricity shortage is frequent, because the council has 2704 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 14, 2008 given a free hand for anybody to develop the number of housing units in a flat as he wants to. That place was initially designed to hold a certain number of households. Everything is known on record, but nobody seems to understand how to follow it. I would like the Minister to see how best this problem can be tackled. Finally, the Roads Maintenance Levy (RML). I do not know whether we have roads to maintain, but I would like to request the Minister to see the possibility of doing the roads. The distance between Habaswein and Modogashe, and Habaswein and Wajir, which is a major link to Nairobi, is always in a deplorable state. The fact that the central Government has failed in its duty to see that resources are available does not mean that the Ministry of Local Government cannot come in and assist. There are now two districts, but I am not sure whether in Lagdera they have a clerk to council. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}