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{
    "id": 184467,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184467/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. As I said, the Ministry has got to pull up its socks. There are a lot of problems that the Ministry has to deal with. Many of these problems have been there for a long time. If it does not, 2706 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 14, 2008 then how can it deal with local authorities, which are themselves riddled with problems? The Local Authorities Reform Project is a great one, but it is delaying. I thought that it would be completed within the life of the last Parliament. So, I urge you, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government, to ask that we have it completed soon. There are five former mayors in this House, but none of them has even been asked to comment. Some of us worked on the Local Government Review Programme. It is about time we looked into ways of fast-tracking this issue. We do not want to see mayors being elected by councillors. This is becoming a farce. So, we need this matter worked on very fast. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank the Ministry for constructing Mambo Leo Market in Kisumu. I hope that one deals with the fish market. However, we need a wholesale market in Kisumu. We also need to change focus as far as running of local authorities is concerned. Local authorities survive on taxing the poor as the rich go scot-free. The mama mboga who sells mboga worth Kshs100 is charged Kshs20. Some overzealous council askaris cause a great amount of distress. We must get away from taxing markets. We want to do other things. Why can we not contract out markets? Mwanza is doing it, and it is doing a great job. People contract out the markets. They make payment upfront and run it. The councils and the local authorities must now start concentrating on their core functions. The core function of Local authorities is not necessarily running markets. Their core function is to give local authority good governance. It is to do things. I want to give an example. When Mr. Kaguthi was the Provincial Commissioner (PC) in Nyanza, he got so disappointed and so disgusted that he put Kisumu Fire Brigade under the PC's Office. Look at the records during that time. The Kisumu Fire Brigade's performance was excellent. These are the sort of things that we must do. These are initiatives and innovations that we must put in place. It is happening everywhere. Even jails are now being sub-contracted out in other countries. Why can we not learn that we can do this? We do not have to go very far. I think my time is up!"
}