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{
    "id": 188029,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188029/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Otieno",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Public Service",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "July 24, 2008 PARLIMENTARY DEBATES 2105 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have in mind the fact that most container traffic should go through our rail system. On reaching Kisumu, the same containers should be distributed throughout the entire lake region without having to spoil our roads once traffic and the goods are upcountry. In this regard, I would like to propose that the Ministry of Transport immediately considers the transfer of the operation of the inland ports away from the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The same way that the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) takes care of all airports, the KPA should take care of all inland ports particularly the ports on Lake Victoria. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I am talking now, the port of Kisumu is in shambles. It is clogged. It is silted. The lake traffic is jammed. You cannot reach the port. All the other ports on Lake Victoria; in Kendu Bay, Homa Bay, Usenge and all other places are not what ports should be. The law should be amended so that the RVR which up to now is in charge of all inland ports should transfer that responsibility to the KPA. In any case, the RVR is bankrupt. They have no resources to manage anything. Similarly, all petroleum products transported by pipeline should be distributable throughout the lake region via properly designed oil tankers within the lake. This would require that the KPA works with the Kenya Pipeline to build an oil jetty in Lake Victoria. That port should be dredged at Lake Victoria so that the oil tankers can lift oil from Kisumu and distribute it in the entire lake region. This way, pressure on our roads will reduce. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as of now tankers from Tanzania lift petroleum from Nakuru. They destroy the road through my constituency all the way up to Tanzania. So, as we improve on the port, if anything, we need five times the 16 billion Japanese Yen that has been offered to streamline the entire transport system, by rail and road up to the lake port and by tankers into the lake region. Possibly, Rwanda can access it from the Bukoba Port. So, instead of just looking at one which has successfully been put together, urgent measures should be put in place so that in the next five to seven years, when this facility will be developed in Mombasa, the rest of the system should be streamlined upcountry. I beg to support."
}