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"id": 189433,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/189433/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Shebesh",
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"legal_name": "Rachel Wambui Shebesh",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me start by joining my colleagues who have congratulated the Minister for the work he has so far done in this Ministry. I rise to support this Motion. I must say that I share the dream the Minister has expounded on many times. I would also like to point out that the Minister has a very able Assistant Minister who is actually very well trained in this particular Ministry. Therefore, I would want, as we congratulate the Minister, to note that he will not do it alone without the support of his able Assistant Minister. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am passionate about Nairobi because I am one of the many people who were born and bred in Nairobi. Many people have areas that they can call their home like where they were born. But we have a generation who call Nairobi their home. This is where we were born, bred, brought up, met our husbands and continue rearing our children. So, many of us are passionate about this Ministry. That is why I would like to say, from the outset, that many Nairobi dwellers are eager to see the results from this Ministry. That is why I am very disappointed by the Treasury for the allocation that they gave this Ministry. It already tells us that maybe they were not very serious when they said that they intended to establish a metropolis in Nairobi and even extend it to the outskirts of Nairobi. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister and his team have a challenge ahead of them. As much I say that I love Nairobi, I am also very saddened about the situation that we find ourselves in as residents of Nairobi. Before the Minister can even go ahead and move to the areas that he has mentioned to us like Kiambu, Kangundo, Machakos, Kajiado, et cetera, he needs to clean up Nairobi. This is because Nairobi is still what people are seeing from the outset. It will be 1898 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 16, 2008 difficult to convince the people of Kiambu and Kajiado districts to be part of Nairobi, if they see the Nairobi that we are talking about. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would ask the Assistant Minister to take the Minister on a tour of just her constituency to see for himself what we are talking about when we say that we need to start by re-looking at Nairobi itself and see how we can improve the status of Nairobi before we move quickly to the other areas. The Ministry needs to walk before they start running. Again, I congratulate the Ministry for coming up with a strategic plan so quickly. It shows the commitment and the professionalism within this Ministry. But it starts within Nairobi, looking at the issues of slums. I have seen that there is even a Budget allocation for a new way of dealing with slums. I am so impressed. Honestly, the slum upgrading project, for many of us Nairobi dwellers know, is still far from solving the problems of the slums in this city. Therefore, if a new way through this Ministry could be found to deal with the issue of slums, then that will be something that people are going to be very excited about, especially myself. I had gone, for example, to visit Soweto in South Africa. This is a slum that still exists today, yet South Africa is a giant in terms of economy. We cannot compare South Africa to Kenya. How come they still have slums? It is because they have realised that to get rid of the slums, it is not just an issue of demolishing the structures. It is a social issue that needs time. If this kind of module is adopted by the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development to, first, clean up the slums; ensure that slums have toilets and that there are garbage collection points within the slums, then we will assist our people in the slums. I think this is something that this Ministry can do better than any other Ministry which has so far been dealing with the issue of slums. I also want to add my voice to the issue of delinking this Ministry from the Ministry of Local Government. This is key to its success. This Ministry should be delinked in every aspect that it needs to perform from the Ministry of Local Government. What does that mean? It means that there might be a fight between this Minister and the Minister for Local Government. But it is a fight that has to happen if he has to be effective. I want to suggest that he takes the bull by the horns and takes away the issue of roads in Nairobi from the Ministry of Roads. This is because if the Ministry of Roads is going to allocate money the way they have been doing without looking into the strategic plan of this Ministry, then we are going to have a lot of double work being done or a lot of confusion for the people of Nairobi who will not know whether a particular road is being done by the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Roads or the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development. I know that key to the success of the vision of the Ministry is the issue of roads and infrastructure. So, the Minister should take the bull by the horns and take away some of these functions from the Ministries concerned. Let the Ministry be the lead Ministry in this kind of issues. I also want to talk about the issue of cleaning up the Nairobi River. I have seen the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources taking up this issue with a lot of enthusiasm. But we also know that Nairobi River is not the only river in Kenya that this Ministry is going to concentrate on. So, eventually, the hullabaloo will die because Nairobi River has been cleaned up many times. I want to say that I grew up around Lavington area and Nairobi River passes through there. We used to swim in the Nairobi River as children. But, of course, now, if you dare even put your foot inside Nairobi River, you will probably be very sick. But the truth of the matter is that many Nairobi children still go through this river as they go to school. The Ministry should also take up the cleaning of Nairobi River and the refurbishment of the dam and Uhuru Park. I do not know if they are under the Nairobi City Council, which means they are under the Local Government. These are some of the functions which should be transferred to this Ministry. We have heard Questions directed to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social July 16, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1899 Development. The other day we were debating the Vote of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. When these Ministries were formulated, I think there was a big gap in terms of giving them the right departments under their Ministries to be effective. Today, even if we blame the Ministers for being ineffective, it is because they do not have the necessary tools or departments under them to implement some of the things that they want to do. If this Ministry, which is the newest Ministry that we have, from the outset is not given the right departments to be able to deliver, then two years or three years down the road, we will be looking at the Ministers whom we are now congratulating and telling them that they are doing public relations exercise for the people of Nairobi and not delivering services. I would not want us to reach that level. Since we have other Ministries that we are learning from, let the Minister and the civil servants in this Ministry come out clearly and tell the Cabinet the departments, which are under other Ministries, that he needs to become effective. If the Cabinet does not give him those departments, we in Nairobi are very good in putting pressure; he should call upon us and we shall put pressure because we want him to succeed. I also want him to look at the issue of the board that he has spoken about. Many boards have been formed before and some of them have been effective, but many of them have not been effective because they are formed for political expediency. I want to urge the Minister, whom I know very well, because we worked together and know that he is a straight forward person who has no time for public relations exercise, that this Board, which is going to be called the Nairobi Metropolitan Board, should have members who when you see them you see somebody who is going to bring gains. We have no interest to see people put there because of the 50/50 power-sharing scheme. You can share 50/50 but put there competent people. Let us not have a board that is not effective. Let it be a board that will deliver. I know that at the end of the day, many issues will be left for that board to decide. I know that the Minister will have to be taking a lot of instructions from that board; we would want it to have professionals who know how to manage cities, build roads, look at the political angles in terms of bringing up certain sectors, so that we streamline everything properly. So, I would like the Minister to look at the issue of that board. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I finish, I would like to say that all these issues that we talk about in Nairobi negatively, like the hawkers, congestion and so on, are things that would make other councils not be very excited about having Nairobi transferred to them. I would want Mr. Minister to give us a chance as Nairobi residents to bring out the positive aspects of Nairobi. You know that your Ministry has not been able to do so, because, maybe, the negative is over-riding the positive. There are many positive things about having a metropolis and a city like Nairobi replicated elsewhere. As we all know, everybody who leaves school in the rural areas immediately looks for bus fare to come to Nairobi to look for a job. Everybody who thinks that they have made it in life must own a house in Nairobi. Everybody who wants to reach the epitome of their career must find a job in a firm that is in Nairobi. So, there are many positives about having Nairobi as an example to be followed. I would like you to balance the negativity with the positive aspects of Nairobi, because I believe that Nairobi translated into a metropolis will not only be a model for Kenya but for the rest of Africa. I beg to support."
}