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"id": 189434,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwiru",
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"speaker": {
"id": 107,
"legal_name": "Alex Muthengi Mburi Mwiru",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for giving me the chance to contribute to this Motion. First of all, may I congratulate the earlier speakers, including the Minister, for the good and brilliant ideas on this particular issue. This is a nice idea that has been born. I believe that it is going to affect other towns and cities in this country. I am looking at the resources that have been allocated to this Ministry. They are quite meagre. I thought that the Minister should have started with the nucleus of Nairobi itself, so that the 1900 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 16, 2008 other municipal councils could have come after Nairobi has been cleaned up. You realise that right now there are quite a number of things that are affecting the City, as the previous hon. Member said. When you go round the City you will realise that the roads are like alleys. They are very small and sometimes too narrow even to drive on. The kind of resources that have already been allocated to this Ministry cannot be enough to do anything in terms of improvement. However, it is a bright idea and I believe that we are going to see the light of the day, as the Minister put it. I am also worried about creating extra population without any jobs in this country, or without a provision for the necessary infrastructure to sustain the same. Nairobi is one of the major towns that carry a big population in this country, and most of the people do not have jobs. Creating a metropolitan means attracting even more people, because more services will be rendered to the already existing population in Nairobi. My feeling is that whereas the Government is trying to improve this particular area by creating a Ministry for a metropolis, it is also necessary that other towns within Kenya are given some attention to stop rural-urban population migration to Nairobi. That way, we will be able to sustain portions of our population in their own areas. Also, the Ministry of Industrialization should strive to make sure that industries are put up in the peripheries of this particular City. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the issue of the local authorities which surround Nairobi, I am happy that the Minister has already consulted widely with the respective authorities, but I believe that we still need further consultations with the public; despite the fact that he has already consulted with the leaders, the public also should get to understand why they have to be put in that Ministry whereas they are used to living in other areas of operation. Sometimes, it becomes very hard when you try to change the ideas in people, but I am happy that the Ministry itself is going out of its way to reach them. The 40 kilometre or 50 kilometre expansion that we are talking about, I believe that we are going to create satellite cities within our City, so that we are able to contain the population. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important to note that the Ministry cannot survive as it is right now. So, wider consultations with other Ministries is very necessary, because it looks as if it can inter-face with the rest of the Ministries. For example, you realise that in the improvement of roads, quite a chunk of money has been given to the Ministry of Roads. In future, it will be necessary to negotiate with the Ministry of Roads, so that whatever falls under the metropolitan area, the funding for it is given to this Ministry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the issue of water, there is always a hue and cry in the City of Nairobi. You realise that the City Council of Nairobi controls water within the City. That is one area where the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development should improve on. So, this Ministry is an inter-face for quite a number of other Ministries. It is only necessary that the Minister liaises with other Ministers, so that we can get a clear- cut line between his operations and successes and those of the other Ministries, so that we do not lump them together and blame the failure of all of them on the Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is quite a problem with slums in Nairobi. Probably, even before we talk about improving other areas within the metropolitan, it is necessary that we look at the issue of the slums. We are aware that the Ministry of Housing is taking some charge towards improving or upgrading of slums. But, again, I think that this is an area the Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development is supposed to consult, discuss and liaise widely to ensure that those isles in the name of slums are, at least, eradicated for purposes of improving our City. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}