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"id": 192359,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/192359/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. ole Metito",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Regional Development Authorities",
"speaker": {
"id": 199,
"legal_name": "Judah Katoo Ole-Metito",
"slug": "judah-ole-metito"
},
"content": " I thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. I beg to support this Motion. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the Minister for Finance read the Budget two weeks ago, he talked of a Budget that is going to drive us towards the achievement of Vision 2030 which has three pillars. I would like to emphasise on the two pillars namely, the economic and the social pillars. Those two pillars are aimed at reducing the disparities within our regions. I would like to request that we use this Budget as one of the medium-term plans to actually try and reduce those disparities. The reduction of those disparities with regard to development has a lot to do with each and every Ministry. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to start with the Ministry of Education. With regard to the Kshs53.4 billion that they are asking this House to approve today, they should use part of that money to employ teachers. Before they do that, due to the creation of new districts, the Ministry of Education should move first to gazette the registration of the District Education Boards (DEBs) for those new districts. That way, when the employment of new teachers is done - mostly it is done in August - those new districts should be given their due allocation. They can only do so if the DEBs are gazetted. If that is done, we will reduce these discrepancies on teacher allocation and give priority to those districts that really have a high shortage of teachers, for example, my district and others. It is also important that the Ministry of Education uses this money to employ, or post District Education Officers (DEOs) to those new districts and also provide them with facilities for logistics, say, vehicles so that they can efficiently and effectively discharge their duties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, moving on to the Office of the President which is asking this House to approve a sum of about Kshs19.3 billion, because of the creation of new districts, a lot of divisions were proposed to be created by the residents of those districts. However, they have not been gazetted for the Office of President to post District Officers (DOs) and other security officers who will help in boosting security in those areas. So, in line with those pillars of the Vision 2030 required to really reduce the discrepancies or regional imbalance in terms of development, this Ministry should actually focus on those new areas that can take development closer to the people. It should also gazette those new divisions and post the relevant security personnel so that we see development in those areas. Even health is a matter to consider here. Mr. Githae talked about CDF money having been used to do a lot in our constituencies. We have built a lot of health facilities, but they are becoming white elephant projects. So, I would like to request the Ministry of Medical Services which is asking for about Kshs11.6 billion to focus on operationalization of those new facilities, especially in the rural areas. If we focus so much on human resource, for example, if it is a matter to do with teachers, nurses or other civil servants, 1416 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 25, 2008 they really like to apply to be placed in urban areas like Nairobi and others. If we focus on our objectives in the Vision 2030 and try to redistribute personnel and give priority to the rural areas, we will see a lot of change in terms of development. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to the Ministry of Agriculture, it is a fact that we have already provided seeds. We are also supposed to provide subsidised fertilizers to farmers because of famine and post-election violence. However, I could not understand why there was no mention of writing off of the AFC and the ADC loans owed by farmers in those areas. Actually, it is illogical to ask those farmers to pay those loans and yet you are providing them with seeds and fertilizers simply because they cannot afford them. So, I would like to see a portion out of the Kshs23.8 billion that the Ministry of Agriculture is asking this House to approve today, actually going towards the writing off of those AFC and ADC loans. In fact, a Motion was passed in this House recently with regard to that. The Ministry of Roads is doing a lot in terms of infrastructure. The Ministry of Roads really needs to supervise the implementation of the Roads 2000 Programme which caters for the roads in the rural areas. The way the work is being done, it is actually going on slowly and even the standard of the roads being done is actually questionable. I would like to request the Ministry to be very keen on implementation of the Roads 2000 Programme. They should not only be keen on the major roads, rather they should also be keen on roads in the rural areas which are very critical to the development of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}