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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
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"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to also make my modest contribution to the Budget Speech. As I support the Budget Speech, I want to once again begin by lauding the leadership of the country, and hon. Members, for bringing peace and relative stability to the country. I want to thank my colleagues, who were recently elected in the by-elections, to fill up the seats left vacant by our departed colleagues and the seat left vacant following the election of the Speaker. I equally 1232 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 18, 2008 want to take the opportunity to send my condolences to the families, relatives and friends of our two colleagues who perished in a tragic air crash, an incident that occurred while I was away in Adiss Ababa for a meeting. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we embark on the road to economic recovery after the upheavals that followed the elections, it is, indeed, gratifying that the Minister for Finance has seen it fit to allocate, not enough, but reasonable funds to the Ministry of Roads for rehabilitation, construction and re-construction of our road network. Way back in the 1890s, the colonialists who came to this country had a vision and a foresight that to run an economy anywhere, you must have a proper functioning transport system. That is why the colonial masters were able to construct a rail line from Mombasa, Kisumu, Kampala, Nanyuki, Magadi, Moshi and everywhere. That rail line has been the backbone of our economy for a long time. Over the years, and due to neglect, lack of repairs and maintenance, we have now lost the capacity to use the rail line as we should. Indeed, as I travel around the region, one of the major concerns of our neighbours, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi is our lack of capacity to move stocks from Mombasa to the hinterland, which they rely on. I want to urge the twin Ministries of Transport and Finance to find ways and means of revamping our rail ways; to find ways and means of, if possible, laying new heavier-gauge rail lines, so that we can move stocks faster and in greater quantities to our landlocked neighbours. We also need to get organised even if it means borrowing money offshore or syndicating internal money. You recently saw how much money Kenyans can rise to the occasion to put together when Safaricom rolled out the Initial Public Offer (IPO). We can float shares and develop a rail line from Mombasa to Addis-Ababa. That, as you know, will serve a landlocked country with 80 million people. The second largest country in Africa in terms of population happens to be our neighbour, landlocked and looking for an exit to transact its international trade. The little connection that Ethiopia has with Djibouti is hardly adequate to serve that economy. The ingenuity of the Kenyan leadership through the Ministries of Finance and Transport can bring enormous resources to this country. Such a line will, needless to say, open up our North Eastern Province and northern Kenya because it will invariably either run from Nanyuki where we have the end line from the colonial deal line or run straight from Mombasa through Garissa, Moyale to Addis-Ababa. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, such a line would also save our roads. I am dwelling on infrastructure because it pains all of us; the leaders, taxpayers and ordinary Kenyans, to see that every five years or so, we embark on re-constructing roads that we would have sustained if we only maintained them through repairs. We are now busy re-constructing the road from Mombasa to Uganda, either through Kisumu, Malaba or both. Those roads would have lived and survived through the ages, if only we had regular maintenance facilities. Without a proper road network, we cannot talk of growing rural economies or achieving our desired goals of 10 per cent annual growth. We cannot talk of developing each and every part of this country as equitably as we have committed ourselves to do. I want to urge that the Committee of Parliament charged with the responsibility of oversight to these critical Ministries responsible for infrastructure and development, to also be extra active; to not only see that the funds we give to the Ministries are put to good use, but that the targets that are set are met. If we have committed ourselves to construct a road in a year, let that road be constructed in a year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Budget has also paid attention to the question of the youth, although the figure and the sum of money allocated to them is inadequate. The Ministry of Finance should liaise with commercial banks, so that the Kshs1 billion that was put into the Youth Enterprise Fund the previous year, and the Kshs500 million allocated for the Fund this financial year, can also be augmented by commercial funds available from commercial banks at concessional rates of interest, so that we can be able to engage our young population in economic activities. You know how difficult it is to go to any bank to borrow money. We need systems that June 18, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1233 are cheap, easy and user-friendly, which can be able to assist our young population with entrepreneurial skills to access funds for business enterprises. A lot has been said about the issue of constitutional review. As a Member of the team of eight that has been involved in mediation, I am now being involved in paving the road map for constitutional review. I want to laud the team. We have finally concluded rolling out drafts for amendment of the Constitution to anchor the review, and for an Act of Parliament to steer the review process, so that we can achieve the goals that we set and give the country a new constitution in the shortest time possible and, in any event, not later than 12 months' time. Twelve months' time should be seen within the context of the time we bring the Bills to Parliament. We will count from that time and deliver a new constitution, as we promised. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that in the Minister's Financial Statement he has not allocated money for this process. However, you also know that the route we are taking is the least-cost route. We will not go back to the Bomas of Kenya with a large number of Kenyans; that will be costly. The referendum, which will be the ultimate event in the process, is likely to come to the country in the next financial year. If that will be the case, then Kenyans should not unduly worry that there is no money in this Budget for constitutional review. This is because the steps we are taking can be covered by the Parliamentary Budget, the Ministerial Budget, as well as from special funds we can source from within Government. Kenyans must be assured that for a new constitution to be delivered to this country is not an option, but a must. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity."
}