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"id": 193198,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ruteere",
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"legal_name": "Silas Muriuki Ruteere",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support the Motion. I feel that we over-emphasise some issues when we are faced with some situations. If this country is hit by famine, funds become immediately available, but there are no funds to prevent that famine from occurring. Currently, we are talking about billions of shillings for the importation of maize and the provision of relief food, whereas, if we had prevented the famine from recurring, we would not be faced with the problem of famine which we are spending money on. Irrigation dams have not been dug. Little is being done in the country to construct more irrigation dams or to harvest rain water which goes to waste into the ocean. Rain water erodes most of the fertile soil on our land. It is time we started harvesting rain water. We also need to ensure that our road network is well maintained. Majority of the roads that our farmers use are access roads that are in need of grading to make them all-weather roads and not necessarily by tarmacking them, but by murraming them. I have not seen any improvement in the rural areas. When farmers harvest and it rains, their produce rots and goes to waste. It becomes completely impossible to transport the produce to the market on time. This causes the kind of problems that we are having now. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on security, the Minister said that he has allocated enough funds to upgrade the police equipment and housing. I did not hear the Minister talk about the Prison Department, which recently had problems. I thought that it would have been given priority because the two should go hand in hand. When the Police Force is being looked into, the Prison Department should be looked into, so that the left hand does not feel that the right hand is being favoured. They should be taken care of equitably. Police posts should also be properly manned. Some of them should be up-graded and provided with the right personnel. There are some police posts where you have one rank of officers manning them. You will find four or five constables in a police post and nobody is above the other. None can command the other or take orders from the other. Our police posts should be properly manned. On politicking, I think we have hangovers from the last year's general elections. We have just started business in this House. This is our first Budget, but some people are campaigning for 1234 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 18, 2008 2012. The public out there is wondering what is happening. It is like the mandate that we were given by the public has not yet been taken seriously. We should deliver and then go back to the public, so that they can audit to see whether we are worth coming back or whether they need to give us red cards to go home, so that whoever wants to be elected to the next Parliament can start campaigning. The earliest that can start will be 2011. We are talking about the constitutional review, which we do not know what will come out of it. May be those who are saying that they have the drafts are the ones who are spearheading the campaigns because they know what is entailed in the drafts. Those drafts should come out quickly, so that we can know that nothing is being hidden from us. If it is necessary to campaign, we can go into the campaigning mood. It is not good for one group to start campaigning when the other groups are not campaigning. I think we are misleading the public and breaking the confidence that they have bestowed upon us. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, all areas of this country should be opened up for tourism. The Meru National Park should be looked into in a more comprehensive manner because it is the best tourist attraction site in the eastern part of this country. The infrastructure in the area should be improved, so that tourists can access the park. Security should also be improved, so that tourists are secure. The few insecurity incidents in the area are very discouraging. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, to employ 6,000 more teachers for both secondary and primary schools is a drop in the ocean. The country needs over 60,000 more teachers. The shortage is very acute, yet we are being told the Budget is catering for only 6,000 more teachers. That is ten per cent of the country's need. What is going to happen to the rest when there is so much unemployment? I think the Minister should look for a way to ensure that this country's institutions have teachers. It is the responsibility of the Government to give institutions teachers. Or else they should come out and say, \"We are unable; let the parents come in\". Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the parents may not agree to employ teachers, because the Government has taken it upon itself to employ them. Therefore, it is very necessary that the teachers they have promised to employ for primary and secondary schools and the technical training institutions are given. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the population in towns should match the services provided. I find it odd that a town like Meru Municipality does not have a proper sewerage system. Makutano area of Meru Municipality has no sewerage system at all. It is a town that has sprang up because of the business and peace that has been in Meru. Everybody has run to Makutano. Even getting land to buy in Meru is more expensive than in Nairobi. It is time the town was planned properly. I appeal for more funds to be given to that part of the country, so that the sewerage system is done in order that we are not, at any time, endangered by any attacks by epidemics due to lack of proper planning. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kshs500,000 to be added to the Youth Fund for the 210 constituencies is very little money. The youth are the majority of the people without jobs. They are the ones who are trying to enter the job market. They want to start businesses. Some of the institutions through which this money is channelled take a long time to disburse it. They make it very difficult for the youth to get the money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is my humble appeal that this money be channelled to institutions that will channel it to the youth, and not to ones that were previously given the money---"
}