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"id": 194547,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/194547/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ojaamong",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Labour",
"speaker": {
"id": 196,
"legal_name": "Sospeter Odeke Ojaamongson",
"slug": "sospeter-ojaamongson"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also rise to support the Supplementary Appropriation Bill. Indeed, the reasons given by the Minister for Finance for requesting these additional funds are sound, considering where we came from. However, it is my appeal that these funds be put into proper use. Two months after we passed the Budget for the current financial year, we went on the campaign trail and Government services almost came to a standstill. Following the post-election violence, there was so much confusion to the extent that the money we voted through the Budget 988 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 13, 2008 did not go into proper use in provision of services to the people. I cannot remember any tangible project that has been implemented in my constituency, using the money we voted in June, 2007. I believe the same is true for many other constituencies. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are faced with many problems in this country, which we have to address. With the formation of the Grand Coalition Government, it is my hope that the funds we will vote through the Supplementary Appropriation Bill serve as a basis for the main Budget and the real activities of the Government to be actualised. Last week, my Ministry sent me on a familiarisation tour of the coastal region, as the Assistant Minister for Labour, together with the Minister. There is a very big problem at the coast, especially with the tourism industry. It has virtually collapsed. Businesses at almost all the hotels have collapsed, and employees are going through very many tribulations. People have not been paid. Their employers have run away. The employees do not know from whom to get their money. Officials at our Ministry also cannot assist those people; neither can the police nor the District Commissioner. So, those people are in a state of confusion. A very good sum of money has been given to the Ministry of Tourism. Right now, the Minister for Tourism is marketing the tourism industry outside the country. It is my plea that tourists come back to Kenya, so that the coastal region can come back to life, so that the people there can earn money from this industry and be able to live like any other Kenyans. I want to support Mr. Githae when he says that we have to review the boundaries of our constituencies based on numbers. The ECK should, at least, do so, because the exercise is overdue. Unfortunately, I come from a constituency with two districts. Shuffling from one district to another, with the same constituency, is very difficult. If the number of constituencies and their boundaries are reviewed, I might be able to end up with two constituencies, so that when I am in the Government, there can be another Member of Parliament on the Opposition side, asking Questions on behalf of my people. Once you are in the Government, your mouth is shut. You cannot criticise the Government. You cannot raise many of these issues across the Ministries at one time. So, you need somebody from the Opposition to do so. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, so, once the ECK finds it fit to review the constituency boundaries and their numbers, it should also consider giving us an extra constituency and review the boundaries appropriately, because, as Mr. Githae has stated, there are certain historical injustices. Some of my people were curved into another constituency in Western Province and they are not being given any Government services. We shall keep on raising this issue until it is settled. It is necessary that we vote this money because we also have the by-elections coming. We have our brothers and sisters in Kilgoris, Ainamoi and in other constituencies, who do not have representatives in this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the ECK has been given sufficient funds. It is necessary that it goes out there and does a good job. Let the ECK prove that it is actually independent. We are giving it this money to spend, and it should prove that it is independent. Let it not go out there and favour any political party. Let the ECK be fair. Let us test it and see whether it has learnt anything from the previous election, which led to the violence we had. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are, indeed, going through very difficult times. The Member of Parliament for Kwanza Constituency is not happy, because his constituency has so many IDPs. I watched some of them on television yesterday. I saw a family which has six children with no blankets to cover them and no mattresses to sleep on except a small mat. There is no house to sleep in. It is necessary that money is given to the Ministry of Special Programmes, so that those people can be re-settled. The Government should distribute this money, and give any other help that the IDPs need, transparently. Personally, I do not trust Provincial Administration personnel, unless they have changed. May 13, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 989 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us use respected community leaders, or the leaders of the people in IDPs camps, so that food commodities, blankets and other help coming from the Government can reach the IDPs wherever they are, because they are now scattered all over. There are those people who are hell- bent in ensuring that the IDPs continue suffering. So, let us try to avoid a situation where people are going to benefit from the money or any other resources meant for IDPs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, some parts of this country experienced very heavy flooding. In Western and Nyanza provinces several bridges and roads were washed away. The money we are voting will go into a kind of an emergency fund, at least, to alleviate some of the suffering that people are experiencing, especially in areas where bridges were washed away. In my constituency, and that of Mr. Wetangula, we have a bridge which was built in 1910 by the"
}