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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to congratulate my brother, Mr. Jakoyo Midiwo, for this very touching Motion that he has brought to this House. I also want to say that this Motion was proposed in the last Parliament but it did not see the light of day. However, time has come for it to see the light of day, and I want to contribute to it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenyans have persevered a great deal of exploitation from unkind business people. We all agree that the population of this country is over and above 35 million people. From statistics that have been given by the Ministry of Energy, it is clear that only 10 per cent of Kenyans have access to electricity. The rest, 90 per cent, use paraffin, for those who can afford it. Paraffin is not manufactured locally. We all know that it is imported. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the price of paraffin has gone up. There is no price control whatsoever. It is multinational companies that import paraffin. They then fix the price they want at any given time. This causes the same poor Kenyans to struggle to raise money in order to be able to purchase paraffin. That is just an example. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go to the supermarkets, 80 per cent of the items that are very essential for Kenyans are imported. Some of them, however, are substandard goods. They do not conform to the quality control in our country. The prices of these substandard items have risen to a level where ordinary Kenyans cannot purchase them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is very clear that it is only this small group seated here, and well-paid civil servants, who go to supermarkets and purchase what they want. In 2000 and 2001 when the rate of exchange of the Kenya shilling to the dollar was Kshs72, a 2- kilogramme packet of maize flour cost Kshs24. Today, the rate is Kshs62 to the dollar and the same packet costs Kshs72. All this is the culmination of lack of price control. We need to enact a law to control prices. We need to look at the most essential items used by wananchi, so that we can apply checks and balances in controlling the prices. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other day we had prison warders striking, and almost going to the streets to start fighting. This is because we have well-paid civil servants who live in big houses in Kileleshwa and other places, yet when you compare the risks involved in the jobs they are doing to those done by the prison wardens, the civil servants face no risks. That person lives a good life and has access to vehicles. On the other hand, the prison warders who are assigned to guard criminals live in mud houses. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I accompanied the Vice- President and Minister for Home Affairs to Thika Prison. I was surprised by what I saw. It was quite devastating. You cannot imagine a married man sharing a room of eight feet by seven feet with three other men! One of the men is married and the other two are not. The wife of the married man is there, and you can imagine what kind of life that is! In other rooms you find four married men sharing the room with their wives. Their children sleep under the beds. We were told that the little children sleep under the bed because there is no choice. The parents want the job. The wife comes from Turkana and what they are paid is not enough to pay for the wife's fare back home every month. They have to live together for six months before the wife goes home. This is so, yet they are expected to perform their duties. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it all starts from the top. We have to start from there. There are no separate issues here. The prices and standard of living of Kenyans are inter-twined. 762 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 30, 2008 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Midiwo said it. Today, in the newspapers, there is a story about the Supplementary Estimates of the Government. They show that it will spend over Kshs30 billion in the next two months and before the next financial year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when matatu drivers and office messengers get access to these newspapers and read that because of the Grand Coalition Government that was formed, it will cost the poor taxpayers Kshs32 billion, yet they do not have hospitals, and those that are there do not have beds or medicines--- The Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security was here. In my district, Kangundo, we only have one Land Rover. This is used by the District Commissioner (DC), the District Education Officer (DEO) and the police. This happens and Kenyans in my constituency read that the Government will spend Kshs33 billion. What answers do I have for my people when I go home? What kind of courage shall I have to be able to tell them: \"Look, this justifies this expenditure\"? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to get to the bottom of this issue and come up with a solution. With those few remarks, I beg to support. Legislation is required to curb and control the prices of essential commodities used by ordinary wananchi ."
}