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"id": 195486,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/195486/?format=api",
"text_counter": 151,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution to this Motion. Mr. Speaker, Sir, first, before we say or do anything, I think we must commend the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and its staff, led by the Commissioner-General, for saving this country. During the chaos that erupted after the elections, everybody was worried that revenue will go down and, as a result, the Government will be forced to borrow money from the private sector, finance institutions and banks in order to finance Government expenditure. The result of that would have been to increase inflation. I do not know what magic the people in KRA are using; I do not know what kamuti they are using, but the result is that revenue or tax collection has not gone down! In fact, they have met their targets. So, we need to commend them for saving this country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we must also commend the other organs of Government that are concerned with revenue collection. I have in mind our ports, airports and all the other organizations involved in revenue collection. As we say this, I think we also need to caution the detractors of the Government; the ones who are saying that as a result of the increase in the number of Ministries, the amount of money required by the Government to finance the 42 Ministries--- In fact, some civil societies have mentioned a figure of Kshs242 billion. I do not know where they got that figure from. We have been told by the Minister for Finance that, if you calculate and do an analysis of the money that has been reduced and the money that has been added, the total cost is only Kshs400 million. So, I do not know where the civil societies got the figure of Kshs342 billion. I think what they wanted was just to scare off Kenyans. I think they were against the Grand Coalition Government that was being established. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am glad that now, it is very clear that the fears Kenyans had have not been realized. We have one Government and Cabinet led by His Excellency the President. Therefore, even those who had some fears about the Grand Coalition, I think they have subsided. Therefore, we must commend both His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister for coming up with the Grand Coalition. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am also glad that some money has been given to Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to finance the forth-coming six by-elections. I know we must face the reality. The ECK, as of now, is the body that is mandated by our Constitution to manage elections. Therefore, if you say that ECK, as currently constituted, should not manage and supervise elections, then we will be saying that we do not want the by-elections. So we do not want the people who do not have Members of Parliament to be represented here. That is what we should be saying. We have not taken any move or any measure to reconstitute the ECK. So, I think it is time for Kenyans to be told the truth and not to be scared. Again, Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we say that we have no faith or confidence in the ECK, then, in effect, we should not even be in this House! We are in this House because of the results that were 800 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 30, 2008 gazetted by the ECK! So, if you took your oath, then you were actually confirming that you accept the results as they were gazetted by the ECK. So, I think we must say some of these realities. We can redress the management problems that were evident during the last General Election, but I do not see anything wrong with the ECK! So, I am glad that, at least, the Ministry of Finance has accepted the reality and has given the ECK some money to finance the forth-coming six by-elections. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is something else; that we also need to tell our Kenyans the truth. Chaos erupted in this country when the results were not announced; after a day. In Zimbabwe, they held elections and a month has elapsed since then and yet, they have not gone to the streets to kill people. They have not gone to the farms to burn houses. They have not gone to the roads to burn buses and matatus . But when the results were late by a day in Kenya, you saw the results! I think we need to learn something from the Zimbabweans. We must have patience! Mr. Speaker, Sir, in Egypt and Haiti, when the prices of ugali and rice went up, the citizens were on the streets demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister. But in this country, prices have gone up and I am yet to see any Kenyan on the street demanding the resignation of the people concerned. But when election results are delayed, they go to the streets to burn, kill and maim fellow Kenyans. We must stop that! We must tell our people the truth! Sometimes a delay is inevitable. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a delay is not reason enough to go to the streets to encourage a fellow Kenyan to go and burn a fellow Kenyan's property. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am also glad that some money has been allocated to the Ministry of Medical Services and Ministry of Public Health. I would recommend that the programme that was stopped - that of training enroled community nurses - should commence again. What is happening is that we have managed to construct so many dispensaries, but there are no nurses to man them because they are in remote areas. When the registered nurses are sent to those dispensaries, they are turn down those appointments. So, we need to go back and enrol community nurses who would not mind manning a dispensary in some remote area. For example, in my constituency, we have three fully constructed dispensaries but no staff. Similarly, we have stopped training dressers, who are very important people in the hospitals. Now, if you go to some hospitals and you have a wound, you are told to clean it yourself because there are no dressers to do so."
}