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"id": 195888,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 185,
"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
"slug": "danson-mungatana"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also thank the Minister for bringing this Motion. It was long overdue. As we all know, many projects that were pending in our various constituencies could not move because we were waiting for the establishment of the Board. However, I am worried about something here that the Minister needs to look at very quickly. First of all, according to Rule 3 of the new Act - the amended version of this Act - all the members of the Board must be present so that they can have their first meeting. The Minister has not appointed one Board member while he was moving this Motion. This exposes us to a further delay in the establishment of the Board. We will pass the other names, but we will still not get to the end result, which is to have it operationalised. Also, to correct the hon. Member who has just left the Floor, it is the Board which, according to Rule 4, shall appoint the Chairperson. It is not the Minister. That means that, any of the people who are in the Board may become a chairperson; in which effect, if the Board is not quickly and completely established, then we will have a delay. We want the Minister to come back very quickly to the House with the other name, so that we can finish up this matter. Otherwise, we are very happy with the names that have been proposed. We think that they should quickly come to this House for establishment. On the question of the finances of the Board, Section 48, which is very important, says that the Minister must approve the financial estimates of the Board, which must not be more than 3 per cent. We are setting up a Board today and we want it to start operations quickly, so that we can get our things moving at the constituency. We would like to request the Minister to move with haste--- That is because the end result that we want is to have the Board approve whatever it is that we want April 24, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 681 to do in our constituencies. Being the Minister for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, he can quickly give guidance to the members that have already been appointed, so that we can have a rough estimate that is approved quickly. There is no authority to use even a single cent according to the Act, before the Minister approves. What we are saying is that in approving the allowances and the budget that the Board is going to use during its lifetime for the year, we want the Minister to be careful. That is because we know the previous committee that was exercising the same function. We were not satisfied with the way they utilised those funds. They had many trips and meetings. Those meetings were not being converted into direct benefits of the constituencies that are represented in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the rules are also giving the same Board powers to establish boards. On Rule No.4.1, the Board is given powers to establish committees. There is no limit on the number of committees that are going to be set up by the Board. The Board may actually misuse those powers. It can set up various committees for the sole purpose of making sure that they are paid good allowances. The Board is supposed to establish committees from amongst its own members. They could have many committees for other purposes, other than the ones that are benefiting them. I am saying that the Minister must have a microscopic look at the Board. He should make sure that it is serving us. We will not be there when they are doing all the things that they need to do. The third thing that I want to say is that there is a point in Section 48 that says that members of the Board who are from Ministries like the Permanent Secretaries from the Ministry of Finance and Ministry Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 are supposed to be paid their emoluments by the Ministries. We know for a fact that, that has not been happening even at the lower level. When district engineers go and inspect projects, they come back and demand money from the same CDF account. We want the Minister to really effect that and quickly set up the levels. The Act empowers him to do so. We do not want the 3 per cent that will be allocated to the Board to be another cash cow that will be milked by the Board. In other words, I am saying that the Minister needs to have a microscopic look. He is a Member of Parliament and, at the same time, he is in the Executive. He will help and represent us well if he can check the details of what is happening. He should not just- -- We have faith in our Minister because he is a man trained in the school of money. He should not just depend on the reports of his Permanent Secretary because he is also a member of this Board. So, he should take a personal interest as a Member of Parliament representing us to check on the details about what happens in this Board. He will be our eyes there. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have two other last points I want to make. There is a valid point that has been made that there is low usage of established or completed projects. Health centres were mentioned here. When the Minister was moving this Motion, he mentioned health centres and police stations. From the Ministry of Health, we would want to say it in this House again and again that, please, if you want to put up any medical facility be it a dispensary, health centre or whatever using the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), as a policy, we would request hon. Members to, please, liaise with Ministry headquarters. If that is a bit difficult for you, then, at least, the district people must be aware. If we do not know your CDF facility exists or it is not within the planning, then even they cannot get the medical kit, nurses or clinical officers allocated to them. So, we would request hon. Members to do so. I am sure the same would be said for the facilities of police and other security agents that we should make it a habit to communicate that information to the line Ministries, especially the Ministry of Health, so that we can be useful and an end result is achieved. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I would want to urge the media to be friendly to hon. Members on the usage of this CDF. They have not been very friendly to Members of Parliament in respect of this CDF. We are not saying they should not report our ills, but we are saying that there 682 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 24, 2008 has been a very negative reaction towards the set up of CDF. I know that many Members of Parliament have suffered unfair criticism against themselves. We would sincerely request that the positive aspects be brought forward by the media. We now have a Board which is set up to include even members who are representatives of the religious organisations that we respect most in this country. We have the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), the Supreme Council of Muslims (SUPKEM), teachers and many other respectable and good professionals represented there. We ask the media to look at the way they have viewed Members of Parliament again. Please, it is not all of us who have been involved in malpractices. Many hon. Members of Parliament have done very well in the management of CDF. It is just unfortunate the way it has been portrayed as if it is a fund that we use for our own purposes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I urge that the media will be positive this time round, especially with this Board of respectful organisations that have been put up. I would urge them to support this initiative. Even as they write their papers and present their programmes here in Nairobi, they have cousins, brothers and sisters in the villages who need those medical facilities, police stations and schools. So, it is good for the media to support this CDF and create the correct impression among the public. With those few remarks, I would beg to support this Motion. Thank you."
}