HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 195914,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/195914/?format=api",
"text_counter": 112,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ruto",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Oparanya for the appointment he got. He is quite a humble man. He has got a good team there with Dr. Sambili. He can do a good job. It is rare that I give accolades to these Ministers, but I want to do this to Mr. Oparanya. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am quite certain that the CDF team that Mr. Oparanya presented will deliver, although he had a hiccup this afternoon telling us that one of them had questionable certificates. That is why now I really support the possibility of submitting these names in future to a committee so that they are appropriately vetted. Since they have been brought here, we will just, probably, have to accept them because we believe that Mr. Oparanya will do a good job in ensuring that if the names turn out to be unbecoming, he will take the necessary action. I want to associate with our colleagues who have said that the allocation to CDF should be raised to at least, 5 per cent. It is unfortunate that the Attorney-General has left. I do not know who will tell Mr. Kimunya that he has to make it a minimum of 5 per cent in this Budget. We cannot accept anything less than that. That way, even before we straighten the relevant laws, it will, at least, be able to pay the workers fairly. This is because the figure could easily slightly rise higher than Kshs40,000. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) has contributed a lot to development in this country. It is a good example of a devolved fund. As we move towards December, I hope we will have passed more comprehensive constitutional reforms to ensure that there are proper devolved structures and, probably, a much higher percentage of the national Budget allocated to the CDF. I want to ask the Minister for Planning, National Development and Vision Twenty Thirty to ensure, for the time being, that District Development Officers (DDOs) understand their role. Right now, they are a big problem. Most of the time, they hardly stay in their offices. As soon as they report to their offices, they create bottlenecks. I wonder why the Ministry chose to appoint DDOs as holders of Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE). Why should they be the AIE holders of CDF money? Is it a regulation of the Government? Why should the Government give us money for development of the constituencies and tell us that the person who has authority to incur expenditure is the DDO? We are now giving back responsibility to the same civil servants who have caused us problems throughout the century. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have found out that officers at the district level are taking the CDF as a cash-cow. There are regulations which require us to consult them on technical matters like drawings and bills of quantities. The District Tender Committee in my constituency had tendered for a bridge to be constructed. When I looked at Bill of Quantities and the drawings, I saw that the bridge was 60 metres wide. However, at no stage does that river's width exceed 20 metres. So, I asked a private engineer to measure the width of the river for me. His measurements indicated April 24, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 697 that the width was only 19 metres. The District Tender Committee had tendered the project and they wanted us to pay Kshs5 million. Fortunately, the bridge had not been constructed. So, we cancelled the tender and contracted a private engineer. We were able to build two foot bridges and a motorable bridge using the same Kshs5 million. Had we accepted the deal cut out by the District Tender Committee, we would have constructed one foot bridge at Kshs5 million. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have also come across a situation where the District Water Officer certified that a dam had been constructed. His report indicated that he had extracted over 4,000 cubic metres of earth. When I asked him to give me the dimensions of the dam, he told me that it was 100 metres by 40 metres. When we visited the site, we discovered that the actual measurements were 20 metres by 30 metres. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, so, you can see that civil servants are giving us problems. We are, therefore, requesting the Minister concerned to, please, spare us the indulgences of these civil servants. We would rather use private consultants than use these fellows. Their involvement in project implementation leads to waste of funds. The Minister said that the CDF kitty has Kshs3 billion which has not been utilised. We wanted to utilise the funds. However, getting a cheque at the district level is next to impossible because of the bureaucracy involved. The officers involved scrutinise one payment voucher for the whole day. They go for lunch and never report back to the office. We have to do something about this bureaucracy. We want the Ministry to utilise the CDF Accounts managers. If they are any regulations we want them to observe, they can do so. They can advise us. We are ready to abide by such regulations. Most of us here have worked in the public service. Therefore, we are not aliens to regulations. When we served in the Public Service, we handled much more money than what we are being told to handle. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that other hon. Members want to contribute to this debate. I will, therefore, shorten my contribution in the spirit of being mindful of others. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}