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"id": 197139,
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"speaker_name": "Eng. Rege",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Karachuonyo",
"speaker": {
"id": 135,
"legal_name": "James Kwanya Rege",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to support the Presidential Speech. I would also like to take the opportunity to congratulate you for being elected Speaker of the Tenth Parliament. I support the President and the Prime Minister-designate for the brave act of signing the Accord. Today, Kenya stands out like a sore thumb internationally. It is as a peace-loving country. All of us, are happy with the arrangement. From today onwards, we, as Parliament, should be speaking as one Government rather than as \"us\" and \"them\". 314 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 20, 2008 Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like, first of all, to thank the people of Karachuonyo Constituency for electing me to the Tenth Parliament with majority votes. I will never let them down. Karachuonyo Constituency lies on the southern part of Lake Victoria. It borders Nyakach, Kasipul Kabondo and Homa Bay. It has five health centres, nine dispensaries, 168 primary schools and 41 secondary schools. All these institutions are serving a population of 115,000 people. As far as agriculture is concerned, we grow groundnuts, cotton, millet, sorghum and maize. We also carry out some horticultural activities along the lake shores. I was elected on the platform of education. As the Minister for Education said here, we have to embark on e-learning. I support him very strongly. Most countries are now thriving on ICT. Kenya stands, again, like a sore thumb in the region to provide e-learning in the continent. What do we do with e-learning? If all secondary schools in Kenya had computers, then we would ensure that those who do not make it to university get jobs. The Government of India is thriving on ICT. They have telecentres all over. There is no reason why we cannot have telecentres in Kenya to provide jobs to our youth who do not make it to secondary schools or universities. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am a graduate of a polytechnic. From there, I went to university. However, even if I did not go to university, I still had a good job. I learnt the necessary skills in polytechnic. Today, even if you have skills, you cannot apply them without computer knowledge. That is why I am of the opinion that all our secondary schools and polytechnics must be equipped with computers. When I was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communications, I strongly supported the idea of providing computers to schools. However, I was so disappointed that only a few schools had them. It was not possible for many schools to get computers because they could not raise Kshs2,000 for insurance. Today, schools must have, at least, Kshs10,000 as an insurance for a computer. We should do away with this impediment and provide our secondary schools with computers. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on education, I would like to say that the free secondary education that we are providing is not free enough. To some parents, raising Kshs18,000 is a lot of money. Talking about roads, I want to thank and congratulate Mr. Michuki for having terminated some road contracts. I have a road in my constituency which is less than one year old since it was tarmacked. This is the Katito-Kendu Bay Road. The contractor is always on the scene repairing it. It is a pity that water is seeping underneath. Why should we pay for such shoddy work? Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Kendu Bay-Mbita Road has never been tarmacked since 1968. To date, it has never been completed. In 2005, the President inaugurated it and the contract was awarded. However, nothing has taken place. The road is very important to our people. There is a very thriving business between Mbita and Kendu Bay. So, it would be prudent that the Government completes it. Lastly, I will talk about water systems. In 1975, when I was a small child, a water system in Karachuonyo Constituency was inaugurated. However, up to date, we have not seen even a drop of water from those taps. We all know that it is not a rocket design to design a water system for a constituency. Safaricom Kenya Limited came to this country only recently. They have put up infrastructure which cost billions of shillings, and it is working. Why can we not have working water systems in our constituencies? What do we lack? We have enough engineers in the country. We have to make sure that we have a proper water system to assist wananchi . Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have seen metal water pipes which were installed in 1975 corrode and replaced with PVC water pipes. I would request the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to make sure that the water system in Karachuonyo Constituency works. Last, but not least, I want to talk about health. We have e-technology than can be used to facilitate the provision of health in the country. We are crying about the inadequacy of medical March 20, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 315 doctors in our provinces. We do not need to have all these doctors in the provinces. If we use tele- medicine, we could still treat our people. We have the VSAT system which costs less than Kshs300,000 per provincial medical centre. We could connect this to Nairobi or other centres where doctors can be put in a room to analyse the X-rays and even talk face to face with the patients. This will enable patients to be treated. Even if we do not use the VSAT system, we could use the underground fibre optic that the Kenya Data Network (KDN) and Telkom are laying down. It is time we looked at this country with a vision to having all these infrastructures in place because we have the money to do it. I know that it can be done to give Kenyans what they need in all aspects of their lives. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank all the people who came to support the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Karachuonyo. There was one Mr. Orinda who lost 10 members of his family who got burnt in one house in Naivasha. I got overwhelming support from my colleagues here, the Kenya Red Cross and elsewhere. I would like to thank them so much. One of his wives was pregnant and she had to be operated on so that the baby could be buried separately. We still have so many of such victims who are being treated in private hospitals, but they do not have the money to do it. I request the Ministry in charge to extend its long hand to make sure that these hospitals give free medical care. I beg to support the Motion."
}