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"id": 197325,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197325/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwadeghu",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Wundanyi",
"speaker": {
"id": 98,
"legal_name": "Thomas Ludindi Mwadeghu",
"slug": "thomas-mwadeghu"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to join my colleagues in supporting the Presidential Speech. My names are Mr. Thomas Mwadeghu from Wundanyi Constituency. I wish to take this opportunity to thank most sincerely my constituents for having given me an opportunity to serve them for the next five years. I believe and trust I will not let them down. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, through Members of Parliament, a lot has been said, especially on marginalisation. Our biggest problem from my point of view is the management and distribution of our resources. This country is endowed with massive natural resources. However, one of our biggest problems has been harnessing those resources and distributing the factors of production across the country for the benefit of our citizens. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his Speech, His Excellency the President did mention that we will have the second Mzima Water Project. I would call upon the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to take note that it will be very unfair for water to flow from Mzima Springs all the way to Mombasa and ignore the residents of Taita who desperately need the water. Not only the residents of Taita, but also the residents of Mazeras and Kaloleni. As you have seen, it was a practice that was there on Mzima I where water flowed from Mzima Springs all the way to Mombasa, but all communities living within the vicinity of that pipeline were ignored. We hope, believe and trust that those mistakes will not be repeated. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in as much as we would wish to see that our resources are distributed evenly across the country, there are certain areas which have been blessed with massive natural resources. I have in mind the Tsavo East and Tsavo West national parks. Two- thirds of both Taita and Taveta districts are swallowed by Tsavo East and Tsavo West national parks. Each consecutive government that has come in power, especially during elections has gone to the communities and promised them ten per cent of the proceeds of the national parks. March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 293 I am sorry to state that those promises have never been fulfilled. We have wondered and questioned whether the elephants in Maasai Mara and the elephants in Tsavo East and West are any different. We have Maasai Mara Game Reserve as a game reserve. For that matter, the communities within that game reserve benefit a lot from the gate collections. The communities in Taita do not benefit anything from both Tsavo East and Tsavo West just because it is a national park. Time has come to address some of these inequalities. As much as we talk of equity, I beg to differ on the definition of the equitable distribution of our resources for the benefit of our communities. The communities in Taita-Taveta District have preserved the wildlife and their natural resources. Yet, when it comes to benefiting from those natural resources, they have been left out. It is the high time that the Ministries concerned did everything possible to ensure that those benefits which are accruing to communities whose land has been converted into game reserves also go to those communities whose land has remained national parks. Otherwise, all game parks should be converted into game reserves for the benefit of our communities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to bring to the attention of this august House the fact that 70 per cent of the natural resources of this country are found in Taita-Taveta District. We have documents to prove that. Yet, it is disappointing to note that the iron ore deposits in Taita- Taveta District have remained unexploited. We are wondering what we are waiting for. We are lamenting about unemployment when the Government lacks enough resources to feed its people and do the infrastructure yet, our mining industry is unexploited. The mineral deposits in Taita- Taveta District are massive. Todate, we do not have any authority to exploit those mineral deposits. Time has come for those mineral deposits to be extracted in order to benefit the country at large. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Presidential Speech touched on infrastructure. Yes, we need the infrastructure but even the roads which are being constructed now are not durable, like the Mombasa-Nairobi road, which is receiving a second phase. Even before the contractor has handed over the road, where heavy trucks have been moving along, it has developed some cracks. Either the road had been done without following the set standards or the trucks are overloaded. If the trucks are overloaded, who is responsible for that? Time has come for the Ministries concerned to ensure that there is no overloading on our roads. On the same note, we have the Taveta-Mwatate Road which links Kenya and Tanzania. This Road has remained an eyesore. Each Government had said they will do that road but nothing has been done. I wish to implore the Ministry concerned to ensure that the road between Mwatate and Taveta linking the high productive areas of Arusha, Moshi and Kilimanjaro is opened up for the benefit of this country. This is because there will be diversion of goods instead of using the Port of Dar-es-Salam, they will use the Port of Mombasa. But as it is right now, all those goods go to Dar-es- Salam. This is not because the Port of Dar-es-Salam is shorter or is more efficient but just because of a hundred kilometres of road, which is in bad state. Finally, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to request the Ministry of Local Government to take note of the communities sharing common boundaries. More often than not, they have created animosities which are uncalled for. We have provincial boundaries which were recognised all along. But of late, we have seen communities fighting over boundaries because somebody has amassed power and decided to change the boundaries without involving the communities. As a result of that, we have had differences and people are fighting. This is uncalled for. My humble request is that some of these issues be addressed to avoid unnecessary conflict. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Motion."
}