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{
"id": 198079,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/198079/?format=api",
"text_counter": 31,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "[His Excellencythe President]",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 43,
"legal_name": "Emilio Mwai Kibaki",
"slug": "mwai-kibaki"
},
"content": "for passing 17 Bills into law last year. These include The Political Parties Bill, The Constituencies Development Fund Bill, The Media Bill and several labour sector laws. Mr. Speaker, Sir, these laws are expected to improve our country's social, political and March 6, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 43 economic environment. However, the Tenth Parliament faces an even more pressing agenda and cannot afford to conduct itself in the usual manner. I, therefore, expect the House to work twice as hard to achieve the ambitious legislative agenda that will be brought to this House. I wish to point out that what I am proposing today as the Government's legislative and policy agenda to this House will be augmented further in the coming weeks and months. This will be done through new Bills and policies that will be developed from the synergy and harmonization of the manifestos of the three main parties to the coalition. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the past five years have seen the agricultural sector perform robustly from the policies implemented by the Government. We, therefore, expect it to recover quickly from the recent setbacks. To improve market performance of several key commodities, we will propose the following legislative and policy agenda:- 1. To amend the Coffee Act 2001 to provide direct sales of coffee. 2. To amend the Sugar Act 2001 to restructure the sugar industry. 3. To introduce Bills and Sessional Papers covering dairy, poultry and fishing, industries among others. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another sector that has been performing extremely well is the tourism industry. Despite the recent downturn, the sector has enormous potential to recover and grow rapidly, providing foreign exchange and creating employment opportunities. To enable the sector perform even better, the Government will table three Bills, namely, the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations Guidelines, the Tourism Bill and the Wildlife Bill. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we undertake to deal decisively with poverty and inequitable development, my Government acknowledges the crucial role played by co-operatives in the production and marketing of produce as well as mobilizing savings and providing credit to the majority of Kenyans. In this regard, we will be tabling a Sessional Paper on Co-operative Development Policy, and a Bill on Savings and Credit Co-operatives. Mr. Speaker, Sir, while we have done well in implementing the free primary and secondary education programmes, we do require legislation to entrench the reforms in the entire education sector within our country's laws. In this regard, my Government plans to introduce legislation that will regulate the role of non-public entities such as the civil society and the international education providers, as well as propose the establishment of a Technical Industrial Vocation and Entrepreneurial Training Authority. Moreover, we do recognise that we will not be able to achieve the goals of Vision 2030 without entrenching a culture of science, technology and innovation in our society. In this regard, my Government will present to the House several proposals, including a National Policy for Science, Technology and Innovation, a Bill to upgrade the National Council of Science and Technology to the National Commission of Science and Technology, and the creation of the National Science Foundation and National Innovation Agency. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the health sector, my Government proposes to review the Public Health Act, so as to consolidate 23 different public health laws into a single Act of Parliament. We will also table in this House policy papers on Health Care Financing, Health Services Commission and Decentralised Funding of Health Facities. With regard to the youths of this country, my Government will propose amendments to the Armed Forces Act to enable youths trained under the National Youth Service to be absorbed into the armed forces. We will also table before the House a Bill to provide for the creation of a National Youth Council. Further, my Government will re-table the Sessional Paper on Employment Policy for discussion in the House on the urgent and critical matter of providing enough jobs for our young people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to gender, we will continue to support the current policy of 44 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 6, 2008 ensuring that 30 per cent of public appointments and new employment opportunities are reserved for women. We now have more lady Members of Parliament than at any other time in the past, and I expect to see more gender friendly laws and policies emerge from the Tenth Parliament in relation to its predecessors. With regard to the protection of the family and children, we will propose amendments to the Children Act, 2001 for better implementation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the proper management and regulation of our country's physical infrastructure is among the highest priorities of my Government. In this regard, we plan to introduce the Information Communication Technology Bill as a regulatory framework for broadcasting, electronic transactions and cyber crime. In the water sector, we will table the National Water Harvesting and Storage Policy to facilitate the harnessing and storage of recurrent flood waters, as well as the National Shared Water Resources Policy to promote equitable development of water resources nationally. We also expect to undertake the Second Mzima Springs Project to ensure sufficient water supply to Mombasa and its surroundings. And to ensure that our roads network is better constructed and maintained, my Government will make fully operational the Urban, Rural and National Highways Authorities that were legislated under the Roads Act in the last Parliament. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we will further introduce a policy on the registration of contractors, as well as the creation of a national construction company to build capacity among local contractors. We will also introduce legislation touching on the protection of road reserves, registration of engineers, architects as well as quantity surveyors. With regard to local authorities, we propose to bring to the House, new amendments to the Local Government Act to enable the direct election of mayors and county council chairmen. This reform is long overdue, and this Parliament should deliberate on it as a matter of priority."
}