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"id": 205494,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/205494/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Tarus",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
"id": 315,
"legal_name": "Stephen Kipkiyeny Tarus",
"slug": "stephen-tarus"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for giving me this chance to support this Vote of the Ministry of September 5, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3729 Transport. I also want to say that the time that there was strict enforcement of rules in the transport sector for matatus and strict adherence to axle load, we saw, in the summary of statistics given by the Department of Police, accidents having dropped tremendously. Looking through the experience that we have seen in the last few days, the whole problem of accidents erodes the gains that this Government had recorded in the transport sector. This, therefore, calls for a way to be found to support the Minister for Transport by developing the transport police. I am sure that if they had personnel whose duty is to make sure that the users of road transport like matatus, lorries and so on, comply with the rules, we will save lives. We should not forget how Kenyans supported the initiative to introduce rules even when there was no space because of the strict number of passengers per matatu and there was a shortage of vehicles; Kenyans walked from their homes to work and back home. We need to bring back the confidence of Kenyans by making sure that we do address the problem afresh. One wonders where the problem is because we seem to have got how to fix it. I am sure we know where to fix so that we put an end these accidents. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it has become very common, and I saw it recently, most of these accidents involve long trucks. The accident that occurred in Kisumu in the morning and killed people involved a trailer. The one that killed people in Kisii is also a trailer. The one that killed some families near Naivasha is also a trailer. This calls for the Ministry to look at how to control the trailers and make sure that they follow the rules. With regard to the urban transport, Nairobi has become such an expensive city. If you want to go, for example, from here to the University of Nairobi, you have to invest one hour on the road. So, you have to start your journey one hour early. If you are going to the airport, and the airlines say that you must be there two hours earlier, then you must have an extra one hour along Mombasa Road, to be able to catch your flight. We need to ask ourselves how we are going to improve the urban transport system, so that we save time. Can we imagine how many hours Kenyans lose on the road? For example, if you are coming to the City Centre using Lang'ata Road in the morning, if you do not leave by 6.00 a.m, you will certainly be here at 8.30 a.m. Likewise, if you are coming to the City Centre using Thika Road, if you do not leave before 6.00 a.m.--- If we think about labour, the contribution towards the economy and how much time we lose in transport, I think the Ministry should also evaluate the current system vis-a-vis how much we lose in terms of time and, therefore, develop a framework of how to improve urban transport. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we do not have a good railway transport system anymore, yet we have invested in it. It is shameful that today we do not have enough passenger trains that would really ease the traffic congestion within the City. One of the hon. Members said that the Kenya Railways is strategically located and has a lot of assets. We only need to modernise it and acquire more trains. It is saddening to see how idle the resources that we have are. If we converted them into useful investment, I am sure our economy would even triple. Lack of utilisation, effectiveness and efficiency of the railway transport is the source of every investor switching to using road transport to transport goods. Railway transport is not only necessary for Kenya, but also the countries within the East and Central Africa. If we had an effective, efficient and functioning railway network all the way to Uganda, we would decongest our roads and, therefore, ensure safety of our people and roads. Therefore, we need to invest in this sector. We need to support this Ministry by allocating it resources for its modernisation, because it plays a critical role in the transformation of the economy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on air transport, we are doing quite well. But let us utilise our resources fully. Let us utilise the facilities that we have developed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}