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"id": 205914,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/205914/?format=api",
"text_counter": 192,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Machage",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Health",
"speaker": {
"id": 179,
"legal_name": "Wilfred Gisuka Machage",
"slug": "wilfred-machage"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. A good transport system is actually the backbone of economic development of any country in the world. It is very sad that in Kenya, the dilapidated transport system has been a rubberstamp to many years of poor management of our economy and corruption in the former systems of governance. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, like my colleagues have already said, it is a shame that since Independence, we have not even added a metre of a new railway line. We have forgotten what is more important, that is, the ready market for railway transport in this country. We should have had a railway from the Tanzanian border, through Kisii, Kericho to Nairobi. My own district, Kuria, produces 90 per cent of the finger millet that is consumed in this country. However, the cost of producing millet is so exorbitant because of the transport system that we have. However, we September 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3663 have to accept that the Ministry of Transport has a handicap because it can neither control road construction nor can it control policing of our road network, hence my suggestion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, municipal councils and town councils have the opportunity of owning their own police system. The Office of the Vice-President and Ministry of Home Affairs has its own police system. The Ministry of State for Administration and National Security has its own police system and so has the Ministry of Defence. I suggest that the Ministry of Transport be also allowed to set up a department for policing so that they can make decisions and implement them. What is happening now is that whatever the Minister for Transport does, he has to go and kneel down before another Ministry in order to implement his policies. Most of the time, this is at the detriment of the Ministry of Transport, hence the chaos we have in Nairobi now. Everybody is now shouting that the Ministry of Transport has failed! Where has it failed when we know that the control of the whole transport system is under somebody else's docket? We have to be realistic and accept some of the handicaps that the Ministry of Transport has. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the Kenya Ports Authority, it is true that this is another parastatal that we have neglected. We have been talking of an improvement in our economic growth. Unless we develop our infrastructure, especially, the inland ports in order to harness the importance of the lake system that connects five countries, that is, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, we will not establish an easy means of water transport. The second biggest fresh water lake in the world has been left to go to waste. We have to circumvent--- We have to go round Lake Victoria to reach Eastern Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, thereby incurring great losses. Why? Is it because we cannot buy ships? As a Government, we do not have to! All we have to do is to make that environment conducive for investors to see. If that is done, then our western tourism circuit will develop. We just need to enhance that system. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the development of our airports and airstrips, for me to reach my constituency, I have to fly to Kisumu and then drive for over 300 kilometres. More often than not, I have to drive for over 500 kilometres on some of the worst roads in this country at the detriment of spoiling my own vehicle or the Government vehicle that I may be using and at the same time, increasing the cost of maintenance. Putting up an airstrip is not all that a big issue. In my constituency, I have put aside 50 acres of land for the construction of an airstrip big enough to accommodate any size of plane in this country. It is just there lying fallow. That is what we planned with the old chiefs during the colonial times. We said that it would be necessary at one time to have an airstrip. The land is there! It will be easy to harness that business in western Kenya, especially on the south western part of Kenya, that is, Kisii, Kuria, Trans Mara and so on, which are so important for the development of this economy. Those are some of the things that we really do not see. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the need for road bypasses in this town and other major towns in the country cannot be overemphasised. We have seen something similar to road bypasses being constructed. Yes, it is true that houses were demolished by some other people - I do not want to name them here. But why were they demolished if no roads have been constructed? Why did they destroy those properties? We have to be serious. The relevant Ministry ought to construct these bypasses because they are very much important. The Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit, which is also under the Ministry of State for Administration and National Security, should also be transferred to the Ministry of Transport so that it can decide the tonnage and the type of vehicles that pass through our roads. They should also decide on the penalties, where appropriate and at the right time. This has been ignored because it is being controlled by other Ministries that may not know what the Ministry of Transport is going through. We have a problem with the railway system in this country. If you look at the gauge of our railway lines, you will realise that this gauge was long forgotten by other countries. No wonder we cannot get proper railway line. What we have is a thin railway line that was used in the 18th 3664 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 4, 2007 Century. If we have to get an investor for our railway system, then let us get a serious investor. The current investor should be told, in bold, that he has failed us for the last few months or years he has taken up the corporation and called himself \"Rift Valley Railways\". No, it is unacceptable! We need to see something better than this! We are happy that the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is being expanded, but we also have to look at security issues at the airport, for example, where the incoming passengers mix with exiting passengers at the arrival terminal. We can have our airport properly graded to allow direct landing of big planes from the bigger continents. At the moment, we cannot have direct landing of big planes from the USA. These planes have to go to Ethiopia. Why is this the case? It is all because of simple design mistakes. I hope that the revamping of this airport has taken care of that anomaly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to streamline the matatu industry because many people depend on it. We have to give guidelines and stop people who wait for election time to start hitting the matatu industry with an aim of making the Government to lose votes. That should not be done at this time. All we need to do is to come up with a good policy. Let us have a peaceful election. Let us implement the policy in the new year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}