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"id": 205915,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/205915/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
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"speaker": {
"id": 215,
"legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. To begin with, I hope that the Minister, while responding, will address this issue. I want to read to the House the HANSARD of 19th April, 2007 and the issue is about Government position on Integrated National Transport Policy. The person who gave the Government position is none other than my good friend, the Minister for Transport, the hon. Mwakwere. This is what he said. I want to read it so that when he will be responding, he should tell us where things went wrong. He said inter alia : \"The Draft Integrated National Transport Policy was formulated in February, 2004, by a task force committee. Thereafter, the Ministry of Transport constituted a team to study the policy recommendations contained in the document and also requested Ministries and institutions, directly or indirectly touched by the recommendations, to make their comments. The Report was, thereafter, revised and a small task force was established to prepare a Draft Sessional Paper on the country's Integrated National Transport Policy. The Draft Sessional Paper is now ready for submission to the Cabinet for approval. The Sessional Paper will be presented to the House for debate as soon as Cabinet approval is obtained\". That is what the Minister said on 19th, April, 2007. When he was further pressed by Mr. Maore who had raised the issue as to how long it was to take, he responded as follows: \"Mr. Speaker, Sir, I estimate that the Sessional Paper will be presented to Parliament for debate within the next ten weeks.\" That was on 19th, April, this year. He talked of ten weeks. He was further pressed and he said: \"Mr. Speaker, Sir, the ten weeks is the upper limit. It could be done earlier than that. May I also inform the hon. Member that the presentation of a transport policy does not mean that all our problems will be solved. It is an Integrated Transport Policy that involves, not only Government Ministries, but also the private sector. It is a document that will map the future of the transport sector in this country to make it secure, safer, efficient and more useful to the people as a whole\". Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are very good intentions contained in that statement. The ten weeks which was the upper limit elapsed without us seeing that paper. We are now debating this Ministry's Vote and yet, that paper has not been tabled here. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have been listening to the contributions by various September 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3665 hon. Members. I am happy that I got the chance to speak after listening to them. The issues being raised by various speakers are isolated here and there. In my view, they would be best addressed in such a Sessional Paper. It could be worked on by technocrats, come here and then we enrich it with whatever ideas that we may have. As we appreciate the key role played by the Ministry of Transport, we would be having a policy document that guides the manner in which, we, as a country, will direct investments in this sector. As it is today, we will talk and somebody will come and say, \"now we want Mombasa to be Free Port\", another one will talk about Dongo Kundu. The Minister talked about two new ferries. Some years ago, they talked about a fly over bridge. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the reason these things keep changing is that we lack a policy document that should guide the way investments in this very key sector of our economy is to be operated. As we sit here, somebody would say, \"we have invited some youth from Brunei or Middle East or some retirees from any of such countries who may have some little money to invest\". This is not guided by anything that one would lay his or her hands on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we support this Ministry's Vote, we want the Minister to very quickly deliver that document to us. Somebody said that we are seeing the red lights. It is called the home-stretch. We are on the home-stretch. The Ninth Parliament of Kenya is on its home-stretch. It would have done us good and proud if, among other issues, we left after having debated and passed a policy on transport because of the key role the Ministry is plays. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even when you talk about sectors like the matatu industry, we heard the Assistant Minister one time talk about some decision to do away with the 14-seater vehicles. I do not know whether it was in a funeral or during a football match. He said that they were going to do something about those 14-seater vehicles. We have not seen it here. The reason these things are being addressed in this haphazard way is we lack the policy. I want to encourage the Minister and his team to, please, do us proud as a country, by bringing that document here. I am sure, we will pass it with one breath. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, some of the decisions that the Ministry will make obviously will not be very popular, particularly in the matatu industry. I see every time you touch that industry, there will always be some noise here and there. But we just have to be bold. We do not have to always make popular moves! If the decisions made are for the betterment and well being of the country as a whole, we have nothing to worry about. We should not fear that elections are around the corner. I mean, why should we? Therefore, I will be one person who will support any serious decision that brings sense within the matatu industry. I want to assure you that we will support the Minister. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, people have talked about reaping the peace dividends in Southern Sudan. I am happy to know that there is some movement towards improvement of the facilities at Lokichoggio airstrip. We must accompany that with the development of the road sub- sector; which I know is not in his Ministry, but would be guided by that policy paper I am talking about had it been debated and adopted. This Ministry has one interesting department under it. It is called the Meteorological Department. Either the department operates with obsolete equipment or something. However, if you listen to the weather focus and they say, like they do in Kiswahili, that there will be \"rasharasha\", that is a day you would be well advised to put on light clothing because it would be very hot. So when they tell you it would rain, what you get the next day, is the opposite. I have always wondered why this is so. I have been to other countries and they give such precise predictions. I am sure, we have trained personnel here. Is it possible that maybe the equipment that they use or what they give to our radio and television stations is not meant to be correct? I would want the Minister to address whatever the problem is. 3666 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 4, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said about the concessioning of the Kenya Railways to the Rift Valley Railways. I wish to associate myself with my colleagues, I think not very serious thought went into that. However, having read some story later that a group of companies called the Trans-Century Group invested within the concessionaire some US$14 million, then it looks to me, the reason for the hurry to do the concessioning was merely meant to transport a portion of public funds into that group of companies. Otherwise, how comes since the consessioning, the railway sector has actually under-performed? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}