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{
    "id": 207966,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/207966/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kipchumba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 313,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Kipchumba Lagat",
        "slug": "joseph-lagat"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me also give my contribution to this very important Vote. The money that has been allocated to this Ministry is not little money as has been said by many hon. Members. This is a lot of money. I think the biggest problem we have with this Ministry is the mode of sharing the funds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many of our districts have been given what I call tokens. For the last four to five years, we have either received nil or Kshs3 million to Kshs5 million. Today, I cannot tell my people that this Government has given us any project in my constituency. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many of the funds have been given to districts. Giving money to districts is not a guarantee that funds will come to one's constituency unless one comes from a one-district constituency. That is probably the case with many districts. However, there are certain departments that have been neglected by this Ministry. The Minister may not understand that his job is not just to deal with water. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, two critical departments; the sewerage and irrigation departments, are totally neglected by this Ministry. A sum of Kshs122 million for sewerage will, probably, not even be sufficient to construct a proper sewerage system in Machakos. It could, probably, construct one in a small town like Mwala and not anywhere else. In Eldoret Town, the August 21, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3315 sewerage department covers only 40 per cent of the municipality. It is a shame that, in a big town, we have continued constructing pit latrines. These latrines will collapse at some stage. I do not understand why this sewerage department was, in the first place, brought under the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. I would understand that, probably, they go hand-in-hand. However, when there is no sewerage system in a town, the Ministry that suffers the consequences is the Ministry of Local Government. When there is no sewerage system, nobody talks to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. In fact, people do not understand that this is not a problem of the Ministry of Local Government. They will go to the local authority to complain that the sewerage system is not working. Therefore, the Minister should explain to me, at a later stage, why the sewerage department should not have been left under the Ministry of Local Government and why irrigation should not have been left under the Ministry of Agriculture."
}