Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 212322,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/212322/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have been listening to this debate since yesterday, and there seems to be a consensus building that there is an increased roads improvement all over the country. I happen to come from Kisumu Rural Constituency, and in order to come to Nairobi by road, I have to drive from Kisumu to Nairobi. If you try to drive from Kisumu to Nakuru, you will be a dead duck because there is no road. In the west of the Rift Valley, there are no roads. If you try to drive from Kisumu to Kakamega and then to Eldoret, you will be as dead as a duck because there is no road. So, this chorus that has been going on in this House that there have been roads improvement all over this country is a myth. There are no roads worthy calling roads in the west of the Rift Valley. That is a fact. That is why we have to fly to Kisumu. There have been increased flights between Nairobi and Kisumu because people cannot drive from Nairobi to Kisumu. Some people believe that there is a conspiracy between those who own planes and those who make roads, so that those who make planes can make money while those who make roads do not make the roads. That is how we live in the west of the Rift Valley. In the east of the Rift Valley, life may be different but in the west of the Rift Valley, that is the reality. When we established the NARC Government in January 2003, we came up with an Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation. One of the key pillars was the rehabilitation of the physical infrastructure. That physical infrastructure has not been rehabilitated in Kenya, as a whole. That is the truth. The second truth is that where physical infrastructure has been rehabilitated, I will give you one example. The road from Muthaiga Roundabout, as you go to Limuru, has now been rehabilitated. I am sure that the Permanent Secretary and the Minister have been given a very good report about the work which has been done on that road. I live in that area and I would like to bet with the Minister that one year from today, there will be no road there. The manner in which that road was rehabilitated, even to a common human being, was sub-standard. We cannot take tarmac and put it on top of murram in one day - that is something which sinks - and expect lorries to run on it for one year and still expect to have a road. We are trying to recarpet roads in a quick way without substantial technological innovation to make these roads live long. The only road which I know will live long in the City of Nairobi is the one that goes near the mortuary called Mbagathi Way. That one was constructed to last. However, it could have been constructed in a cheaper manner, if we used the American technology to construct roads."
}