HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 212675,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/212675/?format=api",
"text_counter": 210,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kipchumba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 313,
"legal_name": "Joseph Kipchumba Lagat",
"slug": "joseph-lagat"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support this very important Vote for the Ministry of Roads and Public Works. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, unlike many hon. Members who have complained about their District Roads Committees (DRCs), mine works very well. Honestly, I do not have any problem with my engineer. He is a very good engineer and I hope that he stays there for a very long time. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know whether we need the position of the Provincial Roads Engineer (PRE) any more. I wish the Government could realise that we no longer need these provincial aides in most Government departments. Things can be coordinated very easily from Nairobi. With advanced technology and communication that exists all over the world, I do not understand the justification of the Government policy of holding on to a province, especially in terms of managing resources. That creates unnecessary bureaucracy. I know that there are roads that have been assigned for PREs. However, I wish that all the money for any road in my district be channelled to the District Roads Engineer (DRE). The minute that the money is given through the PRE, I have never seen what job they do. When it comes to patching up potholes, they do it so badly. I think, probably, they should do a better job. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Rift Valley Province we even have two PREs; one in Nakuru and another, unfortunately, in my own district. The Minister should consider recalling him to Nairobi, so that he can be posted to some of the new districts where he can be of assistance. He is doing nothing there. I do not know what he does. Probably, he is earning some very fat allowance and pretending to be a boss to certain people in this country. That is unwarranted. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to request that, in terms of tarmacking roads, there should be a criteria of prioritising them. We have class C-Roads in this country, I do not know why we would want to tarmac a class E- Road or an unclassified road, when there are Class C-Roads which are so critical. I have class C- Roads in my constituency, these are very critical roads, but they have never been tarmacked since Independence. The best that has been done is to murram them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish that there was a criteria that when we construct Class A- Roads, then go to B-Roads and then to C-Roads and so on. If there is a problem with classification, and there are certain roads that do not merit the class in which they have been placed, they should be down-graded! We should be told that a class A-Road is more important than a Class B-Road. I wish that, that understanding can be narrated here. I would want the Minister to explain to us which road is more important; is it a class A-Road, B-Road, C-Road, E-Road or an unclassified road? I come from a very rich---"
}