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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kosgey",
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"legal_name": "Henry Kiprono Kosgey",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am glad that he has just walked in right now. He can now listen to me the way I also listened to him. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would have liked the Minister to elaborate on what exactly he wants to do with the money. At the end of it, he said that he was coming to the \"meat\". You were generous and gave him a few more minutes, so that he could tell us about the meat. However, he did not do 2452 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 11, 2007 so! All we came to know is that he needed Kshs29 billion: Kshs26 billion for Recurrent Expenditure and Kshs3 billion for Development Expenditure. In future, Mr. Minister, although I do not know whether you will be there; but I will be there; do not spend half-an-hour giving us history. Spend half-an-hour giving us facts on what you want to do with the money. Mr. Speaker, Sir, having said that, I hope that the Kshs26 billion that is being asked for Recurrent Expenditure, not all of it, will go to paying salaries. One of the biggest problems we have is lack of money to run Ministries. This is what is called operation and maintenance. If the Kshs26 billion is going towards salaries and then tomorrow if you go a police station, you find that they do not have any money to buy fuel for their vehicles, that money is wasted. It is being consumed and no service is realised. The purpose of having police officers is to render services to the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Minister said that the money is not adequate. We want the Office of the President; because it is the nerve centre of the Government, to be adequately funded, so that they do not have an excuse. When Kenyans are killed, they claim that they did not have vehicles, fuel and so forth and so on. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we keep repeating this over and over again that the core function of any government is to safeguard the life and property of its citizens. That is the purpose of a government. At the moment, I can safely say that this Government has failed in its core function. I would say this without hesitation. Kenyans are killed by the hour in this country! It is the only country in the world which is at peace and yet, its citizens get killed and no explanation is given. It does not even attract headlines in our Press. You really wonder, what is happening to the security in this country? We are told that it is improving! If it so, why do Kenyans get killed? In other countries if one citizen is killed, that is enough to make the Government resign. Although the Minister is my friend, he should have resigned long time ago on account of the fact that Kenyans have been killed under his watch. It is not enough to say that there are criminals. Even the police shoots people. How do we know that they are shooting criminals? How do we know that innocent Kenyans are not getting killed? The law requires that those who commit crime should be arrested and taken to a court of law. That is the law. We should not change the law. We should not kill suspects. In Kenya, human life is really of no value. That is the way the Government is treating human life. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to districts, the Minister said that they have created 46 districts. That is good because wananchi want services to be brought closer to them. But I hope that tomorrow, wananchi or the small Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) kitties will not be called upon to build district headquarters. The Government should plan systematically and build those new district headquarters from the taxpayers' money, and not through wananchi's harambee efforts. I know in some cases the people might say: \"Ooh! We want a district and will build its headquarters.\" It is easier said than done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in its co-ordination role, the Office of the President should play a much more stronger role. That is particularly in areas of land allocations. It should liaise with the Ministry of Lands to make sure that Kenyans who have been promised land do not suffer unnecessarily. In fact, there should be no evictions before land is identified. We have had cases in Narok and in my own constituency in a place called Natipkong, where people who have resided on land since 1955 up to 2005, have been evicted by this Government. The Government promised to give them alternative settlement. But up to today, those people are suffering. Children are not going to school and the Government is quiet. Yet, they disturbed their peace in the first place. So, they should play a leading role. The Ministry of Lands said that it had identified land for those people. The Office of the President should actually take the leading role and make sure that Kenyans do not July 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2453 suffer unnecessarily. With regard to Mt. Elgon District--- The Mt. Elgon issue is both a security problem and a land problem. The Provincial Administration has actually been entangled in the problems of Mt. Elgon. A lasting solution should be found so that the people of Mt. Elgon can live in peace. As Members from the Rift Valley Province, we have offered to work with the Government to solve that problem. That is because the people of Mt. Elgon are part of our community, although they are in western Kenya. We understand those people much better than the Government, and nothing has been done. I think we gave a memorandum to the Minister of State for Administration and National Security on that matter. We know that other people have also given out a memorandum, but nothing has happened. The contents of that memoranda have fallen on deaf years. We are still willing to participate in bringing lasting peace in Mt. Elgon. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with regard to chiefs, nobody had actually said that the Provincial Administration should be scrapped. I support it myself. As a Chairman of a party that will come into power, I support it fully. What we want is reforms to make sure that it is friendly. It should not be used for political purposes. The Minister told them the other day: \"You must support us because we pay you!\" You do not pay them alone. That money comes from our taxes. It comes from every Kenyan. So, it is not the Government of the day that is paying the chiefs. It is taxpayers' money. So, they are not under any obligation to support the Government of the day. Their obligation is to render services to all Kenyans. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}