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{
    "id": 216741,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216741/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 149,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Sambu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 137,
        "legal_name": "Alfred B. Wekesa Sambu",
        "slug": "alfred-sambu"
    },
    "content": "June 27, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2083 On health, many dispensaries and health centres have been built using the good CDF funds. But the CDF funds cannot employ workers, because that is recurrent expenditure and, therefore, the Ministry of Health must employ workers now. It must employ more health workers. They have to employ more nurses, more clinical officers, more laboratory technicians and post them to the newly built-health facilities and dispensaries and health centres. Furthermore, they have to equip these health facilities. We cannot expect the CDF to also equip health centres and dispensaries, which have been built using CDF funds. We cannot, again, go ahead and use CDF funds to buy the equipment. What is the Ministry of Health doing? This thing called \"Kenya Medical Supplies Agency\", or whatever; I do not know; what is it doing? We understand there is a lot of equipment being kept there. Why is it not being distributed to the health centres? It is unfortunate that we are talking to empty benches. A Government is supposed to listen. The core function of Parliament is to create taxation to enable the Government to get funds to run its services. But the people who are in the Executive, who are supposed to hear these things, are not there at all. It is a sad factor. But be that as it may, we hope that they will get the message; that health facilities which have been built do urgently require equipment and staff. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, taxation must be seen to be fair. You have heard of the polythene paper being taxed. As I said earlier, taxing polythene paper will not solve the problem. We have to be practical. If we are going to tell the people going shopping, to use paper for wrapping their goods, we will do more damage. I come from a region that supplies bulky goods to Panpaper Mills in Webuye, and we have depleted our forests, and we will do more damage. It was easier if we supplied more funds through LATF, or whatever, to the local authorities to employ young Kenyans to collect the polythene sheets, which have been dumped. It would be easier to collect them and bring them to Nairobi, to the factory which recycles them into polythene beams for fencing and other materials. But taxing polythene paper will not solve the problem. We have to be practical. If we think that we can get paper bags to do this, it will not work. We will only be taxing the consumer, because what the supermarket people will do is to push that taxation on polythene paper to the consumer, and you are making Kenyans suffer. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}