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"id": 216917,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216917/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Maore",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 284,
"legal_name": "Richard Maoka Maore",
"slug": "maoka-maore"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is because there has been lack of serious issues being exchanged and the pettiness with which a whole Minister can go to a public baraza and start stripping his Assistant Minister and the Assistant Minister uses the same advantage to even strip himself in the process of stripping the Minister! These things need to be stopped. We need discipline, order and dignity among Government Ministers. The other issue that I needed to raise is the issue of money meant for roads. We are being told of Kshs60 billion that is going to be allocated to the roads sector. My concern is that I have seen, over the years, that the period between now and January next year is just about five months. Between this period, it is not possible to go and award contracts because you have to start with the design. You allocate money for the design and then you start the tendering process. By the time you finish the entire process, you will find that financial year might come to an end with almost 70 per cent of the money unused. So, I wish we had a situation where we addressed the issue of the procurement process, in terms of the infrastructure and money allocated in a certain financial year. If you consider the fiscal calender, we do not have a provision where we re-invest the money allocated for roads, so that when the financial year ends, we have the money rolling over and adding more. Instead, it goes back to the Treasury and it is re-allocated. If a road project was allocated money, it goes back to the Treasury at the end of the financial year. I am sure there are many hon. Members here whose roads, in their constituencies, were allocated money in the last financial year, but they are shocked to find that, that money is not there and the same roads have not been allocated money the following year, because there is no capacity in the Ministry of Roads and Public Works to have the resident engineers to do this work. This is because they are being required to outsource, through advertising. After advertisement, it would take 28 days before shortlisting and awarding is done. It is a very long process. We would like to be sure that the Kshs60 billion that has been allocated for the roads sector will be used on the intended purposes, within the limited time of the fiscal year. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other issue concerns the way we create new districts. I remember, in November, 2005, the Government announced the creation of 34 new districts. We raised the issue of the creation of about 8,000 new bureaucracies in a single financial year, yet, the Government insists that it wants to limit Government expenditure and have a leaner Government, so that we can have efficient services. There is a difference between a bloated and efficient bureaucracy, and the cost is enormous. When the Government wants to have populist pronouncements, it is wise also to know that the same pronouncements will be matched with the money, at the expense of the taxpayers, which is as a burden. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Government took over power in 2003 with a strong commitment to zero-tolerance to corruption. For the first six months, citizens were arresting public officers who were believed to be corrupt. They used to take them to police stations. But somewhere down the line, the rain started hitting us. Today, at any police roadblock you will find policemen, openly, collecting Kshs20, Kshs50 or Kshs100. I am appealing to the Government to revisit the issue of corruption and, specifically, stop police officers from collecting money at roadblocks. If this is done, we will restore dignity. If corruption happens in the office, it is not in the open. It is punishable if there is a complainant."
}