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"content": "so fast because of the investment they have put into ICT and its developments to enable their use and communicate around the world. In today's world, you will find that you do not need to have a doctor at a venue of a health centre because in that health centre, there can be internet access which doctors can refer to other doctors, for example, around the world because of the scarcity of doctors we have in our country. For example, I think neurosurgeons are about three or four. So, you are able to conduct surgeries via remote systematical system where a surgeon can be in Nairobi and be able to co-ordinate operations around the country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will also like to talk about an issue that the Government keeps 2114 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 on talking about, of supplying cotton seed to farmers. The idea of supplying cotton seed to farmers is a noble one. However, you cannot just be giving seeds to farmers without providing any extension services and inputs. Recently, when we visited South Africa, we found that for the Government to revive the industry, it really has to go and give confidence to the farmers and locals in the area where that kind of product was there before. This will ensure that they bring them to a certain level where they can have confidence to continue producing. You will find that those seeds are being given to farmers, they plant them and they have no idea of how when they grow--- When they even go to market, they have no clue on the minimum returns they are supposed to get. There should be, at least, a minimum guaranteed return a farmer should get when he is going to sell his produce at the end of the day. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, they also discussed about employing new teachers, I think, about 11,000 or so and yet the demand for teachers is huge for this country. If you go to some of the schools in some areas because of the free primary school education that has been put in place, you will find that a teacher is teaching a class that he cannot manage. If you go to private schools, you will find a teacher has 15 students. If you go to a public school, you will find that a teacher is teaching 90 students and then we expect that student also to compete with the other student whose teacher handles only 15 students. Our students in the rural areas are really disadvantaged in many ways but they do well to a certain extent, because they are spoon-fed. We need to have some form of affirmative action in future when we are sharing out those resources. In a place like Nairobi, you find that--- We should have affirmative action in some of the rural areas. I hope when those teachers are going to be recruited, affirmative action will be taken into account in the rural areas. Those teachers should not be posted to areas where they are already settled within the system. The Women Enterprise Development Fund is also a very noble idea. It is going forward with the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which we know has not even been put in the statutes of this country. However, in 2003, this House passed the Persons with Disabilities Bill. In this Budget, not a single cent has been allocated by this Government to help people with disabilities. There are about three million Kenyans who have disabilities. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go into the rural areas, you will find that people are even hiding those people with disabilities because they take it as a curse in society. The Government really needs to go down and find out how they can assist the people with disabilities. Despite the fact that this law was passed five years ago, the Ministry has not been allocated funds to assist the people with disabilities. So, I think it is critical to really look into this issue and consider the disabled people. In future, we should allocate money for people with disabilities. I hope that the next Government will consider the people with disabilities. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government said it is going to increase the deposits of operating a bank up to Kshs1 billion. This clearly shows that we are trying to create an elitist society where only people with a certain amount of money are able to operate financial institutions. So, we limit the number of financial institutions to give muscle to very few people in society. This is very wrong, as a society! Very recently, you only needed Kshs30 million to open a bank. Now, the figure has gone up to Kshs1 billion. Where is that money going to come from unless some people in society want to lock out other people who are trying to make it to the top? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another issue I would also like mention is the sale of Safaricom, which has been brought up, as a way of regaining resources. When they are selling some of those State corporations and parastatals, you will find that a few individuals are going in and earmarking themselves. If you go to the Registrar of Companies, you will find that there are five people who are registered in 10,000 companies. The job of those 10,000 companies is to just really buy stocks at June 27, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2115 the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). The same five people, because they know when the shares are going to be sold, will sit down and determine how many shares each company will be allocated. So, they say: \"Let us create same companies with the same directors of the same shareholding and go and buy the stocks from the NSE.\" When the shares are being sold, those brokers and people who are playing in the NSE really need to look at who the directors of those companies are. You cannot buy shares in the same company with a different name but same directors. You are trying to create a muscle to muscle the economy in the future. I think this is very critical. Of course, as hon. Members, we get a lot of information from the public. The reason is because we represent them in Parliament and give out information that can assist when we are going through this kind of issues. It is critical, as a Government, to look at to whom those shares are going to. You cannot find five people with 10,000 companies and the same people are buying all these shares and winding up. After a short while, the money goes up, they go to one bank and get security for their money, invest their money and within three days they are able to pay back the money and they are home and dry. So, I think it is critical that we stop having what we call an elitist society and be fair to Kenyans. We should be open-ended and deal with the issue openly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I have always said in this Parliament, when the Government is preparing a Budget, it should have a website where they can post issues. This will ensure that it does not only become a Parliamentary and private issue but it becomes an open issue. Like our Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and the National CDF Committee, if you go to the website of CDF and click on any constituency, you will know what is happening in that constituency, where money has been allocated. So, there is some openness. So, the general public knows what is happening. However, in a situation like ours, the Government is only giving us few papers here in Parliament; a few files and books and that is where it ends. They should go further and create a website where the ordinary Kenyans can click in and find out, in my district, how much money has been sent, to which department and what was the cause of that money being sent. That way, we will not have the Government graders scrapping the road for one hour and saying Kshs3 million has been spent or going and scooping a dam three times and saying that they just spent Kshs2 million. Yet even us, hon. Members, we have no access to that information when it comes to the amount of money going down to the districts. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
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