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"speaker_name": "Dr. Shaban",
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"legal_name": "Naomi Namsi Shaban",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to say something about the Budget Speech which was read mid of this month. I have been so concerned about the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), which was mooted in the last financial year, that is, 2006/2007. It looked like it was a very good idea, but it has taken very long for those funds to reach the youth. The conditions which were prescribed were very difficult. Youths, all over the country, were being asked, through the financial intermediaries, to produce title deeds. Of course, the youth do not have title deeds. They were being asked for log books, but they do not have those logbooks because they do not own any motor vehicles. So, it has become very difficult for any of them to receive those funds. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I believe that this is the first time such a Fund is being created for the youth in this country. Since its inception, it has experienced a lot of teething problems, but nobody has tried to solve them. We have tried to talk to the financial intermediaries, but none of them has responded positively. So, as a result, the youth have been looking at this money just on paper. They have not been able to access it. The people have been thinking that, maybe, the money would alleviate the poverty levels in our country, but, todate, one year later, nothing has happened. That is why it was so easy for the Minister for Finance to only add a mere Kshs250 million instead of adding, at least, Kshs1 billion to the Fund. Turning to the Women Enterprise Development Fund, if the Youth Enterprise Development Fund had such a big problem; that is, we were not able to use it for one year, and now we have the Women Enterprise Development Fund, I think that will spell more chaos until we sort out what we started first, that is, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. I would, therefore, urge the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and the Minister for Finance to come up with the best way possible to help the youth to access this Fund. That way, it will be easier for the women also to access the funds. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the Minister for Finance read the Budget Speech, he told us a story about a young boy, Master Trevor, who wrote a very important letter to him. However, I think the Minister for Finance must have missed the whole point. Basically, I think the young boy was asking the Minister for Finance, \"What is wrong with Kenya? Why do we not have good roads? Why are we different from other people?\" I think that was the bottom line. It was very important for the Minister to address that issue of bad roads. The bottom line of development in this country, and any where else in the world, is basically founded in good infrastructure. I think that it is very important for the Minister to have addressed that. When I look at this document, I do not think so much of that has been addressed because so many of the Class A roads have been left out. No funds have been allocated to those roads. If any funds have been allocated, it is a mere Kshs20 million or Kshs50 million, which is very little for such roads in our country. June 20, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1937 Mr. Speaker, Sir, just the other day I was in lower Coast Province and I happened to visit Kilifi District. The road is terrible and yet that is the North Coast where most of our tourism thrives. Even in this Budget, I do not think that road has been allocated any money. We found a few people working on the road with shovels. It looks like nobody has thought that road is important for it to have a major contractor. If we miss this and we are busy here talking about how the number of tourists has increased in our country--- The bottom line is: If the tourists have increased in this country, then it is the Coast Province, and especially the lower Coast where these tourists end up. That is where we have most of the hotels and that is where we control most of the tourism. However, when you look at this Budget, you will discover that nobody really remembered the Coast Province, which is a home for tourism in this country. It has basically been given a very little amount where the infrastructure or anything else is concerned. Everybody has been singing that this is a Budget Speech for an election year, yet I have not seen anything which can move the people of Coast Province to look at it as an election Budget and so they are also going to benefit from this Government. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is five years now. When the NARC Government took over power, the first thing they talked about was to make sure that roads are better and passable. However, as the years have gone by, this is the fifth year, we have not seen any big difference in those roads. It costs so much for anybody to use those roads. Even to travel home becomes a nightmare for all of us and for the people who live along those areas. It is so costly for the farmers from the upper part of the Coast Province, where most of the foodstuff for the Coast Province comes from, to get their agricultural produce to the market. Mr. Speaker, Sir, most of the time, the transporters would end up giving a fee note instead of giving the farmers money or the proceeds from the sale of their agricultural produce. Most of them are given a fee note to pay for transport because it has become too expensive to transport the farm produce to the market areas. We have electricity projects going on all over the country. Even when we were told about the billions of shillings which are supposed to go towards electricity, so many projects had been approved three years ago. However, todate, none of those projects have been carried out simply because either the funds are not being released on time or there are some other problems which we are not being told, especially the French Programme that the Government has been relying on. We did not hear anything much being discussed about it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I talk about the roads, I am one of the people from our area who is really badly affected. In our place, we have the highway, Road A23, which goes through our place and it serves northern Tanzania. It is a very important road which comes from the Port and people from northern Tanzania have been using the Port of Mombasa to make sure that they get easy access to the Kenya Ports Authority. They prefer using the Mombasa Port to the Dar es Salaam Port. However, we have refused to tap that resource where the northern Tanzanians and the Kenyans from the upper side of the Coast Province can use that road and our Port effectively so that we can collect some revenue. We have had so many promises regarding that road. Road A23 has been the backbone of many stories. Every time we are promised--- So many promises have been made but yet, again, we have seen that the Finance Manager did not even bother--- This is the fifth year and he did not bother to think of that particular road. Maybe he has thought of other roads elsewhere. Class C and D roads have been given funds yet this very important Class A road has not been allocated any funds. The people from Coast Province, generally, are looking at this Government - this is the fifth year - and they were hoping that things were going to change this financial year. However, from the look of things, nothing has changed. We are in status quo . Things are the same; it is business as usual and nobody cares about the people of the Coast Province. We, the people of the Coast Province, are just telling them that this is an election year and this was supposed to be an election year Budget. We are willing to meet them head-on. We are 1938 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 20, 2007 waiting for firimbi ilie ! When the bell rings, we will be there waiting for them. Thank you very much. That is all I have to say for today."
}