HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 217947,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/217947/?format=api",
"text_counter": 306,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you had already indicated that I was speaking next. I had no doubt that you will not rescind that order. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also take this opportunity to laud the Budget. In the last two to three months, we have had very frightening developments in the area of security in this country. I am happy that this Budget has addressed the issue of insecurity by availing enough money to hire 25,000 policemen. If that is done, we will be able to increase policing to curb insecurity. Criminal gangs should not be allowed to take root in our country. There has been reckless killing of our people. I think we need to intensify the issue of community policing. We need to intensify provision of equipment, especially vehicles. I want to see situation where, if possible, every police establishment, whether it is a station, a patrol base or post, is equipped with either a Land Rover or some motorbikes for the police to patrol the country properly. There are some parts of this country where policemen go to battle with criminals being carried on boda boda bicycles. That is not good. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, equally, a very handsome dose of money has been allocated to roads. I saw a strange statement in the papers today that the Ministry of Roads and Public Works may not have absorbtion capacity for the Kshs66 billion that has been allocated to it for roads. If there is local incapacity, the Ministry should go out there and contract Chinese, Malaysians, Chileans and other emerging countries that have got proven capacities to build infrastructure, so that all that money is put to good use and all the roads are properly done. Let us face it. This country has been let down terribly by local contractors. Indians and African contractors have colluded with engineers at the Ministry and stolen money. The roads are done below expectations and specifications. All they do is collude with engineers at the Ministry and steal the money. Either the road is too narrow, below the expectations and specifications; the road is too thin, below the expectations and specifications. We need to give Kenyans value for money. I want to urge the Minister for Roads and Public Works to engage - because we have a proven track record of China 1892 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 19, 2007 Road and Bridge Construction. They have been doing a wonderful job wherever they have been given an opportunity. So, for the time being, we limit local contractors to repairs and maintenance, so that the basic infrastructure is done by people who have the capacity and who will not be compromised on standards. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister also said that he is going to provide money to hire teachers. That is good. But those 11,000 teachers are not enough. If we are going to give free secondary education, which is a wonderful idea--- If a country like Uganda can give free secondary education, then Kenya should as well do it, and we are going to do that. It will not make a lot of sense if we give free education, but we do not have teachers. I think the Ministry of Education should be sufficiently innovative, not just to rely on the Budget line, but also negotiate with our friends, donors. We can negotiate with the World Bank to give us enough money to hire enough teachers to equip every school for the next five years, by which time we shall have sufficient local revenue to pay the salaries, so that the children who are going to get free education can truly benefit from free education, and so that they do not just go to school because education is free. The transition from primary to secondary is going to go up, perhaps, ten-fold. We know that the transition has been about 20 per cent to 25 per cent. Now, it is likely to go to 80 per cent, and it will only be meaningful if we have enough teachers. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister last year talked of Sugar Development Levy. We came here, as Members of Parliament from sugar-growing areas, and advised that it was inadvisable to pass on that levy to the farmer. We discussed, agreed and he withdrew it. I do not know why he has gone back to the levy again, and this time done even something more dangerous than what he did last year. We, who come from the sugar-growing areas, will not accept importers of industrial sugar to import it Sugar Development Levy-free. It is just giving a highway for profiteers and smugglers to bring in sugar, pretend it is industrial sugar and pass it through the system without paying the levy, yet this levy is supposed to help the development of the sugar industry. Just like hon. Syongo said, it is a notice that when the Finance Bill comes, we are going to move an amendment to remove the issue on Sugar Development Levy and allow it to remain as it is. This is because, if the farmer is paying the Sugar Development Levy (SDL), if you buy a kilogramme of sugar, you pay SDL, why should we allow industrialists, who are making profits, not to pay this important tax? It is unacceptable. I think, and hope, that the Minister will see the sense to do exactly what he did last year by rescinding the decision that he wants SDL to be waived from industrial sugar. In fact, all the Minister should be doing is to encourage local sugar factories to produce industrial sugar, so that we can have a saving on importation and foreign exchange. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a Fund has been created for women. There has been a Fund for youth. I want to appeal that we make it as easy as it is practically possible for the beneficiaries of this Fund to access the money. I have in mind a suggestion that we use the post offices in handling the finances throughout the country. In many parts of the country, it is becoming increasingly difficult for our youths to access the funds. This is because the banks where we have put the money have come up with conditions that our youths cannot meet. Therefore, we end up not benefitting the would-be beneficiaries of the fund. The conditions and terms that the banks impose are the same conditions that they will impose on any one of us when we go to borrow money. I want to suggest that we make it easier and simpler by using the post office which is in every village in this country as a medium of disbursing both the women and youth funds. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we go towards Vision 2030 for the development of this country, we will be increasingly choked by a shortage of energy. I want to suggest that the Ministry of Energy starts seriously thinking now about nuclear energy provision for this country. We do not June 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1893 have enough water to generate power. We do not have oil and we can see the price of oil has increased over the last three years from US$22 to US$70 per barrel. So, generating power from oil is not economical. We should start thinking seriously about developing nuclear energy. It is easier, cheaper, cleaner and reliable, so that we can drive the engine of the economy to achieve Vision 2030. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to encourage that we start thinking about exploiting the coal deposits that are available in Mwingi and Kitui districts, so that we generate power a lot easier. Yesterday, we had a momentous occasion in Kampala. Rwanda and Burundi were accessed to the East African Community (EAC) as full members. That creates a market of over 100 million people. Kenya, as the economic leader in the region, should take advantage of this. We should export and develop more, so that we generate enough wealth to build our country. We will only do this, if we pay attention to infrastructure and reduce our political rhetoric and work as a country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}