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"id": 218388,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/218388/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
"slug": "martha-karua"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise in support of this Bill. May I begin by commending the Minister for bringing this very innovative Bill. Like has been said, it does introduce the idea of decentralization in planning and implementation. From the centralized position where the Ministry is planning and undertaking works all over the country, we shall now have three authorities. These are: The Kenya National Highways Authority, which will be undertaking the construction and rehabilitation of the national roads, which are sufficiently described in the Act; the Kenya Rural Roads Authority which will be in charge of rural roads and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority which will be in charge of cities and municipalities. This will speed up development and also ensure that these authorities are concentrating on their areas of operation. It is a bit clumsy when we expect the Ministry to originate policy, do the planning for the whole country and also carry out the implementation. This decentralization not only helps in speeding up the works, but leaves the Ministry with only the issue of policy and general supervision and direction of these authorities. This is the way forward in most of the Ministries and undertakings of the Government. I heard my colleague on the opposite side lament that there are no penalties for contractors who undertake shoddy works. I do not think that we can expect the Kenya Roads Bill to take over what our Penal laws provide. I would imagine that where a contractor undertakes construction and does shoddy work, he or she will be penalised in the contract, and where the work is done in a fraudulent manner, our Penal laws will apply. What really matters is that there be close supervision of everybody who has been contracted by any one of these authorities to undertake works, and to make sure that everybody is held to account. What we lack today is accountability and follow-up even where we have established that the work is done in a shoddy manner. What I would recommend is that, perhaps, we should have a clause that allows blacklisting of contractors who are known to do shoddy work. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I agree with colleagues who have pointed out that local authorities, although given money by the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) as an agent for undertaking construction, have actually not excelled. It is time that Ministries concentrated on their core business. The core business of local authorities is not undertaking road construction. This now had better be left to the roads authorities, so that any other player in Government can liaise with the relevant roads authority to ensure that roads in their area of need, are constructed. I would, therefore, advocate that the work of undertaking construction, repairs and maintenance of roads be entirely left to these three new authorities that are being created. Any urban or local authority that needs to know the status of its roads will only liaise, or as a board member of the authority, and will be able to give 1784 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 13, 2007 directions as to what it needs done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, maybe, one of the reasons why our urban road networks are not good is because no one was really responsible. One time, you are told that it is the local authority that is responsible for a certain section of the road and another time, somebody will say that it is the Ministry. But now, there will be clarity. The Kenya Highways Roads Authority will be in charge of national roads, while the Kenya Urban Roads Authority will be in charge of roads in the cities and other smaller towns. We now have one centre where we can follow the development of our roads. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to take this opportunity to commend the Ministry and the Minister, in particular. For the short period that he has been in this docket, we have seen construction all over the country. We have seen projects that had stalled being finished. We have also actually seen the Ministry become visible, the Ministry of Roads and Public Works. There are public works all over the country. There is a period when I thought this Ministry had turned into the Ministry of Tourism, because all it did was to tour the country and pointing out where works in the future will be carried out, and no work was going on. I would urge this Ministry to carry on with the good work and also to infuse ethics in the authorities when they do come up, to ensure that our roads are fit for our use. My colleague on the opposite side did refer to the issue of roundabouts. Indeed, roundabouts are a pain today. We cannot enter certain parts of the City because of traffic jams created by the roundabouts. But I am happy that I have learnt from the Ministry of Roads and Public Works - and I know that the Minister will be responding - that something is actually being planned, in order to ease the traffic problem. I do hope that the Minister will be confirming to us the Ministry's short-term and long-term plan, because this cannot wait for long. It needs to be tackled now; otherwise, it will become impossible for people to enter or leave Nairobi City. I do not know whether it is a sign of the improved economy that also the number of motor vehicles in Nairobi has more than doubled. Everybody is coming out in their vehicles and the city does become inaccessible in the mornings, evenings and at all rush hours. These days even during the weekends, we are experiencing traffic jams. I would want to urge my colleagues to look at this Bill and support it, so that we can all enjoy the roads that we deserve as a country and the road network that will help us to develop and to achieve our Vision 2030. With those very few remarks, I beg to support."
}