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"id": 218474,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/218474/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
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"speaker": {
"id": 122,
"legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
"slug": "patrick-olweny"
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. So, if the engineers were inspecting roads regularly, they would tell where a crack is developing. Once a crack develops on a road and rain water collects in it, it forms a bigger opening. That is how potholes develop, which graduate to uncovered craters. If our engineers were inspecting the roads regularly, they would make sure that any cracks are handled before a road is totally messed up. We just see what is happening on the road from Kisumu to Muhoroni via Miwani. It has a similar problem to that of the road from Kericho to Kisumu. There are also other roads with that problem. If you travel from Nandi to Eldoret, you will see a road which is already going. It is on its way out. Road engineers do not inspect those roads. If they were doing so, they would know that the drainage systems are getting blocked, and ensure that they are maintained in order for water not to collect in pools along the roads and on the roads. They would also find out whether culvert entrances are getting blocked. There is a lot of vegetation growth at the entrance of culverts. Several of them are actually blocked. You ask an engineer whether he knows where we have culverts on a particular road, which he is supposed to be responsible for, and you find that he does not know. So, what the hell are road engineers doing in the districts and provinces if they cannot tell where culverts are located, or that road drainage systems are getting filled up with silt and vegetation, or that cracks are developing on the roads, so that they can repair them before they progress into potholes? What are they doing in the districts and provinces? No wonder they have not come here to listen to us complaining as we make our contribution on this Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a few of my colleagues have talked about the weight on our roads. The kind of heavy vehicles that travel along our roads, I want to believe that they are actually not meant for those roads. We have too heavy weights being moved along our roads. That is one of the factors which lead to very fast dilapidation of our roads. I am wondering whether the Ministry specifies the weight that is supposed to be moved along the various classes of our roads. Some time back, it was suggested that heavy cargo should be hauled by rail. Why can we not use the railway system to transport heavy loads instead of using our poorly done roads, which cannot withstand those weights? They are not repaired or maintained. Something needs to be done about this. I think it is for the Ministry to specify what weight of cargo should be hauled on our roads. I believe that the Ministry has the power to control the weight of cargo that is hauled along our roads. Instead of worsening the already bad road situation, let us use the railway system. It can help haul some of the heavy cargo from Mombasa to Nairobi, Kisumu, Kampala and beyond. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have maram roads. Once in a while, when we complain, road engineers grade them. That is what they do to maintain and repair those roads. For me, I am an agriculturalist. I am not an engineer, but I can always see that something is wrong. You 1808 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 13, 2007 do not need to be trained as an engineer. If something is bad, you will always tell. Continuous grading of maram roads loosens the soil. Once the soil is loosened, and the rain comes, all that soil is drained down to the river or to the lake. So, if you continuously grade these roads, you end up with roads which turn into streams during the rainy season. They get lower and lower. The road surface itself is lower than the rest of its surrounding. So, whenever there is a little rain, all the water ends up into the road surface. So, the road ends up being eroded and forming a huge drainage. This is one thing I have told road engineers in our district. So, let us not continue ploughing the roads. Let us gravel them a little. Let us raise the level of the roads, so that they are higher than their surroundings. If a road is lower than its surrounding, it definitely becomes a stream when we have rain. I do not know how road engineers are trained, but you do not need to go to school to get a degree in engineering to know that someone is doing something wrong."
}