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{
    "id": 218488,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/218488/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kipchumba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 313,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Kipchumba Lagat",
        "slug": "joseph-lagat"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will spend only three minutes. First of all, I would like the Minister to reconsider Clause 37 which talks about the accounts \"being in conformity with the international standards\". That is not correct. I think we must ensure that accounts are in conformity with what is prevailing in our own country. We cannot peg our accounts to international standards. The rest of the subclauses from (iv) to (vi) are superfluous. The office of the Controller and Auditor-General is an independent office. We cannot make a law to June 13, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1811 order them to audit various roads. They cannot do that! They must have their own authority and that is spelt out in the Public Audit Act. Therefore, I would want to request the Minister to consider deleting subclauses (iv) to (vi) of Clause 37. I also want the Minister to consider whether the establishment of these Authorities is necessarily going to ensure that we centralise everything. If you talk of rural roads, I do not understand. They are talking of \"people with capacity, engineering economics and transport economics\". I think, we, as a country, are overwhelmed by these very big degrees to the extent that we are not being practical. We cannot have people in charge of rural roads being necessarily accountants or engineers. What will an accountant do in a Board in charge of rural roads? These kind of issues of educational qualifications must be reconsidered. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Agriculture in terms of Rural Roads Authority, must be part of the Board. There is merit because our country depends on agriculture. In my view, people in charge of co-operative societies should be included in the Board. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to request the Minister that, in future, we make regulations that every project dealing with road construction lasts only three years. There is no merit in having a contractor construct a road for ten years. By the time they reach the end of the road in ten years, the other part will be requiring serious reconstruction. I think we must put it in our regulations that it must only be three years. Finally, the Minister must consider banning the use of crashed stones in construction of roads. If you look at all the roads constructed using crashed stones, they are difficult to maintain because of the nature of the stones used. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}