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"id": 224931,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Obwocha",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 356,
"legal_name": "Henry Onyancha Obwocha",
"slug": "henry-obwocha"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will use my five minutes to make the following points. First, an hon. Member raised the issue of Vision 2030. We are at the initial stages. The consultants have now come up with the evaluation of the sectors. We have come to the stage of knowing who will be involved. That is why the Minister has proposed a budget for the National Economic and Social Council (NESC). Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, Kenyans should stop referring to the poverty figures of 1997. We should look at the current figures which show where we are at the moment. Those figures should show the welfare of Kenyans at the moment. Thirdly, this country should really try and exploit its natural resources on geo-thermal energy. Currently, this country is at 1,100 mega watts. We should move towards 2,000 mega watts or 3,000 mega watts. That is the only way we can industrialise. Ethiopia has a project which will produce 1,875 mega watts. That is almost double where we are. Since their capacity in industrial development is not so much, we should be thinking about importing some of that power. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, fourthly, Kenyans need to know that we need to change our passports to the new system that will be accepted internationally. If we do not do that by 2009, and stop pasting photographs on papers, we will be locked out. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue that I would like to address is the procurement process. We get money from donors and those people who want to assist us, but the process takes too long. A road project, for example, takes two years to start after signing the documents for the release of the funds. I think Parliament needs to look at the period the procurement process takes. I would like to congratulate and commend the Kenyan taxpayers for raising the revenue from Kshs180 billion to a figure which is in excess of Kshs300 billion. On debt relief, we need to think again. Nigeria's half-debt of Kshs17 billion was written off and yet, our domestic and external debt right now, as it stands, is only US$11 billion. We need to really address this issue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing that I want to address, is the issue of our embassies. We should take the example of the Kenyan Embassy in Ethiopia, where the 872 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 24, 2007 chancery is at the same place with the Ambassador's house. These embassies should operate in one environment. A lot of money is spent on rent and hiring buildings. We should ensure once and for all that our embassies have permanent buildings where they can operate from. We all know what the former President of Uganda, Idi Amin, did in New York. If you go to the United Nations (UN) you will find that the next building is Uganda House, which was acquired by Idi Amin. I think Kenyans have been sleeping all-through. How much money they are collecting and saving is obvious. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was fairly delighted when I saw that under the Rural Electrification Programme (REP), we had given the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) over 120,000 projects to undertake. So far, it has undertaken 100,000 connections. So, during this quota, it should be undertaking another 20,000 or 30,000 connections. This is very good performance. I hope the Minister for Energy will push the KPLC to complete the 940 projects that we promised the people of this country in every constituency in the country, without discriminating anybody, so that Kenyans can have access to electricity. Otherwise, I want to commend the Minister for Finance for bringing these Supplementary Estimates, particularly, on the Strategic Grain Reserve, disaster relief and other areas that have been affecting us. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}