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"id": 229006,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229006/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Sambu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 137,
"legal_name": "Alfred B. Wekesa Sambu",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to make a few comments on the President's Speech. First, with regard to the economy, I support the saying, that there has been some growth in the economy as measured by the statistics, but the trickle down to the local people in the villages and low income estates including slums is negligible or not there at all. The Ministry of Finance, has to do something urgently and that includes taking action on the distributors of the petroleum products. This is because when the price of petrol is high, then the transport cost goes high and that affects the cost of every item in and outside the shops. Therefore, the Minister for Finance has to act on what he has said about the cost of petrol because it is still too high. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also support the Government with regard to the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT). They have to be even more stringent because there are many traders, particularly in large towns who collect VAT but do not remit it to the Government. That has to be enforced and we want to see action being taken against those who evade. I also support the envisaged Women Enterprise Development Fund and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. But the problem is the process of distribution. There must be equitable and transparent distribution of those funds. It has to be published in the newspapers just like the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). Already, we have some youth development officers doing their own things in the districts. We do not want a repeat of 1997 when we collected funds for women and youth development groups and the money was never seen. This time round, we want to see transparency. We want to know what each constituency, not a district, is getting for the Women Enterprise Development Fund and for the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. If we do not publish the names of the development groups, then a few individuals may form several groups and benefit from all the money. Mr. Speaker, Sir, regarding education, I support the fact that we should have day secondary schools. The fees being charged in boarding schools is exorbitant and the Government is not controlling it. We have to control how much fees students pay. The Government says that fees is controlled but that is not so. The amount which they charge is so exorbitant. We must have controls. We have to control how much fees each student pays. Regarding day and boarding schools, what is the need of having boarding schools and yet a student comes from half a kilometre away? In boarding schools, they are charged Kshs25,000 or Kshs30,000 and yet for day schools a child coming from a kilometre away, can afford to be in a day school and pay Kshs9,000 as school fees and Kshs1,000 for lunch. Therefore, I would like to see more day schools put in place because it will help more children to get access to education because they will have to pay less fees. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about the medical treatment for the citizens of this March 28, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 203 nation. The Government has to do something to alleviate the problems of medical treatment. When people go to hospitals, they are turned away because they cannot afford to pay for the medical charges. I have an example which I usually refer to, which is the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret where the Government has given them Kshs700 million in the last financial year and yet the hospital still charges patients very high fees. Even others are being turned away because they cannot afford to pay for medical services. I would like the Government to do something about the high medical fees being charged. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have a problem regarding the Rift Valley Fever. I wish the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development could listen because the disease has not only affected the areas that have been mentioned. It affects many other areas because, in some areas, including my own district, we are being forced---"
}