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"id": 229427,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229427/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kenneth",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Finance",
"speaker": {
"id": 167,
"legal_name": "Peter Kenneth",
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to make a few comments on the Presidential Speech. The most important thing is to digest what has been good in the last four years and what probably fell short of expectations. I appreciate the comments made by Mr. M.Y. Haji with regard to Ministries that he has visited. But with regard to the Treasury, Mr. M.Y. Haji came at 11.00 a.m and found that he was being waited for. I think the ball is in his court for us to proceed and assist him. Therefore, for us to be of service to him, he also needs to fulfil certain things, so that we can help 76 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 22, 2007 the people of Ijara. We are still willing to help him. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about the issue of minimum reforms. This is an issue that we sometimes tend to run away from and yet, it is an issue that we must always discuss when it is necessary. In fact, it is a pity that the issue of minimum reforms has been stigmatised to appear as if it is an issue for elections, and yet, it should be an issue for our daily appearances in this House. We must be able to amend laws that are good for the welfare of Kenyans. Certain items that have been put in the packages by different groups for minimum reforms, are items that should have been discussed by the Ninth Parliament and implemented by now. We should not only talk about dual citizenship for Kenyans when it is an election year, so that we can make it an election issue. That aspect of the law should have been amended and passed by this House because the majority of hon. Members support it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are other issues in the Constitution that need to be looked into, for example, the hop-noping of hon. Members from one side of the House to the other. That is an issue which should be sorted out so that we can all stand true to our constituents who elected us on certain parties at election time. It is upon this House to show and lead the way on the issue of the Constitution Review. We have left this to outsiders who have formed various Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) whereas, we should have taken the initiative to be on the fore-front. We are the law-makers who make laws. We should, therefore, look at the Constitution and see how best we can amend it, to our best knowledge and for the welfare of Kenyans. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have been told that we shall have a Bill on the direct election of council chairmen and city mayors. But we must harmonise the roles played by the Town Clerks who are the chief executive officers (CEOs) and those who we would like to be elected directly to be the mayors or the council chairmen, bearing in mind that a lot of our councillors are really suffering at the grassroots level in terms of what they are able to take home by way of allowances. It is high time we had minimum standards for municipal councils and county councils, so that when we elect direct mayors and chairmen, they have specific standards to achieve as the CEOs of those respective municipal councils and county councils. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support the increase of judges because we have seen how people suffer even on matters which concern this House. For example, some election petitions have not yet began and others are being determined on a day like this when we barely have seven months to end the Session. I want to say something about judges. We have hundreds and hundreds of magistrates who are suffering in the out-stations and it would be a good idea, as a way of incentive, to appoint new judges from the magistrates who are in the out-stations, who have prevailed under very difficult conditions and whose salary differences between them and the judges are far and wide. I want to appeal that when appointing new judges, we should take cognition of the magistrates who are working out there as a way of giving them incentives. We should consider state counsels and magistrates, so as to encourage them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are talking about free secondary education. Most of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) money has been concentrated on the real construction of secondary schools. I know that this House is pressing for the CDF to be increased to 5 per cent. I would appeal that if it is increased to 5 per cent, each constituency should forego Kshs10 million or Kshs15 million, including the bursary money, and avail free secondary education. That will mean that the influx of the students from the free primary education could be fully catered for in another four years before the first intake will go through. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have always spoken about insecurity and we will continue to talk about it. It continues to be a concern in this country and it will continue to be a concern until such a time that it is eradicated. However, it is what is created by insecurity that denies Kenyans what they should really be enjoying. If you look at Industrial Area today, for example, it opens at 8.00 a.m. March 22, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 77 and closes at 5.00 p.m., and creates up to 500,000 jobs. If the Industrial Area was secure, it would easily do a night shift and employ another 500,000 people. That would be a big boost to this economy in terms of employment and taxation. The money that would be generated from taxation would be sufficient to cover for security in this country. Therefore, as leaders in this House, we must come together and condemn any act of insecurity and ensure that not only do we encourage our security forces for the little they have done, but also ensure that they have enough equipment so that every Kenyan is secure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we were told, and we want to applaud the fact that there would be an increase in the number of constituencies. That must be given priority. It is within the Section 42 of the Constitution, that all constituency boundaries must be reviewed every ten years. I do not know whether it will be a legal problem if we hold elections without reviewing boundaries. Somebody might go to court and say: \"The elections were held in contravention of section 42.\" In this era of CDF, it is important that all the constituencies have the same statistics in terms of population or geographical area. When I talk like that, I do it as somebody who represents two constituencies because the current Gatanga Constituency is a combination of the former Gatanga and former Makuyu Constituency. When you look at the CDF amount that certain constituencies get, whereas I get one allocation, my constituency is equivalent to two neighbouring constituencies that get two CDF allocations. So, I get very hard-pressed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to appeal to the Ministry of Health, that there are many families suffering out there. They are suffering because they have lost their loved ones and the bodies are detained in Government hospitals. It would be very important that we do not prolong the pain that those families are suffering. I think it would be a good Government policy that any body that is detained in a Government hospital for lack of funds be released forthwith so that we do not prolong the pain of those who took care of those people. Finally, I want to speak about our own unity. We can hold the general election anytime and we will hold elections after every five years, but we must also be proud of the little that we have achieved and say thanks to the good Almighty Lord for it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we will be hosting a very unique championship on Saturday. We have not seen, either from this House or from anywhere else, unity and patriotism going towards Mombasa. It is an event that does not take place all the time. I think it is in such times that we must appear to be glued together as a nation, so as to enjoy and celebrate that one given opportunity that has come our way. I think in all times, when we have done well, we have not come together as a nation. When we have had disasters, like the bombing that took place at the former US Embassy, the country came together. We must be able to come together also in good times. Thank you."
}