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"speaker_name": "Maj-Gen. Nkaisserry",
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"legal_name": "Joseph Kasaine Ole Nkaissery",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I am on the Front Bench and that is why I am lucky. I would like to take this opportunity to support this Appropriation Bill. I think it is very important that we look at the priorities of this country. Without security, definitely there will be no development. When you look at the security of this country, you will see that it needs a lot of improvement. I am happy that the Minister for Roads and Public Works alluded to the issue of the capacity of our security forces in terms of mobility and airlifts. When you look at the Budget, and I would like the Minister for Finance to listen to this because it is very important, we were told that this country will collect over Kshs300 billion, yet, this country has not planned for mitigation of emergencies and disasters. We are in a problem. The major problem here is the lack of capacity for this country to take care of itself. Do you remember what happened during the 1998 Nairobi bomb blast? We had to wait for Israelis from Tel Aviv to come with their equipment to help Kenyans. This even included bringing here, by the Israilis, a small dog. This country has no capacity to even train a small dog how to sniff. I would like to tell the Government that while we look for new friends it is very important that we retain our old friends. We accuse the Americans and the British Governments, but HIV/AIDS money given to this country comes from the American kitty. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) helps in construction of our roads and other development activities in this country. So, as we look for new friends we should not discard our old friends. It is very important that we bear that in mind. I would like to mention a few things here. Of late, Government Ministers have got into the habit of using Government resources to campaign for the re-election of the President. When did the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) declare that elections are around the corner? These are Government resources which we need to use in other areas. In the North Eastern Province, apart from the Minister of State for Special Programmes, we have not seen any other Minister there. In fact, that Ministry should be designated as the \"Ministry of Disasters and Emergencies\". Under the Ministry, we deal with drought, floods and other emergencies. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the issue of expanding the Government up to 91 Ministers and Assistant Ministers is going to eat into the meagre resources that we have. This is an area where the Government has continued to go against the pledges it made to Kenyans. On the election of this Government, it promised a lean Cabinet to the people of Kenya. We are now at a figure of 91 Members of the Cabinet. This is almost half of the Kenyan Parliament. Now, imagine the salary each Assistant Minister earns. Each one of them earns Kshs100,000 over and above an hon. Member. Just imagine that amount of money! Imagine how much of that money can be used to help poor Kenyans. It would, therefore, be very important for the Minister for Finance--- Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Government has the habit of making excuses. The Minister promised Kenyans, in this House, that he was going to withdraw all the extra vehicles given to Ministers and Assistant Ministers. We would like to know the number that has been withdrawn and how much money the disposal of the vehicles fetched for this country. We can then use that money to help the poor. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am very happy that the Minister for Roads and Public Works has confirmed that donor money takes a long time to come. When we were discussing the Ministry of Roads and Public Works Vote, the amount of money allocated to Government-friendly constituencies represented by Ministers was from the Government. However, the money allocated to Opposition-friendly constituencies was to come from donors. That is marginalisation. We would like this to be corrected. With those few remarks, I beg to support. November 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3889"
}