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{
    "id": 239383,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/239383/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 235,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "[Mr. Okemo]",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 198,
        "legal_name": "Chrysanthus Barnabas Okemo",
        "slug": "chrysanthus-okemo"
    },
    "content": "concern. This is about the skewed distribution of resources in this country. Budget after Budget, when the Printed Estimates have come to this House, we have pointed out how uneven the distribution of resources is in the various Ministries. The notorious examples have been the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Ministry of Roads and Public Works and other Ministries. So, part of the reason why the CDF was created was because of this uneven distribution of resources so that every constituency will have a chance to have some resources to deal with the question of poverty. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I still would like to appeal to this House to pass the amendment that is going to enable this House to increase the allocation of resources for the CDF to ensure that, at least, we can alleviate to a small extent this unjustified misuse and misdirection of resources to areas which are perceived to be politically-correct; or areas where the Ministers come from. All of us come from areas where people pay tax and tax has no political correctness. Tax is tax! So, we must be able to feel that we benefit from the resources that are collected from the Kenyan public. Mr. Speaker, Sir, let me now turn to the question of recruitment into public office, for example, the police, the army, prisons and now the question of teachers. The Government must come out transparently with criteria which can be justified in this House when it comes to recruitment of people into the army, police and the prisons. A few people sit together and just agree on how they are going to distribute these things as if it is something that belongs to individuals. For example, if we look at the number of people who have been recruited into the army and police for the last three years; and you do it even by district or by constituency, you will be amazed. I think we will see such glaring inequalities. Are there people in this country who are expected to benefit more from public positions than others? Or is it not every Kenyan's right to be given an equal opportunity to be employed? The Government must come clean. It must give us clear and transparent criteria which can be justified here; that here is how we have recruited; these are the criteria we used for people who go to occupy these positions. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will go back to the question of the CDF. Despite the shortcomings and the mistakes that had been made by hon. Members or committees that serve, the CDF is not competing with the Central Government. It is complementing the Central Government. Our understanding is that we are not asking for extra money. We have 100 per cent coming from tax revenue. We are saying that a certain percentage should go to the CDF and to the Central Government. Since there is proven evidence that the Central Government is incapable of being fair in the distribution of these resources, the only way is to increase the percentage of the money that is going to the CDF. That way, we will complain less. That way, the discretion that lies with the Ministers who have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they are biased, will not be of much concern to us."
}