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"id": 240157,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240157/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kagwe",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Information and Communications",
"speaker": {
"id": 229,
"legal_name": "Mutahi Kagwe",
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to second the Motion. I wish to thank my friend who was on the Floor. I congratulate him for the good work that his Ministry is currently doing. I would like to start off with his last point. He has said that he has got good people, engineers and others, who are showing very good signs of dedication to work, efficiency and good use of the monies that have been allocated to them. The cleanliness that the City of Nairobi is enjoying now was not there a few years ago. There are flower beds and the streets are well lit. It is a sign that serious work is being done by the Ministry of Local Government. That good work is as a result of private and public sector partnership that is currently on-going. I, particularly, want to congratulate those in the private sector who are assisting in the lighting of the city. I also congratulate those who are building slaughterhouses. There are all sorts of activities that are aimed at to improving security in our towns. That way, Nairobians and other Kenyans will enjoy life as they ought to do. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate the Minister on the issue of the children's homes. Those children belong to Kenyans. There is no child who belongs to the streets. Streets do not bear children. Therefore, I think that Kenyans should take a collective responsibility as far as the so- called street children are concerned. These children have fathers somewhere. Since we cannot identify those particular fathers, the society must take responsibility. All fathers must taken responsibility for the fathers who actually put those children on the streets. Similarly, all mothers must take responsibility for the particular mothers who put those street children on the streets. If we do not do that, these street children will eventually end up being a huge liability in terms of matters of security and general stability as far as our cities are concerned. Consequently, we are all delighted by the work that the Ministry is doing. I, indeed, propose that in next year's Budget, more money be allocated towards the creation of children's homes and their consequent needs. August 1, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2481 Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the past, we have noticed that the City Planning Department within the Ministry of Local Government was not taken very seriously. If we look at Umoja and other estates that were originally planned to be middle class areas, they eventually developed into ghettos. This is simply as a result of negligence on the part of the planners. Some people decided to follow archaic laws, while others decided to take the law into their own hands. If one wants to put up a building in Umoja Estate, even if the area is designated for bungalows, he can put up four floors on top of a small house. These things were being done and those responsible for checking could see them. Eventually, when we come down to correcting those mistakes, it will be at a great expense to those who constructed those houses and to Kenyans at large. This is because it will get to the point where we might eventually have to bring down some of the illegitimately constructed buildings. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to mention something about the LATF which the Minister has spelt out very clearly in terms of usage. There is a close correlation between the LATF and the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). This is because the Minister has clearly said that 50 per cent of the amount involved will go towards improving the infrastructure. It is necessary to have some sort of cohesion between the money that is being used in various estates, such as coffee estates and the money that is allocated by the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) and other organizations, and the amount that we are spending under the CDF and LATF to improve the infrastructure. This will ensure that monies are not allocated from different sources towards the same projects. Similarly, we look forward to a time when, within the councils, there will be that discipline that the Minister is clearly aiming at getting. Indeed, we look forward to a time when the election of mayors and council chairmen will be done by the populace directly. This is because the current electoral process of mayors and council chairmen is basically flawed and highly abused. Consequently, that is something that should be looked at. In addition, we should improve the remuneration of the councillors. Indeed, one of the reasons why it is so easy to manipulate the electoral process during council and mayoral elections is because of the poor remuneration that councillors have. Consequently, it will be necessary for us to improve the salaries paid to councillors. Indeed, the Minister has gone a long way in trying to improve that particular situation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also believe that, in order for us to eventually live in clean cities and areas, Kenyans themselves must also take responsibility for cleanliness. It is not possible for the cities and towns to be clean if the indiscipline that Kenyans exhibit in terms of garbage dumping continues. For example, people eat bananas in their cars and throw away the peels all over. They also dump papers in all areas. Basically, it is not possible to keep Nairobi City clean if the residents do not wish to do so. It is the residents themselves who can keep a town clean and not the town council workers. We would have to have each individual being followed by a town council worker to keep it clean, if the same behaviour is exhibited throughout all the towns. Therefore, as Kenyans blame the local authorities for the dirty towns we have in some areas, they should, first and foremost, blame themselves for the same. We should also blame ourselves for the indiscipline that we exhibit even on our roads. We avoid the zebra crossings when crossing our roads. When there are accidents, we blame the local authorities. The local authorities have also built pedestrian bridges, yet, we find people avoiding them and crossing roads under them. They eventually get hit by cars and then they blame somebody else for that accident. Clearly, it is the indiscipline in our own society that is creating some of these scenarios. It is not possible for an undisciplined society to develop and remain cohesive. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, urge that the by-laws that are there within the councils in urban areas should be implemented and enforced very strictly, so that Kenyans can learn to behave 2482 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 1, 2006 in a manner that can assist the local authorities in their efforts to retain and keep towns and cities clean. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to encourage the workers in councils to continue doing the good job they are doing. These people do a lot of work, often without any appreciation whatsoever. Indeed, many a time, we believe that they are people who are just lay-abouts who should be kicked out of town. But often, we find them working hard without much technology, cleaning up roads and so on. We should appreciate the work that they continue to do. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to Second."
}