Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 240176,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240176/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 182,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 215,
        "legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
        "slug": "justin-muturi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is some solace or some form of consolation for me. I have said time and again that there is need for the various Ministries to streamline the way they allocate development resources. Like most of my colleagues who have spoken before me, I am concerned about the application of LATF. It is enormous. We appreciate that this is taxpayers' money. We need to be told how it is being applied. For the period that I have been in Parliament, I have never seen any document showing how LATF in my local authority is applied and yet I know the local authority receives that money. Last week when we were debating the Vote of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, I proposed a neutral request that local authorities should be asked to give some seed money for the actualisation or gazettement of the Joint Loans Boards in the districts. The Minister for Trade and Industry indicated that it is not a mandatory requirement. We have always been told that local authorities are required to pay some seed money, so that they can be gazetted and given the allocation from that other Ministry. I was going to propose that a requirement should be put that where a local authority is asked to pay some seed money, then a proportion of LATF goes to that local authority. This is money that should attract other resources from the Government to help the local communities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last year when we were debating the Vote of this Ministry, I had opportunity to suggest to the Minister that he looks into how the Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPF) is managed. Many local authorities are in arrears. A large amount of this money is from contributions from the individuals working in those local authorities. A portion of what goes to each local authority, which owes the LAPF known sums of money, should be deducted directly and paid to the LAPF. This is beneficial to the workers in those local authorities. I have also called for the streamlining of the LAPF. When you look at the accounts of the Fund, you will find that there is no clear distinction between the Chief Executive and the other members of the Fund. There is some conflict here. Civil servants are seconded to the Fund from the Ministry. It may be important for the Fund to be allowed to have its own Chief Executive who is answerable, for the day to day running of the Fund. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have talked about the 1 per cent and the Minister for Finance alluded to the fact that the Roads Maintenance Levy would go to the Nairobi City Council. Whereas that is a welcome gesture, I know that it is still not enough. I wonder what the City of Nairobi is thinking about its decongestion. I want to appreciate what my colleagues have said regarding traffic lights and roundabouts, which appear to be an outdated form of engineering. They do not appear to be in very many other cities in the world. The Minister should, at least, to save the face of our city during the forthcoming Afro Cities Conference, do something that would deliberately address the issue of congestion. I know that this would have to go through the Nairobi City Council, but nevertheless, the Minister can direct that the council takes an immediate collective action that would result in a much smoother flow of vehicles into the city and more so into the Central Business District (CBD). While on the issue of the Africities Conference, from some of the stories that I have read regarding the Conference, it looks like we might not be planning for the exact number of guests August 1, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2491 that we are likely to have. I am not too sure that the organisers have looked into the issue of bed occupancy and capacity within the City. Are we able to host those many visitors in a comfortable manner, so that they leave with good memories of the City of Nairobi and the country of Kenya? Why are we not seeing any construction of by-passes and flyovers in this City? Is there a conflict between the Ministry of Roads and Public Works and Nairobi City Council? I know that the Ministry of Local Government is one of the agents under the Kenya Roads Board Act. It gets a lot of money from the Roads Maintenance Levy. Why do we not see by-passes being constructed? In other cities, by-passes and flyovers are built within such a short time that we wonder why in Kenya it is made to appear like it is rocket science to construct them. Flyovers would help us to address the issue of congestion, particularly within the CBDs in our cities. There is need for the Minister to tell us what criteria he is using to address this embarrassing situation we go through every year when mayors and chairmen of county councils are being elected. What we saw recently in Nairobi City Council was so embarrassing and children were wondering whether these are actually national leaders. Why has the Ministry not fulfilled the promise to review the Local Government Act, Cap. 265 to address this problem of the election of chairmen and mayors once and for all? I want to urge the Minister, and I know he is progressive, to bring before this House an amendment to the Act so that we can make it be in tandem with modern times. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}