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"id": 240225,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240225/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Lesrima",
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"speaker": {
"id": 178,
"legal_name": "Simon Saimanga Lesirma",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister for considering my constituency and allocating Kshs3 million for the construction of a slaughter facility, and Kshs5 million for a market centre. However, I must complain about an allocation of Kshs53 for building a bus park, whereas there are no buses that operate in that area. That kind of money is a waste of resources. The Minister should have given us money to build a small donkey park because that is the mode of transport we use. He should also have given the people from the lake region that money to build a boat park. The money should even have been allocated to the people who use boda bodas to put up a bicycle park. The Kshs53 million for a bus park, in a place where there is no tarmac road and might not be there in the next ten years, is a waste of money. The allocation of that money was done from the Permanent Secretary's Office, and the contract awarded by the same office, yet the local people were are not consulted. The construction of the bus park contract was awarded to Gibraltar Construction Company. As we know, Gibraltar is a place near the Mediterranean Sea. We got a contractor from the Mediterranean Sea and gave him a contract of Kshs53 million to put up a bus park in Samburu. That is what I consider a waste of resources. The construction company, Gibraltar, was awarded a contract of Kshs53 million, but it did not perform. Where I come from, you know how many cows that money can buy. It appears as if we have our priorities upside down. Maybe, I should not mind about the whole project because one day we might have a tarmac road running from Rumuruti to Maralal. Maybe, one day we will have buses going there. Our situation is like that of the City of Yamoussoukro in Cote d'Ivoire. A former President constructed a whole ghost city, but people are yet to go there. The road contractor disappeared from site on 16th May, after he had scratched the ground 2504 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 1, 2006 around Maralal, and got Kshs53 million. That is my biggest disappointment with this Ministry. It picked a contractor from Gibraltar and sent him to Samburu to do nothing. The Ministry of Local Government should take our priorities seriously. It should consider priorities like provision of water, education and roads. I would like to urge the Ministry of Local Government to make its plans in liaison with the CDF committees. In every 15 CDF committee members, two are from the local authorities. I think the purpose of placing the local government officers in those committees was to share ideas of planning and use their monies to meet their goals. I hope that clerks to county councils and the chairpersons will continue to be members of the district steering groups and DDCs, so that we avoid duplication of resources in planning. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the question of governance, we want the local authorities to consult communities on the utilisation of monies under the LATF. We want to see periodic returns and county council audited reports. We want auditors from Nairobi to audit those county councils. Even when you know that corruption is taking place, it is always predictable that when those officers go back to Nairobi, they will give them a clean bill of health. We need to put emphasis on procurement laws. The procurement laws that we passed in Parliament should also apply to local authorities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say something about planning in our urban centres. Even hon. Members have contributed to the improper planning of our cities. We can see highrise buildings coming up in low residential areas. That destroys the privacy of other citizens. We hope the Minister will put his foot down to guard the privacy of citizens who live in areas with low buildings. We also want county councils to plan for satellite towns. The current urban centres are getting congested. They should also be concerned about the environment. We are now spending money, even in towns such as Maralal. We spend a lot of money to build gabions to protect towns from soil erosion. County councils should get concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should implement by-laws, particularly in Nairobi City. There are men \"irrigating\" all over. The Nairobi County Council should work together with the East African Breweries Limited (EABL) so that, through its corporate social responsibility, it can take the responsibility of maintaining the environment. We hope that by-laws can be enforced to stop the men who \"irrigate\" the trees and make the city smell. They also make Nairobi rivers very dirty. As you know, dumping of toxic material on---"
}