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{
    "id": 242543,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/242543/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 214,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I would, first of all, like to thank the Minister for the way he handled the Motion. Secondly, I would like to point out some areas which I think should be attended to. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the first one is that there should be a very deliberate and serious effort to have a policy on how to manage road reserves. Both the Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs and another hon. Member of Parliament made a contribution towards the fact that a lot of our roads are destroyed by the rains because road reserves are virtually not managed. Road reserves are not being managed but being destroyed. This Ministry has a Vote for bush clearing. The people who are assigned to clear bushes have tended to remove all the vegetation that is on the road reserves and yet it is the one that reduces the flow of water so that soil July 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2143 is not carried away. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry must also look into ways of how to manage rainwater that runs along roads. Quite often, this water is directed towards people's farms and because it is destructive people tend to resist. So, farmers erect blocks on their farms to make sure that water does not flow into their farms. As a result, when we have heavy rains we literally have rivers running along the roads which cause havoc. Due to this, we usually have to go back and repair the roads after the long rains. This exercise costs millions of shillings because the rains have eroded the gravel. So, I really think that the Ministry has to come up with a policy of managing road reserves. I would like to suggest that the Ministries of Roads and Public Works, Environment and Natural Resources, Energy, Agriculture, Water and Irrigation and the Office of the President should have a small Inter-Ministerial Committee that should look into this issue. It really makes a lot of nonsense to see the roads being cleared but instead of the water being given time to percolate into the ground to provide ground water---"
}