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"id": 244831,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ahenda",
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"legal_name": "Paddy Ahenda",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I salute you for giving me this chance to say something about the KNBS. I am very grateful to the Minister for having taken the initiative for establishing the KNBS. The very bureau in particular has been in existence. If you allow me to revisit the old adage about \"who husbanded the cow that hon. Obwocha is now milking, it is all logical that if you take your cow for insemination either naturally or artificially, you have also played a big role. However, I am made to understand that this same Bill was before this House some time last year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something very important that is lacking in our planning system which makes most of our planners fail and that is a data bank. I will perhaps ask the Minister that in establishing the Act, he should include a data bank. Collecting statistics and 1870 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 5, 2005 keeping them somewhere gathering dust will not help us in proper planning. We are doomed if we do not have data banks in our cities, municipalities, schools or everywhere. I am actually inclined to admit that our planners fail because of lack of data. If a data bank is established it will help enhance and achieve development goals for the future of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 8 of the Bill talks of the appointment of the Director-General of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). If I take a cue from Mr. Angwenyi's contribution, though the qualifications for the Director-General are stated here, the Minister may use his powers to appoint anybody closely connected to his ethnicity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our development achievements in terms of data, particularly the ever rising population within our cities has been hampered because of lack of statistical data. This information should be kept in our data banks. This information can be collected easily and disseminated for the purpose of development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Clause 20 of this Bill is on the power to access information. It gives the Director- General the sole authority. There are some organisations that might have their own data and be interested in getting data from the KNBS. That prohibitive clause might not give them access to the data. I am not giving an open blanket for data collected and kept in our data banks to be disseminated in any way. However, I will give a typical example to explain this. A few weeks ago, I saw data on how the City of Nairobi wants to expand its water system. It is a pity that they do not have any data worth its salt at all. What is being collected is haphazard. They do not know, for example, how many litres of water is consumed in a particular estate in a day. They do not even know at what peak hours this estate gets the highest flow of water. These are the omissions that we get at the expansion, planning, development and improvement of the living standards of residents of Nairobi City if such data is not kept. If such data is kept by the KNBS under lock and key, then the City Council of Nairobi or any other person interested in such data to help in planning might not find it easy to access. A contractor or developer who comes to put up a city estate somewhere would visit the Director- General of the KNBS and get that data. With that information, he would put up an estate with the necessary facilities that will sustain it for the next 25 or 30 years. If that information is under lock and key, then we will have a problem. We will have data that cannot be used for development. It will also be a problem for us to collect little information from the Director-General to help in planning. If we enact this Bill, Ministries and even councils will have a window where such data can be accessed and used for the purpose of quick development or statistical achievements. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me at this juncture also pay tribute to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) which has actually stood out in this region for many years. Collecting data is not an easy task. Statisticians are normally hard pressed people. They know that bad statistics released to the public can create chaos. So, I would like to pay tribute to the CBS which has stood out for many years with their meagre resources and some difficulties collecting data all over the country. They have actually achieved some level of development due to their statistical bank. However, a lot is still outstanding that can be achieved if this Bill is passed. We will have proper machinery and structures put in place for the CBS to move on with data collection. That is important for the development of this country. There has been a misconception that the CBS only deals with the census after every ten years and then they just store that information and wait for the next census to be conducted. That is not what the CBS is all about. Statistics vary even in the medical field. There is no Ministry which does not require input from the CBS. We all know that many arms of Government consult the CBS before they embark on doing anything. They read their files to make sure everything is statistically correct in all areas. That is why my thumbs are up for the CBS which has stood the test of time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is the time for this Bill to make the CBS stronger. July 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1871 If this Bill will make the CBS more efficient and make our cities and Government departments work, the time to enact this Bill is now. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me turn to the First Schedule of the Bill which has listed the matters concerning which statistical information may be collected, compiled, analysed, abstracted and published. This list is not exhaustive. I have gone through it. Despite the fact that this schedule has given a number of bodies to collect data, it is not their exclusive right because some of them might have their own data banks somewhere. Some of them can be collaborating or become partners with the KNBS. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will give an example of the Nairobi City Council (NCC). They are trying to collect some data. They are not perfect but they are trying to do something about it. They can improve that to a standard whereby the \"Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS)\" might go to that bank and collect that data for their own use. The KEBS might also go out directly to collect their own data. What I have in mind is that if they do that, it should be party for sale of that information they are collecting, if the other articles do not prohibit them as it states that the so-called data or statistics collected by the \"KEBS\" is only kept under their custody. However, this will also help them so that they collaborate and the data collected either by the \"KEBS\" or the individual can merge together or work in conformity to get a unified data that can be used for the benefit and development, not only of that particular body, but the data also goes beyond the barriers. You can be working in the Ministry of Health, for example, and the data you collect there is required by the Ministry of Education. The officials of the Ministry of Education should go directly to the Ministry of Health to collect that data without passing through the \"Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS)\". If that provision is made---"
}