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"speaker_name": "Mr. Omingo",
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"legal_name": "James Omingo Magara",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, truly, it goes without saying, and you know it, that the people hon. Wako oversees are not properly motivated. I think that is just a fair statement. Even when they have done the job from KACC, it is not right to deny hon. Wako the capacity to implement whatever resolutions that might have been made by KACC because all the money is out there in KACC or other amorphous bodies. That is actually what I wanted to say. I am not trying to cast aspersions on anybody. However, these are facts that we must state. We need to capacitate Government organs to implement whatever is brought on board. I think anybody who has been living in this country knows the ratio of salaries of those people working in parastatals July 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1875 and the salaries earned by civil servants who are living in abject poverty. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have parastatals similar to this one that were created for political expediency to reward the politically correct individuals with jobs. We need to have appointments matched with competence. I have seen here in this Bill restrictions in terms of dissemination of information. It is critical that if information is to be relayed and used by the people of this country--- We all know that information is power. Mr. Bill Gates is a great man in this world simply because of his ability to manage information. According to this Bill, we are going to charge some fees on the exercise of retrieving information. This means that the poor folks out there in the countryside have to pay something before they access information. For all intents and purposes, accessing information should be free of charge so that Kenyans can put across whatever point they want to. If I want information for a particular purpose and I am forced to subscribe for it, I am not too sure what the Minister will charge, administratively, as the cost of accessing that particular information. I think that is private. For purposes of educating and empowering people, we require to have information free of charge. That is why it is important to enable people to think independently. Previously, Government documents used to be stamped \"Strictly Confidential\" even when the matters in those documents actually affected you. So, we do not want to get to a situation where people doctor information for political expediency then the same information is kept out of the public domain. We want information to flow without any cost being incurred by the people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have looked at some items listed for the purposes of collecting data. Information, once collected, should not gather dust on the shelves. When we were decrying the fact that only 0.2 per cent of our country is under forest cover, and yet we require about 7 to 10 per cent forest cover, I am sure that the previous Government and the present one had information about the status of our forest cover. Why should we just sit idle when crucial information is gathering dust on the shelves? All we have been doing is to watch from the ivory tower. That amounts to participating in the running down of our institutions even after being cautioned and we have the information. This is the time that Kenyans should demand for value for their money. The fact that we have allowed information to gather dust on shelves has caused us this misery we are in. For example, if information regarding HIV/AIDS could be availed to people, particularly in areas where people still believe that HIV/AIDS belongs to a certain tribe, community, sect or age--- If such information could be circulated to people and they be told that amongst those in hospital, the ones in a particular age bracket are in danger and so on, people would develop some caution as a result of that information. So, as we collect information, let it not gather dust on the shelves. Finally, this piece of legislation is good. However, let us utilise the information that is given to us. We need to circulate it freely. Let us give the Minister three months, after the Bill has received Presidential assent, to implement this law so that we can be able to give Kenyans value for their money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support."
}