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{
    "id": 245463,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245463/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 135,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Musila",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 94,
        "legal_name": "David Musila",
        "slug": "david-musila"
    },
    "content": "I brought a Motion to this House which was unanimously passed. That Motion asked the Government to release certificates to students who completed the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and cannot access employment opportunities. I have gone very far towards this end. I have appealed to the Minister and even petitioned the President on behalf of those poor students for the release of their certificates. Some of those students are orphans. How can we talk of looking after the youth when some youths are rotting at home because they cannot access employment opportunities? The Government should release those certificates. The Government has written off loans that were issued to coffee farmers. It has also bought the KCC. The Government has also written off the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) loans owed by tycoons, and yet orphaned students who completed school are asked to pay fees balances before they can be given their certificates. Some of those balances are as old as 12 years. I have a list of 1,000 former students in my constituency who have been denied their certificates because of fees arrears. The Minister gave a figure of slightly over 700,000 students who cannot access their certificates. Are we really serious when we talk of improving the welfare of the youth, and yet we cannot address this problem? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about ASAL areas. When His Excellency the President opened Parliament, he announced that during this financial year which is coming to an end, the Government drilled 200 boreholes and built over 100 water pans in ASAL areas. The Minister for Water and Irrigation is in this House. Where were those 200 boreholes drilled? I come from an ASAL district and I can only account for two boreholes which were drilled this financial year. We have 22 ASAL districts. If you divide 200 boreholes by 22 districts, you will roughly get ten boreholes in every district. Where are the 200 boreholes that the Government says it has drilled in the ASAL areas? Where were the 200 water pans built? Only one dam was built in my area. There is a lot of unfairness and deception that things are happening out there when they are not. Even the Kshs1.5 billion the Minister for Finance announced has been factored in the Budget for water projects in the ASAL areas is a public relations exercise. Could he tell us how much money each district will get out of the Kshs1.5 billion set aside for water projects so that we can know whether we will get water or not? As we speak today, people are going without food out there. The famine situation has worsened particularly in ASAL areas including Mwingi District. The Government has stopped giving people food. The Government waits until people start dying then they start distributing food. The Government has abdicated its responsibility and has left it to NGOs. Let me appeal to the Government to do something about famine which is ravaging communities in ASAL areas because nothing is happening as I speak today. During the State Opening, the President promised this House that the Government will allocate more resources towards feeding the hungry people of this country, but nothing has been done in this regard, as I speak. June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1657 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me speak on the issue of rural electrification. Yesterday an hon. Member said that rural electrification is only implemented in areas where there are Ministers. I want to support this hon. Member, who is Mr. Bifwoli. We know that there are funds for rural electrification. We want the Government to come out clearly and tell us where these rural electrification projects, which will cost so many billions, are. The same thing applies to roads. Yesterday the Minister for Co-operative Development and Marketing told this House that you cannot find a single contractor out there who is idle. He said that all contractors are busy doing roads at the moment. Where are they? Which roads are they building? I have not seen any roads being built in my district. I am trying to allude to the lopsided type of allocation of resources. I will prove this when we come to debate single Ministerial Votes. You will be amazed to find out that although the Government has increased the amount of money that has been allocated for Development, the Budget has been increased in certain districts and decreased in others. We must come out of this system of concentrating development in certain areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you do not need to have a President or a Minister in a district so as to get development. All Kenyans deserve development. The Minister must do away with that habit which has been going on for 43 years since Independence, where Government resources are allocated to who knows who. The Government continues to tell us that it is transparent and that resources are being allocated equitably, when we know that that is not the case. When we come to debate the Votes of Ministries I will be able to prove to the Ministers responsible that they are being unfair to a lot of districts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to touch on education. I have already talked about the wastage that is going on in our school system, where we are offering free primary education. Some of these students go to secondary schools and they finish, but only about 10 per cent are able to access their certificates, particularly in my district. The rest end up dropping out of school and staying at home because they cannot access employment. We appreciate the fact that there is free primary education, but primary classes are now having up to 100 students with one teacher. I was told by the DEO that the shortage of teachers in Mwingi District stands at 1,200. Which district other than Mwingi has such a high shortage of teachers? Yet you will find that we are still being given the same number of teachers as those districts which are already overstaffed. I am talking about unfair distribution of resources across the board. I would like the Government to exonerate itself from this unfair practice that has continued to marginalise certain areas of this Republic. I beg to support."
}