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"speaker_name": "Archbishop Ondiek",
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"legal_name": "Stephen Oluoch Ondiek",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Sir, for giving me this chance to contribute. I have been trying to catch your eye since 2.30 p.m. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support the hon. Member who has just spoken on the employment of teachers. In the last Budget, a lot of money was allocated to the Ministry of Education, but we have not seen the fruits of that money within our constituencies. You find that a school with 600 pupils is being taught by only two teachers and the headteacher. They teach from Standard I to Standard VIII. One wonders whether such a school can offer any education or it is just a playground. We keep on talking about low standards of education in this June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1711 country. The standard of education is not going down because of politics; it is because there are no teachers to teach the pupils. Before we introduced free primary education, we should have asked ourselves: \"Where are we going to get the teachers to teach the additional pupils? Where are we going to get the facilities for those students?\" The Government must employ teachers. In this country, teachers are dying and retiring. We do not know why they are not replaced instantly. We have talked about that several times in this House and nobody has ever taken any action. Whatever is discussed in this House should be taken into account. I visited a school in Olambwe Division and found only three teachers. The school is called Wandiji Primary School. It is in Mr. Kajwang's Constituency. The pupils are not taught. It is not only in that division, but the whole country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you, being a Member of Parliament, I do not know whether you have the same problem in your constituency. I have that problem. In most schools, the highest number of teachers you find are four. We do not know whether those funds are being used properly. Are they being used for something else? Why have we not employed more teachers? It is very difficult to tell. We appreciate the increase in teachers' salaries. However, even if you increase the salaries of four teachers in a school like Sifuyo Primary School in my constituency--- The four teachers teach eight classes with 700 students! You are not helping anything. Even before you think of increasing the salaries of teachers, why not increase the number of teachers first? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that the Minister for Youth Affairs has just spoken and he has just left. Kshs100 million has been set aside to revive the polytechnics in this country. If you disburse these funds to the 210 constituencies, only about Kshs500,000 will go to each one of them. What can you do with Kshs500,000 in a constituency? Polytechnics require a lot of equipment and buildings. There are some constituencies which have four village polytechnics. In such cases, which polytechnic will be revived and which one will not? This is the problem most hon. Members are facing. If you allocate such kind of funds to a particular location, people in the other locations will complain. The management of roads in this country is very poor. Funds are given to the District Roads Engineers who are supposed to award contracts and supervise the roads. Some of our roads have been done very poorly. If you ask the engineers who have supervised the roads, they tell you that the roads have been done, but if you inspect the roads, you find that they are completely undone. All the funds which are being allocated to the districts should be directed to the CDF, so that we can supervise their usage. If this is done, the money will be put into meaningful use and it will help most of our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF). The councillors' allowances should be increased, so that they can be more efficient and stop stealing the LAFT funds. This will also minimise the misappropriation of the funds. Sometimes I sympathise with the councillors when I look at their allowances. What can you do with Kshs14,000 a month and you are a leader in an area? The Minister for Local Government should address this issue, so that councillors can earn their salaries directly from the Consolidated Fund instead of being paid by the local people. The LATF should be used together with the CDF. The CDF has done a lot of things although many people do not appreciate this fact. Urban dwellers believe that politicians are misusing these funds because they never go home. Most of the people who make noise in the newspapers that politicians are misusing the CDF are those who do not visit the rural areas. The CDF is the most important thing that has ever happened to this country. It has achieved a lot and has earned a lot of credit for the Government. We should give credit where it is due. The CDF has gone into the people. A lot of projects have been initiated in my constituency through the CDF. With regard to the 97 per cent of our funds which is supposed to be used for development 1712 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 28, 2006 by the Government, not a single project has been initiated in my constituency during this financial year. So, I do not know where this money goes. I would like to know whether this money is for paying salaries or what it is meant for. When I ask, I am told that there are funds for Development Expenditure and others for Recurrent Expenditure. However, when you look at what the development funds are doing, you do not see but the recurrent funds are doing something because I have never heard my chief saying that he has never been paid a salary. Where are the development funds that account for 97 per cent of the Budget? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, sometimes I get amused when I hear people complaining about this 2.5 per cent. Why do they not complain about 97 per cent? Where is the 97 per cent, if they really go home unless they are just jealous of politicians? According to me, I think that they believe that if you have this money you will never be removed from Parliament. However, I have been in this Parliament for more than two terms and I did not use the CDF. The CDF is only there to develop our people and help our constituencies; it is not for the politicians. Thank you very much and I beg to support."
}