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{
    "id": 245911,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/245911/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Khaniri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 171,
        "legal_name": "George Munyasa Khaniri",
        "slug": "george-khaniri"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is nothing for me to substantiate. I have served in Government and it is common knowledge. For your information, it is not just one Minister who is allocated many vehicles. In fact, several Ministers have more than five vehicles allocated to them. However, we are now happy that the Minister has come up with a proposal of reducing the number of vehicles allocated to Ministers to one. He also suggested that they should now be paid transport allowance. We hope that the Government will take that proposal seriously and implement it so that it does not just become one of the many promises that they make to us, but fail to fulfil. With regard to the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), we know that it is the only channel through which mwananchi feels the presence of Government funding on the ground. That is the fact on the ground and it is indisputable. When we asked the Minister to increase the amount of money allocated to CDF, we expected him to look into the matter favourably because he is also a Member of Parliament. Had he increased the allocation to the CDF to 7 per cent, we would be able to undertake our targeted projects with a lot of ease. However, he did not give us our desired increase, but he loaded many other burdens on the CDF; for example, building of health centres and so on. The money that used to go to the Ministry of Health for the purpose of building health centres should have been transferred to the CDF. Similarly, the money that used to be sent to the Office of the President for the purpose of building police stations should have been transferred to CDF. Had the Minister done that, then the increase would have amounted to 7 per cent and we would be more comfortable. In fact, wananchi will be able to realise the work of Government on the ground. We, therefore, want to encourage the Minister to give us that increment as far as the CDF money is concerned. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the Roads Maintenance Fuel Levy, if the Minister is sensitive at all, to the needs of Kenyans, then he must do something about its increase which he made recently. There is a lot of hue and cry out there. There is no single Member of Parliament who has spoken without touching on the increase of the Roads Maintenance Fuel Levy. I want to urge Members of Parliament not to support this increase of Kshs3.20 on Fuel Levy. He would rather bring back the road licences because that is only felt by people who have vehicles and remove this increase which has now been transferred to the poor Kenyans. There are many other ways that the Minister can use to raise resources. Let him increase levy on cigarettes. Weka juukabisa and no one will cry. Fuel prices affect everybody across the board. So, we hope that the Minister will hear the cries of Kenyans and remove the increment on Fuel Levy. Lastly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, security is the first and foremost responsibility that any Government can give to its citizens. The safety of their lives and property is the single most important service that the Government is expected to give. The Ministry that is in charge of security is one of the Ministries that have been funded very well in this Budget. Therefore, there is no reason why we should have lapses in our security systems since the Ministry is well funded. They should employ enough law enforcement officers and remunerate them well so that they can guarantee the security of Kenyans. The recent events that took place in the country involving the Artur brothers leave a lot to be desired. This is a clear indication that security in this country is collapsing. It is paramount that this Government beefs up security in this country. The President should take it upon himself to ensure that Kenyans are safe because the security buck stops at his doorstep. When matters to do with lapses in security were raised, the President appeared on television labouring to tell us the composition of his family instead of addressing security issues. 1620 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2006 We are not interested in that. He needs to address security issues."
}