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"id": 246576,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mukiri",
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"legal_name": "Mukiri Macharia",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. For the very first time, we are feeling that we have been liberated. I was quite happy when the Minister said, for the very first time, that we are going to do away with donor funding. For a very long time, this country has been a slave of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and, to a great extent, the European Union. Not only have they interfered with our lives and our governance, but they have also interfered with the way that we think. I pray for the day that we will completely shed away the donors and their agents from this country so that we develop our country using our own resources. These donors have been so notorious because they keep on promising us money and aid but, eventually, we do not receive this money. Last year, Nakuru District was promised almost Kshs500 million in terms of provision of water and that money was factored in the Budget. But up to today, we have not accessed that money from the Industrial Development Bank (IDB). They keep on putting conditionalities, one after the other and, eventually, you never receive the money, yet you have already factored it in your Development Vote. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something which makes me wonder about the European Union (EU). The EU is the one which gave us money for water development. However, the same EU has now given money to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) whose operatives are moving round the constituencies, fighting the CDF. It is now very easy for NGOs to access money from the EU. On the other hand, it has become very difficult for the same EU to release even 10 per cent of the money they pledged to the Government for development. I will, therefore, be happy if, in future, we avoid completely, factoring in donor funds in our Budget. For the last six years, we have not been able to access Budget support funds promised to this Government by the EU despite the fact that such funds were voted. The EU has all along been promising to make the money available to us. I hope that this year, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture will deal comprehensively with the pyrethrum issue. For the last four years, we have been singing about pyrethrum. We have been asking the Government to invest money in pyrethrum, but what has been put into this sector is insignificant compared to what has been put to other sectors. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, sometimes I tend to think the same way as my colleague, Mr. Wamwere. Nakuru District is the single largest pyrethrum-growing district in the country. We have noted with disappointment that the Government has directed more funding to the coffee and tea sectors. There is no corresponding effort by the Government to promote pyrethrum growing. We hope that this time round, having heard the Minister mention the pyrethrum sector in his Budget Speech, the Government will take care of pyrethrum farmers. We have asked so many Questions with regard to this sector for the last four years. Next year we will face voters to explain to them what happened. It is now time for the Government to deal with the pyrethrum production. Five years ago, pyrethrum used to earn this country about Kshs2 billion in foreign exchange. We no longer have pyrethrum farmers in this country. Farmers decided to uproot all the pyrethrum plants because of mismanagement and the fact that the Government does not want to invest in that industry. In his Budget Speech, the Minister said that he has set aside about Kshs400 million for the settlement of tribal clashes victims. We have followed up this matter and realised that the Kshs400 million is just peanuts. We thought that for the first time, the Government was going to settle tribal clashes victims. We have even raised Questions in this House. Mr. Wamwere brought to this House a Motion, which the Government supported. However, we have seen that he Government is not serious in re-settling those people. Tribal clashes victims are all over the country. I have a big number of such victims in Molo. They are all over Nakuru District. We have other such victims in Mombasa and Kitale. In its manifesto, the NARC Government promised to re-settle tribal clashes victims within the very few 1466 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 20, 2006 years of taking over the leadership of this country. What happened between then and now? Is it because the Government is not committed to the people who suffered under the previous regime? Is it because leaders from clash-torn areas are not well represented in the Government? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kshs400 million that has been set aside for re- settling tribal clashes victims is not enough. We know where part of that money is destined to. I hope the Minister will listen to my sentiments. As I said, we are approaching an election year. The people of Nakuru District, who make up the largest number of tribal clashes victims, will be asking the NARC Government questions. The Minister has proposed to support the insurance industry in terms of limiting compensation to victims of accidents. However, the Minister must, in the same spirit, come up with measures to compel insurance companies to pay claims to such victims. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these days, if your car gets involved in an accident and you are insured by one of the dubious insurance companies that I do not want to name, the vehicle is not repaired. Some garages may not accept to repair your vehicle, yet the insurance company you subscribe to has been allowed to do business. Kenyans must be protected from the unscrupulous insurance companies so that when the Minister wants to support them through legislation, it will be easy for hon. Members to support him. The practice right now is that insurance companies are the ones which benefit from the business. Any proposal that the Minister has made will go a long way towards alleviating the problems our people are experiencing in the industry. I am glad that the Minister has put forward some suggestions to reduce wastage of Government resources. However, the Government should also deal with its bureaucracies. The bureaucracies in the Government cost a lot of money. For instance, today, if you want to process a cheque from the District Treasury Office, it takes at least three weeks. If the Government does not eliminate such bureaucracies, it will be difficult to eliminate corruption. If we want to reduce the wastage of Government resources while corruption still exits, we will not have solved the problem. On the issue of electric power, I thought that for the first time, the Minister would remove the payment of VAT for those people who are applying for power. We need to supply electric power in the rural areas. However, if you apply for electric power supply, you will be charged a lot of money in terms of VAT. That discourages many people from getting connected. I believe there is a way that the Minister can play around with the policies so that once one is connected, he or she can pay the money intended for VAT after some time. That has discouraged many people from using electric power. Fuel is very expensive, although we do not wish to continue destroying our forests. I wish to support."
}