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"content": "that resources that are available from the Government are no longer being used by politicians, be it the President or Members of Parliament to discriminate against those who do not support the incumbent Government. To the credit of the NARC Government, I think it is the first time, in the history of this country, that we are seeing resources being distributed on the basis of need and equity as opposed to certain communities supporting the Government in power. We were all used to the cliche: \"When funds become available\" or \"When you toe the line. So, sycophancy is now a thing of the past, be it in terms of supporting the existing political parties or Members of Parliament feeling that they have to follow individuals who have resources to support them. Today, Members of Parliament can afford to be as independent as possible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I say that because before, it was not uncommon to find situations whereby people from specific communities were neglected by the Government, simply because their respective Members of Parliament were not in support of the Government of the day. A crime, therefore, against even generations that had nothing to do with how resources were distributed or how their Members of Parliament decided to vote in the House. The Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), in addition to what has already been said, has also contributed in building local capacity. In most cases, we think of committees all the way from locations to constituencies. It is these committees that constitute the people themselves that decide what they consider to be important. It is not just about designing the projects, but also contributing towards implementation and evaluation of those projects. So, that capacity is necessary if we have to expand the resource base of our people so that it is not left to be a monopoly of a few Members of Parliament or bureaucrats employed by the Government. The people themselves need to realise that they have a capacity and they can contribute in many ways in terms of supporting those who have been appointed by the Government to promote development in their respective communities. A point was made about wealth creation. It was said that we now have local contractors. In fact, we have people in the rural areas who are employed through the CDF. For Members of Parliament, it is worth to realise that we now attend to few Harambees and we are no longer seen as ATMs where we have to contribute to virtually every major expense in the constituencies. That has not only enabled Parliamentarians to be free and concentrate on the actual business of Parliament, but also to look out for other resources outside what the Government provides. With regard to the CDF resources going further to the people than the Government's own resources, I think that point has been made clear. The best example is what it has cost Members of Parliament and their teams that are controlling the CDF to build schools or dispensaries compared to the quotations that you would get from respective Ministries. For example, it is now quite clear that because our resources are limited and since we need to control them in the best way possible, we can build a classroom for Kshs200,000 or Kshs250,000. However, if you go to the quantity surveyors of Government, they will quantify it at Kshs800,000 which is the cost of building almost three classrooms. This is an indication that when you control your own resources, you ensure that they get to the farthest point and whatever little that is available is used well. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this regard, you can also say that CDF has contributed in reducing corruption. If you have large resources available for projects in Ministries-- - Sometimes, corruption has been possible because there are resources that are not available for strict auditing. Individuals in Ministries can thus decide, singlehandedly, who gets a big contract. That has really been a problem and it would be better if we had more resources with the people themselves so that they can decide how to utilise them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the point about auditing has been made. It has been said that Members of Parliament need to ensure that what we have is spent well. We also need to be transparent in terms of deciding how to disburse this money. Even within our constituencies we should not discriminate a location that never supported us politically. Even though we talk of committees, we should not be the ones to decide who should be the members of those committees."
}