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"id": 251652,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion. I would also like to thank Mr. Kimeto for bringing a very important Motion to the House. When the NARC Government came to power, we had a very ambitious policy for the rehabilitation of roads and transport systems in this country. The Ministry of Roads and Public Works then envisaged that we needed about Kshs100 billion to make sure that our road network was not only rehabilitated but that proper highways were built so that we can put this country on a firm basis for economic growth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you consider the money alone that has been wasted in Anglo Leasing, it is about Kshs57 billion. That is over half the amount the Ministry of Roads and Public Works needed. If that money was combined with more imaginative lease financing, the programme that we had for road rehabilitation and construction in this country would be a long way towards being fulfilled. Therefore, when Mr. Kimeto says we need a comprehensive transport policy, it means that we need a comprehensive budgetary policy to give priority to development in this country. It is in that spirit that we need to ensure that we pay attention to the backbone of economic growth in this country, which is infrastructure. If we look at access roads; that is roads in the rural areas, urban roads, trunk roads; roads 684 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2006 that link together the major cities and urban centres in our country within the region, you will find that all these roads leave a lot to be desired. This is so not only because over the last 20 years we have not responded to a comprehensive road network that was developed for this country in the 1960s but that we have not even had a policy of maintenance of our infrastructure. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the road from Nakuru to Kisumu is a death trap. Being part of the Trans-African Highway, it is a shame to this country that 40 years after Independence, we do not even have a comprehensive policy not only to build our roads but to also maintain them. A comprehensive transport policy does not only involve the construction and maintenance of transport facilities such as roads, railways and airways, but also providing security for these arteries of communication. We need a highway safety regulation that goes beyond seat belts and speed governors. We need a highway safety regulation that includes a highway patrol system where there will be policemen with proper stations for highway patrol and proper communication network that can provide security in our highways. Now we have a permanent problem in this country. If you take a bus from Nairobi to Kisumu, you are lucky to arrive alive. Sooner rather than later somewhere near or before Molo, you will be hijacked into the woods. All the passengers will be stripped naked, their property stolen and probably women raped. This means that although these incidents occur from time to time, the Government has not responded by putting in place a highway safety regulation mechanism that tracks the movement of buses and ensures that when they arrive at a station, their departure station knows that the buses should run according to the time that they have been given. Our transportation system in this country is in total chaos because buses and matatus leave stations whenever they want. They stop wherever they want and there is no penalty for disobeying certain rules and regulations. The only rule and regulation that was implemented and obeyed was the speed governors and seat belt policy. However, even that now is put to ridicule by matatu operators. They say that they have the speed governors in the matatus but they know when to put them on and off. They put them on when they are approaching the roadblocks which are manned by traffic policemen. There is, therefore, no system whatsoever of ensuring highway safety mechanism in our country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it has been said over and over again that apart from the now infamous lease financing that we have seen in the Anglo Leasing scandal, there are other ways of building highways and roads in our country; that is the build, operate and transfer system. It is high time the highway from Mombasa to Busia, which I recommended in the NARC Manifesto and our Economic Recover Strategy (ERS), is built on a build, operate and transfer basis. There are investors ready to do that. However, the pussy-footing by the Government and their over-concern with putting easy money in their pockets cannot make them concentrate on serious policies and implementation of such policies. When we say so, some \"cerelac babies\" stand up and say that we are crying over spilt milk. You cannot cry over sour grapes when the grapes are not there. They cannot be sour anyway. It is important, therefore, that we realise that the implementation of good policies is the only way to guarantee economic growth in this country. I want to make points about railways and air transportation in this country. If I begin by air transportation, it is hardly three years ago when we were paying Kshs2,500 to get a ticket to Kisumu. Now the ticket is Kshs6,500. Even if you were to take into consideration the increase in the price of jet fuel, there is no way that the fare can jump from Kshs2,500 in the year 2003 to Kshs6,500 in the year 2006. Nothing explains that increase except for the fact that there is no proper regulation of airport transportation in this country and the Government is not really interested in ensuring that domestic tourism and transportation by air is encouraged. We have many airports in this country which could be upgraded so that they can take the passenger planes for domestic air transportation, like the ones in Garissa, Wajir, Isiolo and other places. We need to do April 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 685 what Ethiopia did! When I taught in Ethiopia in 1985/86, you could travel by air to more local destinations in Ethiopia than you can do here. Yet we pride ourselves by saying that we are a more developed country than Ethiopia but they beat us in air transportation because they have more enlightened policies for air transportation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country can do a lot for itself if we did what is necessary; that is increase more destinations for air transportation in this country and make the aerodromes and airports safer. We should also encourage a policy whereby when hon. Members go to their constituencies, they can buy coupons from airlines at a reduced cost so that they can fly to constituencies rather than go by road, and the roads are bad anyway. I know for certain that in Canada, for instance, hon. Members can travel to their constituencies throughout the year by buying cheap coupons. Therefore, the airlines are assured of passengers throughout the year because hon. Members are compelled to travel to their constituencies over the weekends. These are policies that require a little bit of innovation and imagination on the part of the Government. However, I am afraid that quite a number of Ministers in the Government took leave of their senses some time ago and the job of being imaginative is something too much to demand of them. Nonetheless, within a matter of time, hardly two years, we shall be over there and we shall take this Government back to the root course that flowed two or three years ago. Kenyans will enjoy a more democratic, imaginative and growth oriented Government than the one sitting opposite me. On railway transport, we were championing the building of a railway line from Rongai to Sudan so that we can be interconnected with our neighbours. However, the same Ministers I am talking about, came up and said that since the idea was proposed by Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o, it could not be good, precisely because I am Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o. However, I was asking as a Minister of the Government and they sabotaged the whole project. The Government in Southern Sudan is now building their railway while we are busy practising tribalism and nonsensical economic thinking, instead of implementing what is required in this country. It is important that we implement those projects and respond positively to hon. Kimeto's Motion by ensuring that Government officials get up from the Front-benches and start working. I support."
}