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"id": 251654,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Poghisio",
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"legal_name": "Samuel Losuron Poghisio",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very worthy Motion by my friend, hon. Kimeto. Just a look at this Motion will tell you that we need to do better when it comes to debating Private Members Motions. This Motion presupposes that the NARC Government has no such policy in place and it has not even attempted to think about it. So, this Motion presupposes that there was no thinking on the part of Government with regard to such a policy on transportation to be in place. If, really, there was no thought about it by the Government, then we can debate this Motion very effectively. However, if this Government has had a policy in mind, there would be no point for us to wait for Mr. Kimeto to bring this Motion to the Floor of the House and ask: \"That this House urges the Government to develop and implement a comprehensive transport policy to provide a framework for infrastructural development throughout the country.\" I suppose that this framework should form part of the very basic structures of any Government. In fact, such a policy should be in the manifesto of the ruling Party so that we are not made to go through this. I think that this ought to have been a situation where the Government picks up from the Notices of Motion and say: \"Mr. Kimeto we have plans in place to do these things. We are going to do something about it.\" So far, nothing has happened which means that the presupposition that the Government had never thought of such a policy is true. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we, therefore, need to inform the Government on what to do. At the very outset, the unequitable distribution of infrastructure, especially of communication nature is very glaring in this country. We have discriminatory policies in place with regard to where roads should be constructed, what ought to be done as a matter of priority and so on. What this Motion is trying to do is to bring us back to the basics that it does not matter what Government is in place in this country if only we can have policies and let them be implemented to the letter. We will not have to be requesting every time, through Motions, that such things be done. I say so because I know that at Independence there was such a policy. In the last Government, there was such a policy also. It is probable that such a policy exists in this Government too. However, nobody wants to come out and say that this is what we want to do for this country simply because no one wants to be held accountable. The fear of accountability always causes the Government to keep these things on the shelves. The fear is that if you bring such policies on the fore, I will hold you accountable. I will ask you: \"You said that you will construct a ring-road around this country. Where is it?\" or \"The road and water transport systems that are important for us are these ones or those ones. What are you doing about them?\" So, on the basis of all these things, sometimes we discuss things which are not supposed to be really material for Motions to be debated in this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, today, in this country there are concrete roads being constructed, for example, the Mbagathi Way. However, if our own engineers have not been able to standardise 688 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2006 the tarmac roads so that you know for sure that this and that road will last for a year or so, it is more risky to allow for the use of cement in constructing roads. Why is that so? Recently, we saw a storey building collapse simple because people were using sub-standard materials and were not adhering to the actual engineering measurements. I am afraid that if we do that on our roads where people steal the cement and use very little on it, we are going to run into even worse situations. Whenever there are policies, we need to give out contracts on the basis of people who can stick to the stipulated standards. Should we use cement to construct our roads? My colleague who spoke before me talked about roads which were done using a lot of money and which now are dilapidated because of not adhering to the set standards. Potholes are developing all the time on all our roads. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to raise an issue about security on our roads. There should be a policy that in areas where we would like to improve security, we should have a certain standard of roads. Those roads should be funded for a particular purpose mainly for access to these insecure areas. When I look at the Government policy on disarmament or dealing with cattle rustling in certain areas in the country, it is true that they want to implement these policies, but they cannot get there because there are no roads. There should be roads so that when you want to run after cattle rustlers or other criminals it is made easier. This should be a matter of policy. The areas that the Government is complaining about are the areas that have been neglected by the same Government. The Government says that these areas are impossible to access and the people are difficult and yet it has denied the people communication in all forms. In most of these areas you cannot find a radio reception. There are no TV signals too. What is more, there are no roads, but then you come here and say that the people living in these areas are very bad people. I take exception especially with remarks made by the Minister of State for Administration and National Security. He keeps on saying that the Government will disarm the Pokot. I believe that there is something about the Minister and the Pokots. He is so infatuated with the Pokot because every time he wakes up he thinks of the Pokot. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is very discouraging that the Minister seems to hate the Pokot so much that every time he wakes up he says that he wants to disarm them. He needs to come up with development programmes which will stir development in this area. He needs to develop the infrastructure in Pokot area. We should not every time talk about the Pokot as the enemies. The Pokot are not enemies of this country. I would like the Minister to take that seriously. Amongst the Pokot, there are bishops, doctors, nurses, teachers and even Members of Parliament. They are not all cattle rustlers. The Minister should talk about criminals from all parts of the country, rather than emphasizing on one community or tribe. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the road network in West Pokot, when was the last time that the Government invested any money in that part of the world to build the roads? When the Government thinks about interconnecting East Africa, one of the best ways of doing it is constructing the road network through Kacheliba Constituency. You can inter-connect East Africa by building a road from Kapenguria, Moroto, Mbale and Lodwar very easily. The road used to be there but it is no-longer passable. If the policy which is aligned to fair distribution of resources was put in place, we would have those roads. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Wetangula spoke about air transportation. If we had a policy in place we would be able to know that the airstrip in Kitale should be maintained by the Kenya Airports Authority. The airstrip at Turkwel should be upgraded and maintained with instruments so that in case of an emergency we have these places to take care of such situations. There are many times when people have nowhere to land in cases of emergency because there were no instruments. The airstrip in Lodwar is one of the best. It is a very big airstrip that should also be developed to KAA standards so that the northern part of the country has the relevant airports to April 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 689 facilitate development. Transportation of cattle from northern Kenya to Nairobi has become a problem. In those days, there were routes which were meant specifically for bringing livestock from the fringes so that it is supplied in the town centres. Some of these routes should be permanently marked so that people can bring their cattle. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me move on to the issue of road repairs. The Mai Mahiu-Lanet road is being repaired at the moment. You cannot know what is happening. With those few words, I beg to support."
}