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{
    "id": 251661,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/251661/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Omingo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 180,
        "legal_name": "James Omingo Magara",
        "slug": "omingo-magara"
    },
    "content": "cannot access the road. What happens is that the multi-nationals, or the big sharks, who can afford to plough with their trucks in Kisii, for example, will give that woman the price of their choice. They will tell her: \"Mama, if you cannot take Kshs10 for your tomatoes, you can keep them!\" Since she knows that she does not have any storage capacity, the old woman will compromise her position and give away her produce for almost nothing. We have Asians who camp in Lake Victoria. But since the local fishermen do not have any storage facilities, the Indians dictate the price. They give the fishermen far below the value of their fish. Those are some of the things that we need to address. We need to have cheap transport, so that we can retain the benefits to the farmers. The benefit should not go to people who dictate the prices. They dictate the prices because they are the only buyers and, if you do not sell to them, you cannot get school fees. Therefore, the poor woman is forced to sell her produce at the dictator's price. The rush to beat time to get to duty in good time has been a cause of accidents. If we planned our roads and there is an efficient flow of traffic, then we can avoid accidents. We have had Ministers coming to the Floor of the House and saying they were inconvenienced by traffic jams in the city. That is time wasted and we must address that problem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this goes back to the classification of roads. The Government gives priority to roads that have been classified. We all know that if you were not politically correct, your road will never be classified. Even if it is classified, the funds were taken elsewhere. We have experiences where a beautiful road has been done but for cattle. So, let us classify our road network to the extent that they add value to our people. Let us not do it conveniently to please those who are politically correct as it used to happen in the past. The roads up to Class C do not access Government funding. I think we need to re-classify our roads. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the end of the day, we must reduce transport costs, if we want to grow. Someone said that Kenyans are behaving as if they have a collusion with suppliers of spare parts. We deliberately ignore repairs on our roads and damage our vehicles in 692 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2006 order to buy spare parts. We are actually enriching them. The money we use to repair our vehicles would have been used for other development projects that would benefit our people. It does not cost much if we had a master plan that told Kenyans: on this basis, this is what we are going to do. Once it is your turn, your road would be done without any political consideration. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}