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{
"id": 251668,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/251668/?format=api",
"text_counter": 216,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Transport",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
"slug": "robinson-githae"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we now have a draft policy. In addition, we are now preparing a Cabinet memorandum. After it is approved by the Cabinet, we will prepare a Sessional Paper. But, I was just mentioning some of the recommendations that are contained in this draft policy. As I said, for the last 40 years, we have never had any national transport policy. It was only in 2003 when the Minister appointed a committee that has come up with an integrated national transport policy. I have been mentioning some of the recommendations of that committee. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the last category is special purposes roads for security. We are saying, there will be special purpose roads which will deal with security. For instance, 694 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 26, 2006 roads in the northern corridor leading to Wajir, Garissa, Moyale and those leading to Lodwar and Lokichoggio, towards Uganda, will be special purpose roads to enhance security. One of the reasons why we have insecurity in those areas is bad roads. As the Government does its part in improving roads in those areas, I would urge leaders from those areas to also preach peace. It is a shame that more than 40 years after Independence, we still have cattle rustling in this country. That is something which should have ended a long time ago. It is also a shame that more than 40 years after Independence, after every drought period, we have cattle raids whose purpose is basically re-stocking. So, as the Government does its part, the leaders should also preach peace to their people. They should show them that insecurity also has adverse effects on the economic development of the region. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our railway system was the best in this region. However, as we speak, it is in a very bad state, to the extent that whereas rail should be the cheapest means of transporting commodities in bulk, our roads are clogged by trucks transporting containers all the way from Mombasa, because of failure by the Kenya Railways Corporation to ferry the containers to their destinations. As a Government, we have given a concessionaire to a company from South Africa to run the railway network because, every year, the Kenya Railways Corporation has to go to the Ministry with a begging bowl asking for Kshs300 million to pay salaries. We expect that once the company that won the concessionaire rehabilitates the railway system, the situation will improve. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, again, it is a shame that the only railway lines we have are the ones that were built by the colonialists. Not a single railway line has been built since Independence. We should build railway lines to all the major towns. Again, it is a shame that after more than 40 years of Independence, we only moved from steam train engines to diesel and stopped there. Diesel locomotives pollute the environment. Again, one of the recommendations is that we should now move from diesel locomotives to electric ones. Electric locomotives are faster and they do not pollute the environment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue that was touched by the hon. Members is the issue of traffic jams. It is true that traffic jams, particularly in Nairobi, have now reached unacceptable proportion. For example, you cannot move on Moi Avenue, particularly during the rush hours because of the buses and matatus that clog that road. The Mombasa-Nairobi-Nakuru- Kampala Road is also clogged by lorries. With regard to the City of Nairobi, the recommendations of the Committee is that we should have by-passes, ring-roads, bridges, underground passes, and sky and underground trays. However, these are long-term solutions and they are going to take time. In the meantime, it has been suggested that we should build bus stations at the entrances of Nairobi City, for example, from Nakuru, at Kangemi; from Mombasa, at Mlolongo; from Thika, at Githurai and along Langata Road, at Bomas. Then people should park their vehicles there and enter into the City using City commuter buses and trains. This will take time. There was also a suggestion that only large buses, starting with mini buses, should be allowed to ferry passengers in the City in an effort to de-congest the City. The 14-seater Nissans should be used to feed the major roads. If these recommendations were to be implemented, we would require even more 14-seater Nissans which would then be feeding the major roads. It is not the Government's intention to abolish the 14-seater Nissans as it has been claimed. In fact, more will be needed if these recommendations go through. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the bus stations, there will be hotels, kiosks and shops and therefore, the youths who lost employment when the new transport regulations were promulgated, including the talibans and mungikis and all the other people who were employed in the matatu industry, will then find employment in the bus stops. They will be involved in productive engagement instead of the current policy of forcefully removing them from the bus April 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 695 stops. The Committee also recommended that the Government should start completing the abandoned roads. There are quite a number of roads that were started, but were abandoned. The basis of the recommendation is that there is no point of starting a new road when even the ones that were started and abandoned have not been completed. This is one of the recommendations that will be given priority. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is a shame that we do not have ferry services on our lakes. There used to be ferry services offered by the East African Railways and Harbour Services on Lake Victoria. But it is no longer there. We should have ferry services on Lake Victoria, Lake Turkana and the other inland water bodies. There should also be a ferry service at the Coast between Mtwapa, Malindi and Lamu. At the moment, we do not have scheduled ferry services between those areas. Once again, that is one of the recommendations that has been made here. The other recommendation which has been made is that, there is no point of constructing a road and yet we do not earmark some money for its maintenance. That has been one of the problems. Most of these roads were done earlier during the colonial times but no money was set aside for their maintenance. We are rebuilding totally new roads. If some money had been set aside for maintenance, these problems would not have occurred. So, what we are now saying is that, for every road built, some money must be set aside for maintenance. Otherwise, we will continue building roads and after 15 years, we have to rebuild them again. That will be quite expensive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the recommendations is that the Government should find out which is cheaper and long lasting between roads built by concrete or bitumen. An experiment is being done on the road between Langata Road and Kenyatta National Hospital. That will enable the Government to know which is the best for road transport. So, we need to start maritime transport on our inland water bodies. At the moment, they are not being used effectively. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming to air transport, this country has 570 airstrips and aerodromes, but most of them are in very bad conditions. These facilities should be fully maintained by the Government so that we can have inter-town air transport services. In other countries, for example, in Congo, all towns are connected by air. So, we want to have scheduled air transport from Nairobi to Thika, Kericho, Nakuru and Narok, among other towns. We can only achieve this if we maintain our airstrips. You will find that most of the people who have private aeroplanes and helicopters just park them at Wilson Airport. If these towns had proper airstrips, most people who own these aircrafts, including some hon. Members here, will be able to use them. At the moment, it is a waste of funds owning a private jet in this country. The other recommendation, which is on pipeline transport, is that the pipeline should be extended from Kisumu all the way to Kampala and even towards Rwanda and Congo. Once again, that will also decongest our roads and improve our safety record on the road. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}