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"id": 255322,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. L. Maitha",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I wish to comment on the Presidential Speech. I am one of those who never had the 218 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2006 privilege to be physically present on that day as I was out of this country on Parliamentary business. First of all, the Speech looks very good. However, all along, speeches of this kind have been good, but the difference is on the implementation on the ground. In his Speech, His Excellency the President has given us hope on the performance of the economy. The economy has grown from 2.8 per cent in 2003 to 4.3 in 2004 and to 5 per cent in 2005. That is very good. Again, in his Speech, he has stated that the manufacturing and the export sectors have expanded and everything is on an uphill trend. But what is the situation on the ground? This Speech as good as it is, is too elitist. It is for the consumption of the rich. The people who already have money are the ones who are going to understand this Speech. People in the villages and in shanty towns will only understand the growth of the economy when the price of a packet of unga will go down from Kshs50 to Kshs20. They will only understand that the economy has grown when the price of petrol will go down from Kshs70 to Kshs40 per litre. People understand issues in terms of the cost of living. So, what is happening? Our economy is growing and the cost of living is also growing. Where are the profits accruing out of the growing economy going? This means that there is something wrong. It means that the effect of the growth is consumed by a few individuals. This is an indication that there is something wrong with the way our Government makes decisions. It is a decision that affects a few people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when this Government came into power, there were a lot of chaos and it was supposed to address specific systemic deficiencies, for example, land problems. Land distribution had been taken to the highest level of corruption during the previous regime. How much has this Government done? Today, we are talking about food insecurity and hunger. Among other issues, the land problem is one of the causes of hunger. How much has this Government done to address land issues? It tried during the referendum to dish out a few title deeds, but this was about politics. Where is the Minister for Lands now? I do not think we have one. We have an acting Minister for Lands. When hon. Kimeto was speaking, he gave an example of Egypt. I was in Egypt two weeks ago and I was surprised to see people who have never seen rain. I talked to a 50 year old man who told me that he can even come to Kenya as a tourist to see rain. He has never seen rain. In Cairo, it has never rained for the last 50 years. Yesterday, I was in the market buying oranges and I was ashamed to learn that I was buying Egyptian oranges at Kshs50 per orange. I was ashamed to buy Tanzanian oranges at Kshs15 per orange. Why do we import foodstuffs from a country that has never seen rain for the last 50 years? We have famine in Kenya. This is a natural calamity, maybe, due to factors that are beyond our control as a Government, but what are we doing to stop famine in the future? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President in his Speech has said that so far the Government has spent well over Kshs5 billion out of its money, donor money and other contributions. He also said that up to June, 2006, we need about Kshs6.3 billion to fight the hunger. Why do we need to spend so much money on relief food yet we have two major rivers; Athi and Tana Rivers passing there? What are we doing in these two valleys to stop future hunger like what the Egyptians have done with The Nile? Egypt has a population of Kshs74 million and they have never seen hunger for the last ten years. They are even exporting wheat and milk to Kenya with only one river. We have so many rivers. Why can this Government not make the right decisions? In their next Ministry allocations, they should allocate enough money to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation so that we sink dams and establish viable and major irrigation schemes to fight hunger. I do not want to pre-empt the next Budget allocations but I am sure that we might see again, the most needy areas getting the least allocations. That has been the trend in this country and that is how we want to develop. We have achieved a lot of progress as far as education is concerned. We appreciate the free March 29, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 219 primary education. It has assisted parents and today, every Kenyan, who is of primary school age, can access education. That is a credit to the Government. However, it should sit down and assess the effects of that free primary education. What is the quality of education we expect if one teacher is supposed to teach a classroom of 200 pupils simply because primary education is free? The Government should, therefore, have some counter planning. We expect this Government to come up with a proper policy of employing teachers. This Government has never employed teachers for the last three or four years. We are only replacing those who have left the service through natural attrition. We have never employed new teachers. Today, the quality of primary education is very poor simply because teachers, first of all, cannot handle the work load. Secondly, they are frustrated because of the pay. Here is a frustrated man because you are paying him peanuts and you are telling him to teach 200 pupils in one class. Nobody can handle that! Unless this issue is addressed, we are not going to reap the benefits of the free primary education. It will remain a political tool to tell Kenyans that we offered free primary education and it will never be translated into actual gains in the population. We urge the Government to do something about this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something else that is related to this issue and it is the health sector. I am a member of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) Committee of this House. I have, therefore, had the privilege of moving around the country inspecting various constituencies. I would like to congratulate hon. Members because we have seen a lot of progress. As much as there is a lot of politics that the CDF is not doing anything, we have seen that this country is being transformed. There is a lot of infrastructural development, education and health. However, another problem is coming up; manpower. In two years, we have built so many dispensaries and they are not manned. District hospitals have drugs but there is no personnel. In next year's Budget, we expect the Government to address this issue. Otherwise, we are wasting public money and it will not be translated into actual gains to our people. We need more medical personnel to man those institutions in order to give Kenyans value for their money."
}