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"id": 255839,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/255839/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Sambu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 137,
"legal_name": "Alfred B. Wekesa Sambu",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. The President, in his Address to this House, said that our economy has been growing at 5 per cent. However, that 5 per cent growth rate is invisible, particularly in the rural areas and the low income areas of urban centres. The growth rate referred to is not trickling down to the ordinary Kenyan. If it were trickling down, we would 23 March, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 73 not be seeing children dying of hunger in many areas of this country. In the urban areas, if you go to the slums, you will be ashamed to say that you are in Kenya. We should not boast that we have registered a 5 per cent economic growth rate. That is just a theory given to the President to read here. There is no truth in that economic growth rate whatsoever. The truth is that the population of this country is growing faster than the economy, and that only a few people are controlling the economy. If we want to increase the growth rate of this country's economy, we should let the power of the economy trickle down to the rural areas. Let us increase the budgetary allocation to the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and the Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF) as well as the allocation for HIV/AIDS control activities. We want free health services for our people. When Mrs. Ngilu brought forward the idea of free health services for our people, the Government, for some reasons, refused to implement it. If you go to some district hospitals in this country, you will find people who have been treated successfully, but they cannot be discharged simply because they cannot afford to pay a few thousands of shillings towards their medical bills. I would like to support the fact that a hospital like the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, which covers many areas, should be allocated more funds. The hospital got only Kshs400 million in the last Budget, whereas it caters for nearly 15 districts. True economic growth has to be seen to be affecting the lives of our people positively. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the price of fuel in this country increases by the day. That increase translates to more expensive transport. An increase in the prices of diesel and petrol affects the public directly. Transport costs for passengers have gone up. The cost of ploughing farms has increased because the price of diesel has increased. If we do not watch out, a time will come when we will not be able to produce food or travel because of the escalating fuel costs. I am happy that the Minister of State Office of the President in charge of Youth Affairs has come back. This Ministry has been created out of a department. So, I believe that it will get its own funding although it was not in the Budget. We should, however, realise that, that contravenes Section 16 of the Constitution. Nonetheless, things in this country have always been contravened. Let us assume that the Ministry will get its funding from whatever department it has been curved out of. I would like to appeal to the Minister to fund the youth programmes, starting with the so- called village polytechnics. The Ministry should employ instructors for them. In Kenya, we only want people to get degrees. A nation cannot grow with degrees only. We need artisans such as masons, carpenters and tailors. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in North Nandi District alone, we have about ten youth polytechnics but some of them are empty because the youth cannot afford the fees being charged. Some of the committees of those institutions have to charge high fees so that they can be able to pay the instructors. I would, therefore, urge the Government to assist the youth now that we have a full Ministry dedicated to them. The Ministry should start by funding the youth polytechnics to train our artisans and thereby improve the economy of young people. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I talk about efforts being made towards realising a new constitution, I will talk about agriculture. I support the President on what he said about agriculture. We have always said that we have to do something about irrigation. This time round, let us act. When it rains, the lower parts of Western Province suffer from floods, because we do not control the flow of water in our rivers. Let us have dams, so that we control the floods and use the excess water from the dams for irrigation to produce more rice and cotton. We do not have to import these commodities which we used to produce at the collapsed Bura Irrigation Scheme and others, which have been allowed to go to waste. With regard to free primary education, if you go to a primary school in the rural areas and 74 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 23 March, 2006 in the lower income areas of Nairobi, you will find one teacher attending to a class of 80 pupils. These are lower class primary pupils. Will they really even know how to learn? There is no personal attention given to the pupils. It is not the books or the RMI money that we purport to supply to schools which will bring up the education standards of our children. Pupils in lower primary need personal attention from their teachers. Let us employ more teachers. Doing so will also help the Government to contribute towards the mystical 500,000 jobs it said it would create every year. Let the Government employ more teachers, so that it can improve the quality of primary education in this country. Currently, the pupils who make it to good secondary schools after primary education are from the so-called \"academies\", where fees are astronomical. In an academy, a class can have only ten or 20 pupils. Those are the ones who make it to good secondary schools. They are usually children from families which can afford the fees. The teacher to pupil ratio in public schools is one to 80. So, I would urge the Government to employ more teachers. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I will speak about the efforts being made towards writing a new constitution for this country. We have to face the reality. The reality is that when the Yash Pal Ghai Commission was formed, it went round the country, collected and collated the views of Kenyans, which it presented to the National Constitutional Conference at the Bomas of Kenya. What was presented at the Bomas of Kenya is what Kenyans wanted included in a new constitution. So, we already know what Kenyans want. From the results of the National Referendum on the Draft Constitution that was presented to Kenyans last year, we know what Kenyans do not want. If we do not want to waste any more resources on the constitution review process, let the two sides of this House agree on a team of Kenyans, comprising of non-politicians, let it work on the Bomas and Kilifi Drafts and produce a new constitution for this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should let His Excellency the President, Mwai Kibaki, rule up to 31st December, 2007 on the current Constitution and have the next Government rule under a new constitution. We should not go back to the people. The people have spoken. They gave their views to the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. The people further spoke at the Bomas National Constitutional Conference as well as during the National Referendum on the Draft Constitution that was finally presented to them. So, we know what they want and what they do not want. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us, therefore, start writing a new constitution. I have no problem with what those eminent Kenyans are doing now. They are showing us where we went wrong. However, Kenyans themselves; 153 constituencies, said what they did not want. I want to urge this Government to listen to the voice of the people. These hon. Members are the voice of the people. The voice of the people is the voice of God! If we do not listen to the voice of God through the voice of the people; their elected representatives, then even if we come up with a new constitution, it is cursed because what is not blessed here cannot be blessed in Heaven. What is blessed here is blessed in Heaven! If we want the Almighty God to bless us, we need to listen to the voice of the people."
}