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{
    "id": 354367,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/354367/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 228,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "The Member for Kitui Central (",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Mulu): Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to start by thanking the people of Kitui Central for giving me the chance to be in this honourable House. I also want to congratulate the Speaker and all the hon. Members who were elected. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the Presidential Address had some quite interesting statements, and I just want to mention a few. One is restructuring the entire economy to achieve a double- digit growth. Another is building on job creation. To me, these are very attractive statements but the question I asked myself as the President addressed us was whether these statements were new to us, as hon. Members. I am sure that the answer is “no”. It has been said that the devil is in the detail. Since these are policies and programmes that have been proposed by the President, the challenge that the Government will have is implementation. The whole question, in terms of implementation, is very important. I would urge the President and his team to give us a very detailed programme in terms of strategies on how to achieve some of these proposals. For example, let us look at the issue of insecurity. If you look at the whole statement that talks about increasing police numbers to achieve the ratio of one policeman to 450 citizens, which is the United Nations recommended ratio, you will appreciate that the statement has been there all through. The challenge that we have as a country is the fact that our people all over the country, more so in Kitui Central, where I come from, are harassed by thugs every day and nothing seems to be done about the problem. So, we need to be serious in terms of what we say and implementation. Talking of infrastructure, hon. Members should have heard of the Kitui-Kibwezi Road. This is actually a Class “B” road. It is the only class “B” road in Kenya which has not been tarmacked. The song about tarmacking this road has been sung for about 40 years. We keep on wondering what it is that we are not doing to ensure that this road is tarmacked. We have seen class “C” and class “D” roads in some areas being tarmacked but this road has not been tarmacked to date. So, we need to be serious in terms of implementing what we say. Hon. Deputy Speaker, another issue to which the President has committed himself to is devolution. Last weekend I went to my rural home. The Treasury said that it had released money but no money had been received on the ground. People on the ground have no money with which to work. Look at the minerals which we have in Kitui County, namely coal and cement; we have court cases and we cannot move forward. Unless we exploit these minerals, our people will not benefit in terms of jobs and income."
}