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"id": 384065,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/384065/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, thank you for according me the privilege to second Sen. Musila’s Motion. I will start where Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale ended. To rest his anxiety, the Motion does not obligate every county to put a budget line towards this venture. It only urges them to do so. Secondly, it does not even say that we should take a certain percentage of the budget to put to the telephony. Thirdly, county governments can actually make a contribution by just providing sites for erecting masts that will make it easier for the telephone companies to put up facilities to assist wananchi. I think the importance of this Motion need not to be overstated. It is very critical. If you look at the history of mobile telephony in this country, in 1991 when yours truly bought his first mobile phone, it cost me Kshs450,000 and it had only a range of Nairobi, Limuru, Nairobi, Nairobi to the airport, Nairobi to Kikuyu and Nairobi to Githurai. Right now, the country has made major strides in mobile telephony. One point that Sen. Musila did not mention is the critical role I have learnt of late, in the use of mobile telephony is the war against crime. I noted recently when there was a security challenge in my own county, it is the availability of mobile phone that helped the population to track down criminals. When they attack one village and they run in a particular direction, people call each other and inform them of the direction they are going. So, the people were able to stop the menace. That is a very positive indicator. More importantly, communication is key to many things. Recently, I went to talk to women traders in my constituency and one lady told me how her mobile phone helped her. She said that in the morning people come to buy beans. So, she uses her phone to ask the price of a bag of beans in Nakuru, Eldoret and Nairobi. It costs her about Kshs3 and on the basis of that phone call she is able to gauge the price of her commodity on a day to day basis. Even stock traders are doing the same thing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, look at the money transfers, banks can no longer laugh all the way to their profits because of M-Pesa. M-Pesa is transacting more money on a daily basis than small banks. It is an innovation that even the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged Kenya and gave Safaricom an award. Today, the complaining Senator of Kakamega sitting where he is can send Kshs200 to his bull-fighting agents in Ikolomani and they can have money to do whatever they want. Those are the benefits of mobile telephones. Remember those old days of “over over”. When I used to be a young lawyer practicing law up to Mandera, Marsabit, Modogashe, Habaswein and other areas, when you arrive in Mandera and you want to speak to your office in Nairobi, they book for a call at 8.00 a.m. and by 3.00 p.m. it has not gone through, you will still be waiting and maybe it was a quick communication. I am sure I am preaching to the converted because the same has happened to your area and many other areas. “Over over” Over Over” but it never goes through. Today, you just pick your phone and you are able to communicate. As a Senate, which is the defender of the interest of the counties, we should be in the forefront of championing the interests of people in our counties to access these goodies of modernity to make it easy for Senators not to necessarily go to the counties to be able to communicate with their constituents. All you need is have an open line and your The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}