HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 385522,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/385522/?format=api",
"text_counter": 129,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "person in power, then it was too bad for you. That is history and we cannot dwell on history. We must forget history and move forward. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the policy that I have just talked about is responsible for the skewed development of the roads network in Kenya. I have some statistics here to prove my point. The least ten counties in this country with paved roads are as follows: Mandera County, which has zero paved roads; Lamu County, zero; Marsabit, zero, Wajir, zero; Garissa, zero; Isiolo, 0.3 per cent; Tharaka Nithi, the home of the Senate Majority Leader, 0.4 per cent; Samburu, 0.8 per cent; Migori, 0.8 per cent; Migori, 0.8 per cent; Nyamira, 1 per cent. I can go on and on and you will clearly see that the road network in this country has been skewed. We have counties like Nairobi, our Capital City, with 10.3 per cent of all the paved roads in Kenya. Kiambu has 7.1 per cent; Nyeri, 4.4 per cent; Baringo, 3.7 per cent; Turkana 3.7 per cent, et cetera. In a nutshell, ten counties of this nation occupy nearly 50 per cent of the tarmac roads in this country. The remaining counties share the remaining 50 per cent. The point that I am emphasizing is that history has not been very kind to a number of counties in this Republic. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, happily, the new Constitution gives us hope that we can correct these imbalances. Chapter 11 of the Constitution, which created the devolved Government, Article 174 (f) gives one of the objects of setting up county or devolved government as to promote social and economic development and the provision of proximate, easily accessible services throughout Kenya. Article 174 (g) indicates that the purpose of devolved government is to ensure equitable sharing of national and local resources throughout Kenya. That is the Constitution. Therefore, if we have to go by that Constitution, we must ensure that there is equitable sharing of national and local resources throughout this country. One way of sharing is ensuring that infrastructure that has been skewed is corrected. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many benefits that this country will get out of the development of infrastructure across the country. It will connect all counties of the Republic. There will be immense economic and social benefits if we did this. First, we will create the inter-county trade. We emphasize so much about international and East African Community trade, but do not know that we are missing a lot of trade within this country itself. I will give an example. There are some counties which produce a lot of food, for example, vegetables in Nyandarua County, and yet, there are areas in this Republic where people do not have the benefit of eating vegetables. In Nyandarua, for example, they will even feed cattle on cabbages because they have no market. But if the road network is good, I see a day when traders in Nyandarua will be sending their cabbages and carrots to North Eastern Province if the roads are made. We have camel milk in North Eastern which is very nutritious, going to waste because they cannot transport it. In Meru, for example, there is miraa, but it is a nightmare for it to reach places like Mandera because there are no roads there. So, I am emphasizing the inter- counties trade through improved infrastructure. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, most developed countries thrive on domestic tourism, where nationals of that country travel inter-state or inter-county to visit and know the country and also give money to those areas. Many of our Kenyans do not know this country, simply because means of access to those areas are difficult. If we opened roads 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."
}