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{
    "id": 386463,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/386463/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
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    "content": "problem or even to facilitate it. What might follow is withholding of resources to counties so that the so-called governors fail in their mandate. When they fail and we facilitate the County Commissioners, by extension, we will be telling wananchi that if they have any problems or issues, they should go see the County Commissioner and overlook the Governor. That is another intelligent way of killing devolution. I will now comment on the lack of any direct reference to urban populations. In my opinion, urban areas in Kenya have cushioned this country. About 70 per cent of our population lives in urban areas. Therefore, if about 67 per cent of our people live in urban areas, then our policy statements should be urban specific. If you do not impact urban areas, then you will not be impacting 67 per cent of the population. Take an example of the issue of housing. If you talk about building who are we directing attention to? Are we talking to the very poor urban dwellers who are so poor that even if you constructed houses that cost just about Kshs150,000, they would still not make it? What is the policy statement that will cushion this country, help us to upgrade slum areas and come up with housing units that do not just take care of middle class, but everybody? Lastly is the fact that the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development has been taken back to the parent Ministry, where it came from and will now be a department. When that Ministry was created, we were told that as far back as 1973, that idea was already mooted. This Ministry came on the platform of facilitating other Ministries that have their areas of operation within the area now called the Nairobi Metropolitan Region. With a region that takes almost 5 million directly, but by extension, impacts about 70 per cent of Kenyans and produces about 60 per cent of the GDP of this country. If you want to grow economically, how can you kill the cow that produces the milk? Nairobi is sustaining the nation. Therefore, the Ministry that was created to ensure that Nairobi grows from a city to a metropolis, provides better services and, by extension and implication, helps Kenya to produce more in terms of GDP--- How can we relegate that kind of a Ministry? If we had one or three Ministries that had to be line Ministries, then, in my opinion, the Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development should have been one of them. Taking it back where it came from will kill the GDP production of this nation instead of us up scaling it. I believe that this should not have been the way to do it. I also want to comment on the lack of incentives to investors in this Speech. If we will not make policy statements that will attract investors in a global market that makes us compete with places like Dubai, South Africa, New York and every else, then where are we heading? We must attract investors, both local and international, by reducing the cost of energy in our country and the cost of land. You do not expect an investor who has the option of either coming to Kenya to build an industry, or go to Uganda, South Africa, Hawaii or anywhere else, than to come here and purchase land that you will use to put up the investment for Kshs700 million. He only goes across the border and is given land for free. If I was that investor, why would I invest in Kenya where you start by buying land for Kshs1.5 billion when you are given land for free in Tanzania and in Uganda? That is 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."
}