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{
    "id": 449021,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/449021/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 335,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "“black spot” which everybody knows, is between Nakuru and Kericho, it is known as Salgaa. Everybody knows it, but we do not take any action. People are coming up with very interesting results of how it should be sorted out. The road network between Nakuru and Sagaa is still of the same width that we inherited in 1963. So, when we are talking about the NTSA, one quick interpretation – which is a layman’s interpretation on how we can deal with some of these issues – is to expand the size of the road. We have large lorries which frequently use our roads. We try to curtail them, but there are still people who are doing business using these lorries. The best thing to do is to mark our long highways from Mombasa to Nairobi. How much will it cost us and what loss will we incur if we decided to do the Nairobi Mombasa Road? Even if it takes 10 years by doing 100 kilometers per year, doing two lanes coming direct and two lanes going. We normally visit the developed world and we just enjoy using their roads. There are few cases of accidents. I have personally driven from Nairobi to Kitale with a video camera. You can see the strain and stress that the drivers go through on the steering wheel while trying to overtake lorries on a very narrow road. Sometimes I say that our roads are like a pipe. Even if you are a very brilliant driver, you will get tired, whether you like it or not. Madam Temporary Speaker, we need to mark our roads and say “expand the highways that haul goods and the people of Kenya properly all the way from Mombasa to Busia.” Then, similarly expand the road going to Ethiopia and Sudan. Like now, when we are talking about this NTSA working closely with all the counties, where does the food of South Sudan come from today? Most of it is manufactured here in Industrial Area and in Thika. They run very fast from Thika to the city here, because the road has been expanded. But from here to Sudan, you have to sing the Amazing Grace when you are going after Kapenguria all the way to South Sudan. When you come back, you have to go repair or sell that lorry. So, you can see the challenges that we have. We need to have all the two governments working together on this issue, with the national Government mapping and see how they can have good roads. When you have a national highway, it must pass through a county. Those counties must work in collaboration with the national Government. Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to revisit what Sen. Murkomen talked; about what Governor Mutua did in Machakos County. We read this in the newspapers. The county government has constructed 33 kilometers of road. They allocated a contractor three kilometers each to construct. So, 11 contractors competed to complete their part. The contractors quote - and if you bring the quotation that we normally have, because I was in the Ministry of Public Works, the quotation for the 33 kilometers was supposed to cost Kshs1.8 billion. But for Mutua and company, when people chose to work together, they spent Kshs600 million. That is to say that for one kilometer, they spent Kshs20 million; whereas previously in the Ministry, one kilometer would cost Kshs60million yet it is the same Kenyans calculating. When we calculate using the arithmetic of 1932, we have a standard document that has been written that is still being used by those people as though money is coming from a foreign nation. That way, we will not go anywhere. To make it very beautiful – 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."
}