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{
    "id": 45532,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/45532/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 319,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Affey",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 381,
        "legal_name": "Mohammed Abdi Affey",
        "slug": "mohammed-affey"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to register my strong support for this Bill. I have waited patiently to contribute to this debate, so that the HANSARD can bear me witness that I supported this Bill, because it is timely, important, relevant and critical. As I welcome the passage of this Bill, I would like to ask the Minister to, through amendments, find ways of ensuring that it is compliant to the current Constitution because the current Constitution does not refer to âMinisterâ but rather to âCabinet Secretaryâ. This Bill retains the term âMinisterâ. The Bill also speaks of two different Ministries. The Minister must understand that, since we will be having about 20 Cabinet Secretaries, there is definitely going to be a need to merge the Ministry of Roads with the Ministry of Public Works. Currently, these are two Ministries but, naturally, in January, 2013, we are going to have only one Cabinet Secretary to be in charge of these two Ministries. So, there will be no need of having Permanent Secretaries from two different Ministries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my colleagues have spoken on this matter in detail and I believe that, for the first time, the Minister will try to be more creative and establish the headquarters of this very important Authority outside Nairobi. In my view, the headquarters of this important Authority should be located in one of the places, in this country, which require construction. Why not locate it in Turkana or Mandera or in any such place, so that contractors can see the need to reconstruct this country? If we establish it in Nairobi, the contractors are based in Nairobi. They do not understand much of this country. I thought that the Minister would be a bit more creative and establish the headquarters of this Authority outside Nairobi. There is need for us to, in this Bill, reflect devolution as envisaged in the new Constitution by establishing county offices for this Authority. As it is now, the Bill is not very clear. We have 47 counties. When this Authority is based in Nairobi, what level of presence will it have in our counties, so that its functions can also be carried out at the county level? This Authority will be important because it will regulate registration. It is very clear that the number of contractors we have as a country, both in the road construction and general building construction sub-sectors, are not uniformly distributed in the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to have a sufficient number of local contractors in every county. That is why this Authority is supposed to build capacity for contractors; by identifying and training them, so that resources can be equitably distributed in the country, because, in terms of our national Budget, this Authority is expected to oversee a huge chunk of our resources. If it will only be confined to certain counties, there will be the danger that distribution of public resources might not be as sufficient as is envisaged in the new Constitution. This Authority has the responsibility of regulating foreign contractors. That is very critical for us. There are very many foreign contractors who are bogus, but who find their way into Kenya, but there are quite a number of them who are good. I want to single them out, because people complain about the Chinese. I must confess that the Chinese do a good job. Given the quality of the roads the Chinese have built in Kenya, including the ones they are currently building in Nairobi and Mombasa, I must say that they are doing a good job. What is important for us is not who gets the job, but rather to have a legacy of doing a good job. Some of the foreign contractors have proved that they can give us good roads. So, let us not criminalise them for being foreigners. There are so many foreign contractors who are more patriotic than Kenyan contractors. Therefore, it is important to identify and encourage them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Cabinet Secretary will have a lot of powers over this Board. Today we have hon. Obure, who is a very reasonable and good Minister. We have dealt with him in this House and outside the House. But we can get a rogue Cabinet Secretary to be in charge of this Ministry. I would like to see that we reduce the excessive powers that the Cabinet Secretary is going to enjoy under this Bill. He will have power to dissolve the Board. He will have power to amend the Schedule, without making any reference to Parliament, through a Gazette Notice. He can exploit or intimidate the board and divert their attention. So, even as the Minister crafts this Bill, he should establish a reasonable line or a check point."
}

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