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"id": 461965,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/461965/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 24,
"legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
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"content": "Therefore, this must serve as the beginning. We should look at the entire spectrum of how public officials live. We have seen many cases. We would go for meetings in Mombasa with Cabinet Ministers, in those days. You would find two cars that would have travelled all the way from Nairobi, waiting at the airport for the Minister. Is it not cheaper for them to hire local transport? Are there no Government vehicles in Mombasa, which could carry those people to destinations? Why take a driver, two bodyguards, a car or two cars, from Nairobi yet we were talking about posterity? Hon. Speaker, it behooves all of us to look into these areas. I believe strongly that this country can do without donor support. If we can find ways of plugging the outlets for all this wastage, we can do without donor support. All the programmes that we have found difficult to implement in this country can be sorted out if only we could manage the way we go about our expenditure. My colleagues have spoken about the problems that we have in our country. In some parts of this country, children do not even have roofs over their heads. I watched a documentary the other day. Women in a certain part of this country had to travel 40 kilometres to access medical services. How much does it cost to build a dispensary? It hardly costs Kshs2 million yet we keep on ploughing out this money to satisfy, in a way, people’s egos. In most cases, these are people who hold those offices for only a limited period of time. Hon. Speaker, therefore, I want to urge my colleagues that we look at this Motion as a start. There is a lot of pride in living within one’s means. I have lived within my means since I was born and I proudly said so. I know that there is a lot of pride. It may not be luxurious but you do not have many encumbrances. As my colleague said, sometimes we go on begging missions in First Class whereas the people from whom we beg come to those meetings in Economy Class. It is paradoxical and ironical. It is a culture that, as a country, we have to completely do away with, if we want to advance and become amongst the proud nations of this world. There is no pride in always holding out the begging bowl. We do all these wastages year in, year out. When we have a little famine here and there, we hold out our begging bowls, looking for food yet we use so much money to pamper the egos of individuals – money that can be put to better use. Hon. Speaker, recognising the fact that the list of the hon. Members who want to speak on this Motion is long, I will urge my colleagues to support this Motion and also urge that, as a House, we steer ourselves towards this direction. Today I was very bemused when I saw somebody try to make a justification – I do not want to say where. Somebody had said that some Commissioners in some Commissions earn sitting allowances of Kshs80, 000 per day. In trying to make it look manageable, some clever fellow removed the tax and said: “No, no, no! It is not Kshs80, 000. It is only Kshs56, 000.” Hon. Speaker, these kinds of tricks are not helpful to our country. Let us be realistic with the situations that confront our country. Let us be realistic about the way we approach situations in order to manage within our means. I believe that the resources in this country are enough for all our needs, but not enough for all our greed. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}