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"id": 48103,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/48103/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang-Nyongo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
"slug": "peter-nyongo"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. Let me commend my colleague, hon. Wavinya Ndeti and Mr. Midiwo, for the very constructive contributions that they have made to this Motion. First, it is true that our people are suffering. It is true that we have a long way to go to ensure that we have an economy that looks after both those who are able and those who are not able. For quite some time, we will need social protection programmes and policies for the vulnerable. It was reported in the East African newspaper recently that 45 per cent of Kenyans are middle class. The rest, 65 per cent, are poor or just working class. Therefore, when we have an economic crisis like we have now; it is the vulnerable that first suffer most. The State must, therefore, have social protection programs to cushion the poor against such crisis. I know that we have Ministries like the Ministry of State for Special Programmes, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the two Ministries of health which have social protection programmes. However, those social protection programmes are under-funded and inadequate. They have not been properly institutionalized to look after the vulnerable. For example, I have, for some time, since the year 2005 when I was the Minister for Planning and National Development, together with my colleague, Mrs. Charity Ngilu, fought very hard to have a national social health insurance fund in this country. It would have ensured that the poor do not use the meager money they have in their pockets to buy health. At such times, the poor should use that money to buy two kilograms of maize to feed their families and ensure that their children go to school. The reason why we have a high school dropout rate in rural areas is because of poverty. Poor children go to school but if that school does not have a school feeding programme, by 11.00 a.m., they cannot learn due to hanger. Therefore, this House should demand from the Government and ourselves that we have proper social protection programmes to cushion the poor against economic crises which are bound to hit this nation from time to time in the future. Having said that, we cannot excuse ourselves, as a Government, for not coming up with measures which will create efficiency and productivity in our economy. Without efficiency and high productivity, we will not look after the welfare of our people, whether they are poor or well to do. Hon. Members in this House have said that we should deal with corruption and inefficiency in the Government. We should deal with cartels and make sure that Government institutions that provide services like energy are properly run. I agree with that. Indeed, this is the spirit of the new Constitution that aims to put in place, processes and institutional initiatives that will make sure that the Government runs efficiently and that corruption is put at bay. We must, therefore, support with all our might, the implementation of this Constitution so that, from now on, the Government will be more efficient and the economy will be more productive. The third point is that, notwithstanding the problems that we have, certain initiatives have been or are being taken to help productivity in this country. Let me mention, for example, the fact that we have a much better public/private partnership law to make sure that both sectors work together in improving the economy. That law should be taken advantage of by the private sector to invest together with the Government to improve the economy. The Government should also go out of its way to invite the private sector to invest in areas in which productivity and better growth of the economy can be realized. Let me give some examples in the agricultural sector. At the moment, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), has initiated a very good programme of having green houses throughout the nation. Members of Parliament should take advantage of that and approach AFC to establish green houses. That is because they will cushion famers from the vagaries of weather. So long as the AFC can partner with hon. Members and their constituents to establish green houses to improve agricultural production, it will be very good in future so that food production can improve. Secondly, in the Ministry of Fisheries Development, there is an initiative to have fish ponds. I know that certain hon. Members have taken good advantage of this. I urge hon. Members to work closely with the Ministry of Fisheries Development so that we can have many fish ponds in all parts of the country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, by its very nature, fish is very good food. It is very nutritious. Among other things, eating fish helps you to defend your body against certain ailments, including cancers. So, I would encourage hon. Members to improve their fish-eating habits. I am quite sure that my colleague, hon. David Ngugi, is now a very good fish eater. In his constituency, he is a crusader of fish production and fish eating. Thirdly, employment opportunities, both in Government and in the private sector, are important in dealing with the issue of unemployment. Let us commend the Government, at least, in this area. The important and wide ranging infrastructure programmes currently being initiated by the Government, especially in the roads sector, have helped to improve employment opportunities for our people, particularly employment of non-skilled individuals, who can be hired as non-skilled labour in the construction of roads. However, we should go further. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, if we could implement the programme that we proposed in the year 2003, of building the Mombasa-Busia railway line to a standard guage, it would employ a lot of people and help boost this economy. If we build the proposed railway line from Lamu to Southern Sudan, which has already been approved by the Cabinet and in respect of which there is an agreement signed between the Government of Kenya and the Chinese Government, it will help to improve employment in this nation. It will open up the northern part of Kenya to more economic activities. Indeed, that region itself will experience economic boom. It has always been my opinion, especially when we worked on the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation in the initial stages of Vision 2030, that the road from Mombasa to Malaba, through to Kigali, should be a dual carriage way. If that project is itself implemented, it will give jobs to many Kenyans. It will have a multiplier effect in the economy. Just imagine the number of women who will be selling porridge, ugali and githeri along the way from Mombasa to Masaba and to Busia. That, in itself, will improve agricultural production and employ a lot of people. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, therefore, there are things which are within the reach of Government, which just await implementation, to deal with the current issues that we are facing. One of the reasons as to why the economic slow-down has hit us very hard, particularly in urban centres, is the amount of unemployment in urban areas; the people living in urban areas are unemployed, are at the same time very trainable and very knowledgeable. We must understand that the achievement of our education system since Independence has been that we have had a very high literate society; quite a number of them do not have opportunities in the economy to employ themselves productively. Therefore, we must look at this segment of society and provide them with jobs. The last three years that have seen an increase in the use of ICT in both the private sector and Government, have provided a lot of opportunities for some of our youths who are educated but are not productively employed; they are able to use their skills in the ICT sector. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Safaricom Limited, as an ICT company, and other mobile telephone service providers, have created tremendous jobs for this segment of our society. These people are now being productively used. If we could go ahead and use ICT in the management of our services and systems in Government, we would create many more jobs for our people and this will contribute very productively to our economy. I would encourage, as indeed the Ministry of Information and Communications is doing, that ICT education and the use of ICT in management, be expanded in both the private and public sector. If we do this, we will tremendously reduce unemployment in our economy, and when economic crises like this one come, they will find people who are productively employed, and not people who essentially look for social protection from the Government. I would like to commend hon. Namwamba for this Motion, and the Government supports it."
}