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{
    "id": 667224,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/667224/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 677,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Barua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1529,
        "legal_name": "Ejidius Njogu Barua",
        "slug": "ejidius-njogu-barua"
    },
    "content": "government is a favour. It is their road to have those roads and the roads should be well maintenance. Some of the roads under the county governments are the most important feeder roads necessary for peasant farmers to get their crops to the market. I beseech the county governments to take this seriously and maintain our roads. They should stop passing the blame. It is only last week when there was a demonstration about the famous Kutus-Kirinyaga Road through Kithure Road. Some people were agitating that it has taken too long for that road to be tarmacked. This is despite the fact that I had met the people who are concerned and assured them the work was underway. I thank the Jubilee Government and in particular His Excellency the President because the road over which people demonstrated about, after being agitated by some forces within the county, has been awarded for construction. Tarmacking will start very soon. There are many important issues in terms of roads. This nation is losing a lot of money and time in traffic jams. It is important for this Bill to incorporate and consider how this Government will conduct regular reviews to assess the level of congestion, so that we do not waste a lot of time in traffic jams. For me to be in town by 8.00 a.m. from Kiambu, I have to leave at 5.30 or 5.45 a.m. For those two hours, I will be stuck in traffic. That is a lot of time wasted. There are many cars on the road and there is emission of the greenhouse gases that causes environmental pollution. In effect, it results to global warming which is referred to as a disaster of this and the next century. We should open up our cities. If you go to Thika in the morning, it is more congested than Nairobi. The issue of bypasses is one thing that should be considered by this and future governments as they implement this law once it is assented to. I am happy two institutions have been created, namely, KeNHA and KeNSRA. This is going to give clear definitions and distinction on who should do what. I support the sentiments expressed by the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party, Hon. Naomi Shaban, that these institutions should be properly funded and facilitated once they are in place. Having institutions and not considering them in the Budget to finance their operations and implementation of projects will make them ineffective. The KeNSRA will take care of Class “D” roads. These are inter-county roads. It will require cooperation and collaboration with county governments. We need to improve the relationship between county governments and the national Government. It is true the national Government operates within counties. It is also the responsibility of county governments as organs and institutions to give access and the necessary cooperation to institutions of the national Government. What is important for us is not who is doing or paying for what road, but what is important to our constituents is that the roads are well maintained and can serve them. They do not have time to distinguish who is giving them which service. All they demand is service. As I wind up, the issue of standards should be included in this Bill. As the three Authorities established in this Bill are going on with their work of maintenance and construction of roads, there should be some set standards and a way of enforcing and supervising to ensure that the standards are achieved. If we achieve those standards, we have to fight corruption. Corruption in the roads sector is practised by doing substandard work. In the counties and constituencies, people are given work to murram or gravel roads. They just scatter murram at different points of the road and claim for payment after doing a shoddy job."
}