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{
    "id": 667422,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/667422/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 122,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Moi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2689,
        "legal_name": "Kipruto Moi",
        "slug": "kipruto-moi"
    },
    "content": "have difficulties with the county governments in trying to determine which roads would be done by the Members of Parliament and which ones would be done by the county governments. Because of this Bill, that confusion will be eliminated. The Bill also classifies roads into three main categories; namely, the primary national trunk roads, the secondary national trunk roads and the county roads. The roads are the responsibility of a specific authority- Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) and Kenya National Secondary Roads Authority (KeNSRA). One authority will be responsible for the primary national roads and the other will be responsible for the secondary national roads. Of course, the county governments will be responsible for the roads that are mostly gravelled. Hon. Speaker, there are currently agricultural boards, like the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) that are authorized to collect levies and maintain roads in small-scale tea growing areas. I do not know whether it has been dealt with in this Bill. It is very important to clearly state who will be responsible for the roads that served specific development objectives. Those roads will lead to areas that produce wheat, tea, rice and coffee, and to areas with potential in tourism and fisheries activities. It should be noted that levies were imposed on farmers for the maintenance of those roads. This being Kenya, we know that some of the monies that were collected were never used for the intended purposes. It should be made clear who would be responsible for those roads. We now believe it will be the county governments that should be accountable. There should be audit and accountability. A good road network is essential for our economy, especially in the rural areas. It can be used for transporting farm inputs and outputs. This Bill should also make provisions for the construction of tracks and lanes for non-motorized modes of transport such as boda boda bicycles and carts, so that we can minimize accidents. The Bill also needs to address measures that should be put in place to lessen road congestion, especially in urban areas. The Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing needs to propose measures aimed at increasing demand for other modes of transport, like rail, to ease the burden on our roads. This Bill, in Clause 60, states that trunk roads can be made national toll roads, where charges for road use will be levied. The revenue raised from those levies is important in that it will be used in maintaining the same roads. As we know, in the past, such levies were not used well because of corruption and lack of audit. This has led to poor maintenance of the roads. We need to do frequent audit to ensure that there is compliance in order to lessen corrupt practices. Finally, I would like to urge the authorities in charge of the various categories of roads to come up with strategies to ensure the use of labour intensive techniques for constructing and maintaining roads in order to alleviate the extremely biting unemployment of our youth. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}