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{
    "id": 667473,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/667473/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "Bill. It may be the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. But, as the Committee vested with the power to bring this Bill, amend it and table it in this House, I would have wished that it went to all parts of this country. That should have been the case, even if it would have taken them a year. It would have been prudent so that when they come up with a plan like this, it would be classification based on knowledge and the fact that they went round. This is a Committee which should avoid those international travels. You cannot tell me you are going to the United States of America to see how they make roads and you cannot come closer to them. You cannot tell me the members have been travelling to China or Japan to look at how they make roads and yet, we cannot come closer to making even a kilometre of such roads. The members should have gone round the whole country to ensure that each and every constituency will have a road that is classified when they bring this idea of classification. That is so that each constituency can get, at least, 20 kilometres of tarmac road when money is put to infrastructure. I will say with a lot of sadness that there are so many constituencies whose roads fall under Class “E” and those other classifications, which will be run by some rogue governors. In my constituency and many others, we do not have any road that falls under Class “A”, “B” or “D”. Our roads fall in those other classes. Some of them are not even classified. I wonder how we are going to benefit from that classification if our roads are not classified. Those that are classified are classified as “E” and the rest. From the challenges we face where a county government constructs a road and then stays for three or more years without repairing it, I find it very hard and tempting to decline or oppose this Bill. In each of the previous authorities, there have been yearly allocations of maintenance and repairs. In this Bill, I wish to create a mandatory allocation of funds to each road in this country every year. If it will be the county government, each will be obligated to ensure they allocate money to every road every year. That is so that roads which have been created are maintained and repaired. That is how the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) and Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) have been doing it. That is very fundamental because we cannot allow monies which are usually allocated to the national Government or county governments to be concentrated on particular areas. Maybe, that is where the governors or the Government have an interest. When you talk about major roads which are Class “S” and “A” where we have super highways, it is not even. In this country, super highways are concentrated only in Nairobi. When you look at the bypasses, they are concentrated only in Nairobi and yet, those are roads which take the bulk of our money. It even includes corridors and those other special infrastructure. We know Nairobi and most of those major cities are very important and are the backbone and hub of our economy. But we must also realise there are many other areas of this country which serve those big cities and yet, they are inaccessible. I wish we had a situation where it would become mandatory to classify roads which go to mining sites into “A” or “B”. That is where Kenya gets its money. Tourist attraction areas like Maasai Mara should have special consideration. We should have had a compulsory classification of Mara Road as Class “A”. That is so that it is compulsory for this Government to build a tarmac road heading there. Imagine tourists heading to some direction and who are bringing us billions money having to push their stuck vehicles. This is despite the fact that we pride ourselves with Maasai Mara, being the second biggest foreign exchange earner to our economy. We cannot even construct a tarmac road to that area. This Bill should have made it mandatory to have such tarmac in those areas."
}