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{
    "id": 668523,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/668523/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 112,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. M’uthari",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1576,
        "legal_name": "Joseph M'eruaki M'uthari",
        "slug": "joseph-meruaki-muthari"
    },
    "content": "If you look at this budget, you will see that there are many resources which have been appropriated for infrastructure development. A lot of funds have been put in development projects like rail transport. The road transport is good. In the last two or so years, there has been a lot of investment in rail transport through the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). If the money which was spent in that project was utilised for the construction of the road network, we would have had a dual carriageway from Mombasa to Nairobi, from Nairobi to Malaba or even to Busia and from Nairobi to Garissa and other places.I believe that if we spent resources in these flashy road projects, we would have great impact, stimulation of economic growth and development. The money appropriated to the Ministry in charge of security and coordination of National government is important. It is my hope that the resources that will be disbursed will support development and bring services closer to places like where I come from. Units of administration can be made smaller and more human resource availed so that at the end of the day there is greater coordination and follow-up on matters related to security services. This is because we cannot talk about development without looking at how secure our people are. We face challenges on how we allocate our resources. Some sectors like research, development and innovation appear underfunded. They are given little financial resources. That makes me wonder about our focus. I know a law was put in place to appropriate a certain percentage of our income to fund activities in research. Failure to fund research means we continue to ape other people because we are not able to fund innovation and development of our own ideas. I am not aware of any country like ours. We develop by just being consumers of technologies and innovations by other people. Less emphasis and effort is put in resources to develop sectors and areas like manufacturing or even production that can stimulate economic growth and create employment. All in all, it is important to consider oversight; how resources are used, and what mechanisms we should put in place to ensure that they are disbursed at the right time. As we speak, in the KeRRA, funds were allocated for roads but have not been disbursed. So, for the roads that had been earmarked for 10 per cent funding, nothing is happening. Without spending on roads, it is difficult to develop as a country. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}