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{
    "id": 776529,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/776529/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 152,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "One of the biggest national functions in the Constitution is standards and policy setting. In this case, we have a board that is going to look at standards so that whoever is in the business of constructing roads does so in uniform standard. Therefore, the roads in the counties and at the national level will all adhere to the same standard. The Bill provides under the Intergovernmental Relations Committee that institutions at the county and national level will have one instrument to confirm that roads have been done according to set standards. This is a great contribution. It further goes ahead to classify roads. Indeed, this has been a major issue. People were not sure of the classification. In fact, people were fighting over them. That has been spelt out clearly in the First Schedule of the Bill. It states what each institution is to do and prevents arguments that normally delay projects. With this kind of classification, roads will improve. A provision for roads to be moved from one class to another is provided for in this Bill. That is extremely important. KeNHA and KURA have now been relooked at in the context of the new Constitution and the county governments. We have the Kenya National Urban Roads Authority which replaces KURA and KeNHA remains as it was. We have the Kenya National Secondary Roads Authority which will replace KeRRA. As Members of the National Assembly, we will be keen to look at the classification of roads and also the operations of the Kenya National Secondary Roads Authority, that is, what used to be KeRRA. We still have classes C and D roads. Things will be much easier at that level. The Bill goes ahead to provide administrative structures for the authorities that have been set up. They have boards and the criteria for getting people to these boards is also spelt out. That is really important so that people are not just picked to sit in the boards. There is a clear way of nominating members to sit in the authorities. The requirements for one to sit in the boards are clear. The Committee has expressed concern that membership to these boards seems to have been drawn from professional bodies. This implies that it will be a club of professionals sitting together. The Committee has proposed the Bill to give the Cabinet Secretary authority to appoint the user stakeholders. They have asked how to get Wanjiku to sit in the boards. That is something that is commendable. We have also to look at the fact that if we have too much Government in these institutions, they get affected by political influence. We know that, as it is now, the Cabinet Secretaries we have are not politicians, rather they are appointed. We know that they are more sensitive to the needs of the Executive. If we leave them to appoint board members, probably, they will be influenced by the Executive. We should have the midway of leaving professional organisations to nominate members so that we have a lot of stakeholder involvement in the process. The Bill also clearly defines the powers given to the authorities, for example, on the use of land. If they have to acquire land for the purpose of constructing a road, what is the process of doing that and how are the owners compensated? If land is acquired for a shorter time, for example, in an emergency situation for the purpose of constructing a road, are we going to say that that cannot be done? There is a provision that, at least, the owner of the land should be compensated in 30 days. There should also be a provision that if it is very urgent, the land can be taken and compensation will then be worked out later. There is a provision to establish a road fund and that these authorities will be funded from Parliament. This Bill has done what I would encourage other sectors to do, that is, to look at all the laws that need to harmonised in order to bring a peaceful coexistence and synergistic The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}