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{
    "id": 776554,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/776554/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Martin Owino",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13449,
        "legal_name": "Martin Peters Owino",
        "slug": "martin-peters-owino"
    },
    "content": "Thank you so much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I am really in appreciation of what this Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing has done. I just want to put some few comments which I hope they will consider. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you were told not to listen to complaints however, what we are doing is to make this document better. Before Independence, all good things were in urban areas. If you wanted to see tarmac roads, running water, decent toilets and good roads, they were only found in urban areas. I hope through this Committee, we can transform our rural communities so that they can also enjoy what other Kenyans are enjoying. In Ndhiwa Constituency which I represent, the roads which matter most are those that join markets, dispensaries and health centers. They are critical because I experience crude death rates including maternal and antenatal deaths. This is because victims or patients cannot be moved from point “A” to “B” because of the bad state of roads. What I was looking for exactly is appropriation of these percentages. When it comes to giving Kenya highways or secondary roads, urban areas get the highest share. That means those who are left will get 15 per cent to the counties and all these roads I am talking about now under the counties. I am appealing to the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing to help us get this Bill shaped. Let us have a paradigm shift from urban to rural areas. This is because you cannot ferry goods on a highway if they do not originate from rural areas. Some of these roads especially in my constituency are still lying hollow because they are not opened yet. If they are open, they are not murramed or motorable. We are talking of superhighways which are good urban roads connecting cities to cities. It is the same Kenyans who live in pathetic conditions and are dying because of lack of roads. My suggestion is as we clamour for standards, which is very good, if rural roads can be murramed let us have standards of doing it. As the Members who oversee these roads, it is very difficult because we do not know how much is going to the counties and how much is allocated to our constituencies and specifically to which roads. How would I oversee if I do not know? We do not want to be reduced to pleading Members. We make laws and what we make should be very clear so that when we oversee we know what we are doing. If you ask me about the fuel levy today, I do not know how it is apportioned or how it is being used. These are things that should come clear in this Bill because as a Member, I should know how it affects my constituents. I take roads as a health issue and that is why we need to focus on rural areas, set standards for those murram roads and if possible, let us not leave our rural areas for murram roads only. There is low volume technology which we can use to connect our markets and our people. Lastly, I would request the Committee to also look at the bridges. It does not feature much here. You cannot build roads without considering bridges. During the rainy season in my constituency, you find that communities cannot access important facilities. Most of the bridges in rural areas are built using timber. Just as superhighways, we should also have standards for rural 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."
}