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"id": 783516,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/783516/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Ng’ongo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 110,
"legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
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"content": "We are now spending so much time debating a Bill to manage traffic, transport and set fares in Nairobi. These are things that the County Government of Nairobi, through the Executive and the Legislature, should be handling. When we give the responsibility to another authority to create a board and a council with all the expenses relating to performing the responsibility of developing a policy of setting goals, objectives and priorities for the area – we are determining the financial contribution, approval of the master plan and strategic plan; then this will be a fully- pledged office with a budget. A huge budgetary allocation will go into this office. For purposes of paying other public servants, we are creating a board. This board will have principal secretaries and some executive members from the five counties. We will take people from their counties to come and sit somewhere and manage Nairobi. The County Executive Committee who is supposed to manage issues of transport in Murang’a will be sitting in Nairobi, a lot of times, to discuss Nairobi issues. Hon. Speaker, let us call a spade a spade. If there is a problem with the Nairobi County Government in terms of management and provision of services, let the voters of Nairobi come out and elect people who can deliver services. It is wrong for the people of Nairobi to be voting in someone because he or she is very generous, philanthropic or gives unga to people. This is where Kenyans go wrong. The fact that I am generous does not make me a good manager. The fact that I am not rich will never make me a good governor. As they elect their governors, Kenyans need to understand that they are electing people who will be heading their county governments, which are supposed to deliver services. You do not give us problems then expect us to solve them. For me, this Bill should be withdrawn. Let it be withdrawn or whatever it is going to be done with. Let us have the County Government of Nairobi, first of all, prove that they cannot deliver services. We can then decide as a country, whether we need the 47th counties. If we do not need it, let us say so instead of creating, through the backdoor, another body to discharge duties which this county should be discharging. In the event that there is failure – like there has been fairly in this city, as exhibited by the flooding that we witnessed when it rained – people will be blaming each other. The authority being created will be saying: “That function is for the county government; they are the ones who are supposed to unblock drainages. We are not supposed to do drainages.” The County Government will be saying: “No, no! You are supposed to manage traffic. You have not done so.” In that case, who will be responsible to the people of Kenya? Let us have one line of authority. If it is the County Government of Nairobi, we leave it there. If it is not, we should make a conscious decision as a country, do away with this County Government and make it a national Government function. Everybody should know that Kenya has only 46 Counties. Nairobi is not a county but a national Government area to manage, so that we know who to blame. If you asked me, this Bill is an admission of failure, but it is cleverly looking for a way of trying to manage that failure. I know many of my colleagues who have looked at this Bill would agree with me that it is really an admission of failure. I want to disagree with my friend, Hon. T.J Kajwang’. This is not something that you should even ask, but you should be involved in. As Members of Parliament, we are actually overseeing the Government operations; legislating and representing our people. You cannot be involved again in the management of traffic in Nairobi. Surely, I would not accept to be involved in the management of traffic and setting of fares. What happens is that, if the fares set at levels that my constituents cannot afford to pay, who do I go to? My constituents will blame me for being part of the people who are fleecing them. I would want to be in a position and a place - this 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."
}