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{
    "id": 783658,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/783658/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Martin Owino",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13449,
        "legal_name": "Martin Peters Owino",
        "slug": "martin-peters-owino"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. We all want Nairobi to be the best in this region. We also want this Bill to be one of the corrective measures. However, some areas need to be reviewed. For example, it was said that we need to review how the council and the Authority will work together. It is known globally that you cannot fix traffic jams by fixing ‘the hardware’ only. This Bill should address how behaviours will be modified. For example, the truck routes have to be addressed. The traffic laws also need to be reviewed because right now, we are going through the same. People drive the way they want even where they are not supposed to. That bit which I call ‘the software’ must be addressed. We also need to look at the planning of our urban areas and towns. That is one area where we are going wrong. Even the upcoming towns will face the same problem which Nairobi is facing right now. If we do not have preventive measures to ensure that these upcoming cities are well-planned, we will run into the same problems. We need to decongest our city. It is common knowledge that some Government services are still centred in Nairobi for no good reason. People come to Nairobi to look for them. If we are talking about decongesting Nairobi, those services need to be fully decentralised so that people do not come to look for them in this region. At the same time, we need to look at job creation and opportunities for folks in the rural areas like in Ndhiwa Constituency so that we can expand opportunities to those areas. So long as those are not done, we can have super-highways and trains, but people will still come here and we will still have congestion in the city. This Bill is not going to cure the problem. I know the word ‘cure’ is a medical term which the Member for Nyeri used, but we will treat it to some extent. We will have smooth flow of traffic in the city. Lastly, I would like to ask the originators of this Bill to take seriously those who have criticised it, even as I support it. Take those observations seriously so that we can have the best Bill which will reduce traffic congestion. I support the Bill."
}