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{
    "id": 811466,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/811466/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 251,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, when you see what these agencies do to maintain the roads just before the end of the financial year, it is ridiculous, to say the least. These are just cowboy contractors. The only person I saw trying to deal with these cowboy contractors – and some of them are our friends – was the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, when he put down the cost of roads when he was the Minister. However, when he left, as Senators have said, the cheapest a kilometre of road in Kenya costs is about Kshs76 million. How do you explain that? The bridge becomes even more expensive. Roads are Kshs3 billion or Kshs 4 billion; how will this country develop if 35,000 kilometres are multiplied by Kshs76 million? I can assure you, Sen. Mwangi that we will not be on earth when these roads are tarmacked! We will have gone to meet our maker, to spend time with Saint Peter in heaven. Therefore, Madam Temporary Speaker, this framework is important. However, I would like the Senate to interrogate it in such a way that the absolute final role in terms of counties goes there. I have seen the classifications and I heard the Senate Majority Leader mentioning so many things about all those authorities. These authorities do not do much; what has KeRRA done to this country that is so monumental and so big that nobody else could have done it? Madam Temporary Speaker, as I support this Bill, I know that Sen. Murkomen was here when we were dealing with the appeals from the counties. We have gone through this journey for too long. I get the impression from the Senate Majority Leader that we want to do this in a hurry. Let us not do this in a hurry. Let us spend some time and look at this Bill clause by clause, delay it if we need to, call a Kamukunji, play some politics, and delay this Bill. However, let us make sure that the functions of the 35,000 kilometers I am talking about goes to counties. We have a road in Mbooni. It is 29 kilometers done by a company called Victory. It cost Kshs4.2 billion. The road is incomplete. He left a cliff where it is downing like the Tharaka Nithi’s side. Two weeks ago, a bus went over. Six months ago, a bus went over that road. When it loses control, you will not save a soul. There is no signage and there is nothing. If this Bill cannot address such discrepancies, I am going to move an amendment like the one I moved on the Public Procurement and Disposal Asset Bill. That the blacklisting of contactors must be real. If somebody cannot perform and we have given him work, let us blacklist them by law so that they never touch a road, whether it is a marrum road or a village road, let them go and construct something above ground, but not a road. If we are going to develop, this matter must be dealt with. If you look at Clause 41, it says:- “Where the authority requires land for its purposes, the Cabinet Secretary shall submit a request for the acquisition to the National Land Commission ---” My antenna went up when I thought of NLC. I almost remembered Ruaraka. These are the people who have caused us problems. The NLC shall provide roads. I will read this clause again, but I am persuaded that if this is a matter concerning counties and others, perhaps we may reconsider this clause. This is because the idea of having NLC is The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}