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{
    "id": 811488,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/811488/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 273,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "number of people that own and drive cars has increased. Therefore, when we say that we want to give NTSA only one per cent of the fuel levy and expect that, miraculously, there shall be safety on the roads we are building, we are fooling ourselves. This cannot be allowed. At the right time, I shall be proposing and moving an amendment and convincing my colleagues not to allow this. If you want safety on the roads which you drive on every day, your family members, your constituents use, you must give NTSA at least three per cent which is the global standard and what countries that know what they are doing give to road safety institutions. Secondly, the 1percent Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is being given to maintain roads inside the national parks and Sen. Omogeni alluded to it very keenly and I agree with him. Maasai Mara, for example, a world renowned, the best voted world over on many times to be the best national park in the whole world. Look at the roads to Maasai mara, all the way from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The minute you get to Mai Mahiu tourist are getting stuck for more than three to six hours because of the poor state of the road. Then you get to Narok town between Narok and Sekenani gate, the most famous gate; that cannot be classified as a road. This is because we have taken the money that is meant to sustain our tourism sector and it is being held by the mandarins in the Ministry. Yet we want to say that because KWS only manages inside the parks, we want to give them only one percent. That cannot be the case; we must expand and see that institutions and roads that generate revenue and income for this country get good value for money. Therefore, one percent cannot be enough. If one percent is being given to KWS then what percentage shall be invested to ensure that roads leading to our national parks in Tsavo, Samburu, and Maasai Mara are properly carpeted? Subsequently, tourists who bring us a lot of income on foreign exchange get to enjoy good roads. Otherwise we can kiss tourism goodbye because Tanzania is doing better roads than us. The roads that lead to Serengeti cannot be compared to the roads that lead to Maasai Mara. We are joking and before we know it, we shall lose the glam and the stature of Maasai Mara. The Senate should not pass this Bill as it is, because it seeks to only send 16 per cent to our county governments. The Government, at an Intergovernmental Budget Executive Council (IBEC) meeting chaired by none other than the Deputy President, promised our county governments at least 20 per cent. If we pass it as it is, we shall be shooting ourselves in the foot. At no other time shall we say that we are custodians and defenders of devolution. In fact, if we pass it, we would rather close the Senate and report to work at the Office of the President, because we shall cease to be Senators. We would probably have become rubberstamps of the Executive. I cannot support the 16 per cent. We must stick to the agreed 20 per cent for our counties to construct their roads. A lot of human hours are being wasted on roads because we have the model of holding a lot of money at the center. Why can we not distribute it to the counties and let them construct the roads? I travel to Kericho almost every weekend and, in the process, waste not less than 10 hours on the road. I spend two hours in Nakuru because the national Government has never constructed a bypass. Then I spend one hour at Gilgil and another hour between Soko Mjinga and Limuru. 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."
}