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"content": "In dry areas, one of the biggest necessities is the provision of water for the populations. One needs to know how he or she can collect, for instance, the underground water, surface water or the roof collection. You need statistics to do so. If you want to go for roof collection, then obviously, you will have to know how many houses have corrugated iron sheets or thatched roofs. If grass thatched roofs are many, first of all, it gives you one indication that the rate of poverty is very high. That is the first information that you get out of this. Secondly, the intended action that you want to take is not feasible because the number of houses with corrugated iron sheets is fewer than those which have grass thatched roofs. Therefore, it is important to disaggregate this information and use it for correct purposes. Therefore, statistics stand out to be very useful to us in anything that we do. I have also noticed that when we want to know what kind of level of services we want to give to our children in schools, we will require some statistics. We have now started the Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE). However, we have not assessed, in each county, the magnitude and the level of the ECDE classes that we need to establish so that when the children in EDCE finally transit to lower primary, we are able to make provisions for their services, particularly, in building the facilities for them. If you do not have that information, what normally happens is that counties go around putting up more little huts. Consequently, we have about a hundred children crowded in a small classroom that can only carry forty. The net effect of that crowding is that in a cold season like we now have, infectious diseases are spread. Any cold that comes from one family will be transferred to another child and depending on the level of immunity in those children, you may run into difficulties trying to contain the spread of diseases within a given population. Therefore, statistics help us to locate the type and kind of facility that we want to offer to that community. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with counties now able to bear 60 per cent of the disaggregated functions from the national Government, they must have tangible and quality statistics to enable them make informed decisions. Without those decisions, it is going to be extremely difficult to find out what they want to do. Therefore, we need those statistics in terms of health, agriculture and tourism. For instance, in the livestock sector, if you want to know how many abattoirs to put up in any given area for farmers or cattle keepers to deliver their cattle for slaughter, you need those statistics. More importantly, when resources have been devolved to a county, their use will depend on your level of understanding of the needs of that county. You can spend a little money with very effective results; and you can squander away the money with very poor results. The net effect is that those counties will be left behind by the rest. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when a county keeps statistics, it is one measure of knowing whether it is making progress or whether it is stagnant. If you do not have clear statistics upon which you can draw conclusions, then you are at a loss on what is happening in that county. They will come and give you a rosy picture showing that all is well and wonderful; that the county is doing extremely well; that the numbers of tourists who have visited are so many or that the households receiving health support are so many. 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."
}