Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 813673,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/813673/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The problem with that donation of power from the national Government to county governments, in my own understanding, is that the classification of the said roads in the Constitution is in a quagmire. There is confusion with regards to who controls which roads and which roads belong to which authority? Is it the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA), the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERA) or the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) that owns them? With regard to funding, it is not clear. Informed by the perennial challenges of bad roads, year in, year out, throughout the counties, it is clear that this problem is brought forth by the fact that we do not have a standard policy regulation for the same. So, what is the problem? Kenya is known to have many engineers in civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. We also have Architects like, Sen. Kasanga. They belong to the same professional body. However, if you look at the history of the profession of engineers - with due respect - since Independence, it is now over 50 years, it is a big shame. We are importing engineers to do our railway lines with the level of education that we have. We have professors as civil and electrical engineers. It would be prudent for our own Government to involve the local engineers. We do not see them anywhere; even where we have big projects and contracts. We always have seen big companies. We had a serious company that was given engineering jobs by the past governments, if you looked at their group of engineers; you failed to see a Kenyan face. We had companies like Mugoya Construction & Engineering Ltd and many others. At the end of the day, it is some of these big companies that are given mega projects like the NSSF. This House knows the story, I need not to repeat. If you look at the political economics of the roads construction and maintenance in this country, later on, the rural access roads, you will realize that it is not by default, but by design. I will not talk about the devolved units because they are still at the nascent stage. In fact, some of the engineers in the national Government are beneficiaries of the roads fund. The enormous billions of shillings that are released by the national Government to the national Government roads projects and the county roads projects end up in their pockets. So, it is not that we do not have the academic capacity to develop the necessary standard policy regulation. Our problem in this country is corruption. If you look at the combination of the various boards - there is a Bill before the Senate on that - it is like there is war. There is no proper coordination. Why can we not have a solitary body that will coordinate the other aspects of roads construction and maintenance? When we talk about technology, which our sister, Architect Sylvia Kasanga is trying to bring forth, there will be an issue of what is the appropriate technology that will be applied to move us from the perennial problems of pathetic deteriorating roads throughout the county? As it was mentioned by the distinguished Senator for Marsabit County, there is need for research and development to come up with an ideal standard policy that will cut across the board throughout the counties. We appreciate that Kenya has different geographical terrains, but with a policy that is articulated, can be changed to apply in different situations and leaves some room for improvement; it can guide us. Our engineer scientists can come up with such a policy. If you travel outside Kenya to foreign states, you will find children who do not know what a pothole is. If you go to countries like Dubai – we are not elevating ourselves 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."
}