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{
    "id": 816038,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/816038/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 359,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I have inspected that road, including yesterday, because I knew that, at some stage, I must contribute to this Motion. That road is intact and it only cost Kshs25 million. If we were to do the same road, it would run into billions of shillings. So, inviting foreign companies to participate in the local construction of roads and buildings has exaggerated the prices almost tenfold. The effect of it is that Kenyans are being drained financially. The remedy to this is that we should be in a position to empower the NCA to do a complete appraisal of their Act. Let them go back and look at this generous Act that gave them so much authority and leeway to train. They should call upon the National Treasury and the Government to give them enough resources. I respect the professional cadre which is in NCA, led by the current Acting Managing Director of the Kenya Ports of Authority (KPA) Architect, Dr. Manduku. He is a fine young man who has done a good job. I am sure that he will do a good job in the KPA. One of the impediments that we are seeing quite clearly is the fact that Kenyans, who are able to do a good job, are not capacitated to do the right thing at the right time. They are starved of professionalism because they are not allowed to work as apprentice in some of these big multinationals. These Kenyans are not allowed to participate in the contracts that are running in this country, which are in billions of shillings. They are not allowed to even peep and see what is happening. The other day, I saw that ordinary people are being chased away and discriminated against in terms of how much they can do and get paid. Therefore, the Kenyan contractor and professional worker is a frustrated person. This is dangerous because the minute workers are frustrated, the management runs into difficulties. Madam Temporary Speaker, my take on this matter is that both the Cabinet, the National Assembly, the Senate and the construction industry must now rise to the occasion. We should ask ourselves how we can elevate an ordinary Kenyan to perform tasks that are hitherto being performed by other groups who are not from this country. I have no intention of discriminating anybody. The foreign companies are welcome, but they must operate within the ethical lines. They must also give us value for money that we desire in this country. However, what they are doing is telling us, “Hold on, when we are done, you come in.” One of the biggest worries that I have today is that at the conclusion of this Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) – I hear it is a contract of up to 2018 – how many Kenyans will have an opportunity to even do a simple line repair when there is some problem with the railway line? None. Yet, they are the ones who are doing the donkey work. Therefore, we have come up with a Motion that we will now need to take seriously as Senate and be able to look at the National Construction Authority (NCA) Act and see whether it can be reinforced. Also, we will look at other professional bodies that are involved with tendering and procurement and see how we can reinforce all these bodies so that a Kenyan can thrive in his own environment. If we deprive him of that environment, then we are creating a miserable Kenyan and when a Kenyan is miserable he will create miserable problems. 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."
}