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"id": 837550,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/837550/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Pokot South, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Pkosing",
"speaker": {
"id": 2662,
"legal_name": "Losiakou David Pkosing",
"slug": "losiakou-david-pkosing"
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"content": "most of these people who presented memoranda or who appeared before my Committee agreed with most of the proposals. However, when we retreated, we also looked at their proposals and as a Committee we realised there might be some few gaps. We are proposing to fill those gaps as a House. What did we discover? We discovered that this child is almost born. These institutions are almost being created; that is, the cities, municipalities, towns and markets. But what might have been forgotten is how the kid will be fed. There is no breast milk for this kid to grow. Even God knew very well that the child growing in the womb would need milk to grow. What happened in this Bill? In our observation as a Committee, we realised that this child is almost being born. By that I mean the cities we are almost giving birth to or forming have nowhere to grow. They have no resources. They have no money. So, what happens? We are proposing amendments. Although this will come in the Committee of the whole House, it is very important that we discuss at this level so that we can enrich the amendments that we are proposing. If we leave it where the Senate left, I am very certain these cities will have offices but they will not have resources to grow to become cities that we admire or that we want to live in. Therefore, this is a very important proposal from our Committee. I hope the House will agree with us that the Senate forgot the breast milk of the child. So, let us give this child some milk. My Committee went forward to propose an amendment. We are saying that Section 49 of the principal Act be amended by inserting the following new section immediately after Section 49: That, there be established fund to be known as the National Urban Development Fund. The fund shall be applied for purposes of improving and enabling the environment for sustainable and inclusive urban development and to enhance infrastructural service delivery in urban areas. Our Committee was informed of the fact that these cities require serious resources to develop. For example, when it comes to developing sewerage systems, or water networks, or any other project, the money we give counties is not sufficient to do all that. We will create very beautiful institutions but the money we give to counties is insufficient. I have realised that less than 40 per cent of our money goes to development. For example, my county of West Pokot, Kapenguria Town, which will be a municipality if this proposal is approved, does not have water. For water to be available in Kapenguria Municipality, it requires Kshs10 billion. The money that goes to the county of West Pokot is about Kshs5 billion. What does that mean? It means that we will close the county budget for three years for us to get that money. Is that realistic? It surely is not realistic. That is why I am saying that the Senate did not provide breast milk for this child it is creating. That is why my Committee is requesting this House to create the milk. What will this fund do? You will get it in our Committee Report from Page 8. We have done very good research and consultations. The fund will, among other things, upgrade urban and metropolitan infrastructure. When there were these long rains that just passed, even Nairobi City County itself could not manage Nairobi. It is until the President himself brought in the national Government team to help Nairobi. So, without this fund, these institutions will be without any development. Two, we are proposing this fund for high priority capital expenditure projects in urban areas. That includes storm water and solid waste management and urban planning and development. Three, development and maintenance of national urban observatory. Four, providing county governments with capacity, development, support and urban planning management and development of urban areas. Five, urban disaster risk mitigation and human settlement safety. That includes urban resilience to climate change and urban integrated programmes. Six, research, documentation and dissemination of information on state of The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}