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{
    "id": 837662,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/837662/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Molo, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13435,
        "legal_name": "Francis Kuria Kimani",
        "slug": "francis-kuria-kimani"
    },
    "content": "the light at the end of the tunnel because we are going to define what our cities are, what our urban centres are and what our towns are. I am particularly impressed by Clause 18(b) section 60 that talks about the amendment of the principal Act by defining what those urban towns are. I am highly impressed that all those towns that have a population of between 50,000 and 249,000 will now be conferred a municipal status. I am more impressed because two of my major towns, Molo and Elburgon, will therefore fall under this. Clause 49(a) talks about the establishment of the urban centres fund that is going to look at capital expenditures around our urban centres. We have our towns that are just called towns for the sake of it. But they hardly have any infrastructure to qualify them as towns. We have towns that do not have markets. Those markets exist where our mama mbogas have space to just lay down their wares to sell. If we develop those urban towns, we will make sure every town has a market. Our Molo Market will not just be a market, but a world class one where people will be able to sell their wares whether it is early in the morning or late in the evening. There will be enough lighting and even things like good sanitation. In 2018, it is very sad that some of our towns do not even have public toilets. Our towns do not have water. Our towns do not even have passable roads. I am happy this fund will make sure that those towns are facilitated to have those facilities. In terms of youth unemployment, I am highly impressed. If the number of urban centres increases, there is going to be increased facilities in those centres. We are going to have libraries. Those libraries are going to support our students who are in school to make sure they have time to study and revise for their exams even when they go home during holidays. We are talking of a place where we could have cottage centres; a place where we could have value addition of our products and services. Once we develop those towns, the Milimani or Green Garden in Molo, the Kenyattas, the Maishanis and the Kasaranis will have enough water and electricity and sewerage systems. It will attract investors in those areas. It is not just about businesses. Government officers will work there and they will be able to attract the cream of our Civil Service. We will be able to attract the cream of our businesspeople to come and settle in those urban centres. When that happens, we are going to create employment for our young people. This development is going to raise the economic status of our areas. I was looking at the destruction of buildings that has been going on in Nairobi City and several other towns across the country. Some of those buildings had title deeds. Some of them had loans that were given by banks after having done due diligence on the properties. This can only tell us what lack of planning can do to our economy. It would have been good if we knew that the road would pass at place “X”. We are going to do a lot of compensation. We do a lot of compensation on roads, railways and other public facilities that we want in some of those areas. But why do we have people settling there and then have to pay them to leave those areas? We need to have a blueprint as a country. We need to have a plan not just for our urban areas, but even our rural areas whose land is being used for agricultural reasons. We have places where we have uprooted our tea, coffee and maize plantations and all we are doing is buildings, yet we are talking about food security. If we do not plan our rural and urban areas, we will not have food security. We will not have places where we want to build. Particularly, the amount of money we are using as a Government in resettling people who have built on roads and where we want railways to pass is an expense that we do not need to incur. That is why we end up spending ten times more than we are supposed to spend on some of those projects. As I wind up, I would like to talk about…. 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."
}