Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 837682,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/837682/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 313,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gichugu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gichimu Githinji",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13341,
        "legal_name": "Robert Gichimu Githinji",
        "slug": "robert-gichimu-githinji"
    },
    "content": " Yes. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I would also like to make my contribution in support of the Urban Areas and Cities (Amendment) Bill. This Bill comes at the right time in realignment of the county governments with the Constitution. The county governments have devolved both monies and human resource. Therefore, most of the urban areas within the county governments have become highly populated. It is very important to have them elevated to the status of municipalities. I am very excited because most of the towns that fall within constituencies, like constituency headquarters, will now fit in the categories of municipalities to benefit from the resources that are usually allocated to urban centres. My main excitement is on one of the towns within my constituency, Kirinyaga, which is the constituency headquarters and hosts a number of Government departments. It is also the sub-county headquarters. If you go to that town, and I believe the same happens with most towns that are constituency headquarters in Kenya, you would find that the infrastructure is wanting. There is lack of tarmac, proper lighting and proper planning. Therefore, you will find that most of the services that people receive there are usually substandard because of lack of requisite facilities. I would propose that going forward we also have Bills coming from the Senate and the relevant committees to amend the Physical Planning Act so that we can have proper planning of our urban centres. You will find very pathetic situations where various Government departmental buildings are small houses crowded within a small area instead of building a storey building and sharing the floors. One of the key areas that we also need to look at in this Bill is planning. The other good thing about this Bill is the proposal by the Committee that there be established a national urban development fund which will get money from appropriation by the National Assembly as part of its sources of money. Here, we will see a very good link between the national Government and county governments, especially for the urban areas that will fall under county governments. We will then have an oversight role to make sure that the resources that we usually allocate through appropriation in Parliament go to the right places and not to people’s pockets. With those few remarks and owing to the limited time, I beg to support."
}