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{
    "id": 927766,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/927766/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kimilili, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Didmus Barasa",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1885,
        "legal_name": "Didmus Wekesa Barasa Mutua",
        "slug": "didmus-wekesa-barasa-mutua"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to support this Bill. This is a very important Bill that seeks to realign the current Act with the emerging trends, the new Constitution and very many things. My only worry is that, because we have attached too much data from the KNBS in deciding how much revenue various counties and our regions get, at times that data is falsified. How I wish that going forward, we would try to ensure that the integrity of the data and process is upheld. The process should reflect the true picture, so that the Government can pick those statistics to guide its planning. Even as I support this Bill, I sit in the Departmental Committee on Administration and National Security and we were clear when Government officers appeared before us that such jobs should be reserved. Enumerators should be picked from local areas for ease of identification by home owners. We have very many criminal gangs everywhere. Today in the morning, I received calls from my constituency where people were telling me that during census, they will not open their doors for any enumerator that they do not know. This will negatively affect the exercise. I ask those people who are involved in driving the recruitment exercise to ensure that the people who will be given these temporary positions to carry out this census come from local areas for ease of identification. This Bill is very important to this country. We must also, as a country, move away from planning development for this country without really being guided by statistics. The reason why this House exists is to bring about equity so that we can develop our regions equitably. Those regions that are lagging behind in terms of development should be given a first priority and more resources to be able to catch up with the most developed regions. This Bill is very important. It is going to guide and shape the development of our regions, specifically in identifying marginalised areas. We still have areas in this country that have never seen a tarmac road. When it comes to national budgeting, you do not see them featuring among the regions that are going to receive money to improve our road network. So, even as we support this Bill, I also urge the Committee to go further and look at ways of how we can insulate the process of data collection in Kenya to a level where you cannot doubt the data that KNBS collects. This is because we have seen scenarios in the past where even after census, some leaders or people from some particular regions dispute the data that has been collected. That can only be prevented by ensuring that we have a watertight law that will guide collection of such data and not give room for manipulation and breeding certain interests that are not within our national values."
}