{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138142","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=138140","results":[{"id":1397821,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397821/?format=json","text_counter":184,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"North Imenti, Independent","speaker_title":"Hon. Rahim Dawood","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Speaker for indulging me. Could the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports (a) provide the timeline for release of Ksh42 million committed by Sports Kenya on 13th December 2017 for the partial construction of Meru Divisional County Offices which included the Assistant County Commissioner’s Municipality office block, Ntima Chief’s Office, three Administration Police Officer’s houses, canteen and a public toilet adjacent to Kinoru Stadium? (b) clarify whether the amount committed by Sports Kenya, on behalf of the Ministry, for Construction of the mentioned facilities can be re-directed to NG- CDF (North Imenti Constituency) for the construction of the same? (c) consider reallocating the current space occupied by NG-CDF Youth Centre to NG-CDF North Imenti Constituency or to the Ministry of Interior so as to enable the public to make use of the space with a separate gate and boundary wall to distinguish the area from Kinoru Stadium? Thank you, Hon. Speaker."},{"id":1397822,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397822/?format=json","text_counter":185,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Hon. Dawood. Cabinet Secretary."},{"id":1397823,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397823/?format=json","text_counter":186,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Ababu Namwamba","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for according me this opportunity to come and interact with Hon. Members on issues of relevance. Without wasting any time, let me go straight to Question 054/2024 and respond as follows. It is true in 2017 Sports Kenya made a commitment to assist in the partial construction of the Meru Divisional County Offices, planned to be situated near Kinoru Stadium. However, this commitment was made without confirmation of funding as is the requirement of the law, which states that resources should be available before you commit to any project. In this case, there was no confirmation. Up to date, Sports Kenya has not received any financing from the Ministry of National Treasury and Economic Planning. This will be amplified while responding to other Questions in this session. Hon. Speaker, when the Kenya Kwanza administration came into office, we inherited a huge pile-up of stalled projects all over the country. One way of dealing with them was putting in place a masterplan to better manage the infrastructure for sports and creatives. I want to assure the Hon. Member and the House that moving forward, we have sealed that loophole of committing to do projects without the requisite provision for financing. That is the position. That commitment is on record but there is no financing to match that commitment. In response to the second segment of that Question, there is no allocation in the budget. Sports Kenya does not have money for this project. In fact, the Ministry is currently exceedingly stretched with commitments to host the African Nations Championships, commonly known as CHAN in September this year; and the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2027. Therefore, it is very difficult. If these resources were to be availed by the National Treasury, as it had been requested by Sports Kenya, this project could be concluded. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1397824,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397824/?format=json","text_counter":187,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Ababu Namwamba","speaker_title":"The Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports","speaker":null,"content":"In response to the third segment of the Question, this is a matter that we would leave to the local leadership to build consensus on how to use the space. If it is with regard to the youth empowerment centres, the Ministry is already rolling out a programme to transform all of them into innovation hubs. The Hon. Member may want to reflect a bit more on whether this would be the best use of this space, or if we should proceed with the plans to utilise the youth empowerment centres as innovation centres. However, if the Hon. Member considers the particular use of this space to be a priority, consensus can be built locally and the Ministry would certainly consider that. Thank you, Hon. Speaker."},{"id":1397825,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397825/?format=json","text_counter":188,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Hon. Dawood."},{"id":1397826,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397826/?format=json","text_counter":189,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"North Imenti, Independent","speaker_title":"Hon. Rahim Dawood","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I am not satisfied with the answer that the Cabinet Secretary has given because I talked to him earlier on, on the same issue. I brought up this issue in the last Parliament. It is as if the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports wants to avoid the issue by saying that there was no commitment yet there was a written commitment by Sports Kenya. Sports Kenya is the entity that was constructing Kinoru Stadium. While constructing it, they demolished a few offices and they promised that in the process of constructing the stadium, they would build Kinoru Police Post, which is gazetted and has been in existence for long. There was a meeting in July 2021 with the then Governor Kiraitu Murungi, and the then Cabinet Secretary, Amb. Amina Mohamed, together with the Principal Secretary, where they agreed that the county government would provide land and the Ministry would provide the funds. Hon. Speaker, I am not asking for funds. If they cannot allocate the funds to the NG- CDF, I urge them to construct the infrastructure which they had promised. We already have land from Kinoru Primary School because the land which was being offered by the county government was on a sewage plant for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Therefore, it is not conducive. While the Cabinet Secretary is constructing the stadium, I want him to include the police post as part of the works of the Kinoru Stadium. They have still not handed over the stadium although some places in the stadium are now worn out. The running track is in a pathetic state at the moment but that is not my concern for now. Secondly, I want to convert the youth centre into an Information Communication Technology (ICT) centre. I do not have an issue with it. When they were constructing the stadium, they specifically wanted to demolish the youth centre but I opposed the idea. I told them that we could not waste Government money. I am not asking for relocation of the youth centre. I have asked for the land where the youth centre is standing to be excised from the stadium land and given to the County Commissioner so that I can construct a gate through the NG-CDF and construct the ICT hub. After talking to other Members, I do not think it will help me. The Cabinet Secretary should agree that the land is not part of the stadium so that I can follow up the process of having the land registered in the name of the Ministry of Interior and National Administration. Hon. Speaker, I do not think the Cabinet Secretary can escape the commitment that had been made in writing. We need the offices of the Assistant County Commissioner (ACC), the chief, the police post and the agreed accommodation units for the police officers. The Cabinet Secretary can invest that money in the stadium because those offices are part of the stadium."},{"id":1397827,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397827/?format=json","text_counter":190,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Cabinet Secretary, you have heard the discourse from the Member."},{"id":1397828,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397828/?format=json","text_counter":191,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"The Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports (","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Hon. Ababu Namwamba): Hon. Speaker, I have not made any attempt whatsoever to run away from the commitment. In fact, I confirmed that, indeed, there is a commitment to my credit. I just made a clarification that when this commitment was made in 2017, about seven years ago, it was made without a matching resource allocation. We acknowledge that this is an important The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1397829,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397829/?format=json","text_counter":192,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"The Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports (","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"project. In fact, let me confirm to the House that it is the policy of the Ministry that any space with a sports facility of the scale of Kinoru Stadium should be serviced by a police post. It should have the capacity to house security apparatus within the ecosystem of the stadium. There is a commitment. I can assure the Member that efforts will be made to get the resources. There is also the challenge of land. The county government had allocated some land for this purpose. The Hon. Member should reach a consensus with the county government in terms of the actual land location for this project. Because Government is an ongoing concern, as soon as resources become available, the stadium will be constructed. Even though this is a commitment by a previous administration, the current administration inherits those commitments. They are commitments that should be carried forward. With regard to the youth empowerment centre, again, let me make it clear that this is a different administration with different priorities. This administration would certainly not support the earlier attempt to pull down this centre. The approach we have taken for this kind of infrastructure is integration and composite development where we can have a stadium and other facilities for creatives where young people can engage in music, film, ICT and innovation. Therefore, there is absolutely nothing wrong to have a stadium, recording studios and an innovation centre. We can have that whole ecosystem integrated. If I have heard the Hon. Member right, he said that the land on which this centre stands should be excised and delineated from the land of the stadium. That is possible. The land actually belongs to the county government. That is a process which the Ministry would certainly support. We would not be averse to that, Hon. Speaker."},{"id":1397830,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1397830/?format=json","text_counter":193,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"The Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you. We leave it there, Hon. Dawood. We will go to Question 231 of 2023 by Hon. Duncan Mathenge, Member for Nyeri Town."}]}