{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=155354","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=155352","results":[{"id":1571722,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571722/?format=json","text_counter":228,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Member for Bomachoge Borabu, Mhe. Nolfason Barongo."},{"id":1571723,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571723/?format=json","text_counter":229,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Bomachoge Borabu, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Nolfason Barongo","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for according me this opportunity to also contribute in support of this constitutional amendment to ensure that we secure the gains that we have made as a country in terms of development. Hon. Temporary Speaker, last year, I had the good fortune of attending the 20th anniversary of the NG-CDF. To understand why this Fund is very important and must be entrenched in the 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":1571724,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571724/?format=json","text_counter":230,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Bomachoge Borabu, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Nolfason Barongo","speaker":null,"content":"Constitution, we listened to a tale by the former Member of Parliament for Ol Kalou, Hon. Muriuki Karue, who got frustrated trying to get development for his constituency. Every time he went to the National Treasury and Economic Planning, he was told that his constituency will get development when the funds become available. His frustrations were arising from the fact that in his constituency, students were learning under trees. Today, schools in so many constituencies have dilapidated toilets. Some of these schools are threatened with closure because they do not have decent toilets. If we do away with NG-CDF, harambees will be back in full swing. We will now be required to conduct harambees to educate children, which is against the spirit of the Constitution. In Article 43, every Kenyan has a right to education. In Article 53, every child has a right to access free education and that education should be compulsory. Why should we take the responsibility of educating our children back to the public? The public right now is stretched financially. We are struggling. Kenyans are struggling to put food on their tables. It will be the wrong time to take away this Fund, which has subsidised education and assured Kenyan children of a better future. If we take away this Fund, most of the ills that have bedevilled this country will be back. We will be back to politicising basic services for mwananchi . The process of engaging the public in determining their priority projects in their constituencies is a constitutional requirement, and the current NG-CDF as constituted has been ensuring that the public have a say in the priority projects that have to be undertaken in their constituencies. The public spoke emphatically by giving their views on what needs to be done going forward. The courts have announced their position that NG-CDF is currently unconstitutional, and it is upon this House to now make a decision and correct the things that the court has raised so that this Fund is now entrenched in the Constitution and Kenya can continue to receive the development that ensures that there is equity across the land. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I encourage those Members who are not in the House today to make their way back to Nairobi and into the Chamber. Let us ensure the overwhelming support we received from the public regarding the entrenchment of this Fund into the Constitution becomes a reality this afternoon. For these reasons, I support this amendment. Thank you."},{"id":1571725,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571725/?format=json","text_counter":231,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Member for Ndhiwa, Hon. Martin Owino."},{"id":1571726,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571726/?format=json","text_counter":232,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Ndhiwa, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Martin Owino","speaker":null,"content":" Equally appreciative, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity to thank our friends, the Mover, Senior Counsel Hon. Otiende Amollo, Hon. Chepkonga and also Seconder, Hon. (Sir) George Murugara. Hon. Temporary Speaker, there is nobody who is saying NG-CDF does not work. It works. Our aim is to protect what is working for Kenyans and ensure it continues to serve them, while locking out these busybodies who keep on going to the courts all the time. Speaking from my own constituency, and I know it is the same across other constituencies... If I go to Hon. Mary Maingi’s constituency, it is the same as well as Hon. Cynthia’s constituency and in Matayos Constituency too. One can see what NG-CDF does and how it works. In Ndhiwa Constituency, I have 204 schools where 152 are primary schools and 52 are secondary schools. Prior to NG-CDF, children were learning outside while seeing goats grazing and this was the case nationwide. That has now changed because we are building classrooms. We are reducing population in classrooms by half. Previously, children were 80 in a class. They are now half that size and are performing better because of NG-CDF. I have testimonies of children having completed high school and college and are now back to the community. Some are lawyers, some are engineers giving back to the community. Children would have dropped out of school in 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":1571727,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571727/?format=json","text_counter":233,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Ndhiwa, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Martin Owino","speaker":null,"content":"those areas. Teenage pregnancies have reduced because of sustaining kids in school because education is an equaliser in all this. We appropriate money to the Ministry of Education, but we do not see what that money does on the ground, including infrastructure, which is even supported internationally. Therefore, I speak on behalf of the people of Ndhiwa. Classrooms have been decongested. Laboratories were built so we can compete with schools like Alliance High School. Water provisions have been provided for as well as sports facilities. However, I do not know why sports was removed because we were very active in our constituencies. We used to be in charge of sports as well. Hon. Temporary Speaker, when we talk about national ethos, including value for money, equity, inclusivity and emergency responses, that is the heart of NG-CDF notwithstanding the devolved units. But they do not respond to emergencies. We are even being pushed to respond to toilets as emergencies, which should not be the case. What happened with the capitation we give to the ministries? Where do they take their money? So, mine is to protect what is working and entrench it into the Constitution. In fact, if we were to rewrite the Constitution, this would be the most important decentralised Fund in the 290 constituencies. We would not even think of the 47 counties. The monies would have been channelled through it and we would see the impact it would have had in these areas. Lastly, entrenching this into the Constitution will cure what we call oxymoron-ism of leadership, where one says one thing but do the other. What NG-CDF does is seen and because it is people-driven, public participation is a must, approval system is up to the board and we even have a committee in this House that oversees that board. So, the whole system should be replicated in other areas of activity. Those who are jealous of its functionality should copy what NG-CDF does. Without belabouring on the obvious, allow me to say, I support this and Members, if where representation is needed this afternoon, it is in this House. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."},{"id":1571728,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571728/?format=json","text_counter":234,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Cynthia Muge, Member for Nandi."},{"id":1571729,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571729/?format=json","text_counter":235,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Cynthia Muge (","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Nandi County, UDA): Thank you very much Hon. Temporary Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this very important Motion on the Floor of the House. I appreciate Hon. Otiende Amolo and Hon. Chepkonga for the very thoughtful time and sentiments they have put together into this Bill so that, finally, the NG-CDF, the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) and the newly added Senate Oversight Fund can be entrenched in the Constitution. The NG-CDF and NGAAF for so many years have been facing a lot of legal challenges. And this is an opportunity to ensure that those legal challenges finally go away. We will also deal with ambiguities and make sure that people understand the structures of NG-CDF and NGAAF. It has come to my attention that many people, including the beneficiaries of NGAAF and NG-CDF, do not understand how the structure works. That is why we hear Members, especially the patrons of NG-CDF, saying that students text them on their phones. It is also high time that people in this country, including the beneficiaries and those people who run institutions and organisations, understand how structures work. The NG-CDF and NGAAF have a structure. Speaking of NGAAF, I wish people knew that there is a structure that runs it. Hon. Temporary Speaker, allow me to say that the people who have attached NGAAF and NG-CDF to Members of Parliament are not Members themselves. They are people outside there. In the structure, there is nowhere a Member of Parliament, who is a patron of NG-CDF, runs the 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":1571730,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571730/?format=json","text_counter":236,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Cynthia Muge (","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"operations of NG-CDF. The same applies to NGAAF. As a County Women Representative, I do not run NGAAF. I am just a patron; I am just an oversight authority for NGAAF. I make sure that all the money that has been allocated for NGAAF is used for that purpose. I ensure that the percentages that are allocated for women's economic empowerment are used for that particular purpose and that the money that has been ringfenced for bursaries and scholarships is used for that particular purpose. I am in full support of the entrenchment of NGAAF and NG-CDF because the importance of the two Funds cannot be gainsaid. Before NGAAF and NG-CDF came in, for instance, in my county, there were no direct empowerment projects that went to the people. But with NGAAF, that needs to be entrenched in this Constitution, we now have members of the community: women, youth, persons living with disabilities and other vulnerable groups able to access funds for empowerment. We find groups in the villages like the Momba Boda Boda Group in Tinderet, which has Ksh300,000 that they can use to better their operations as operators in the boda boda sector. The Oasis Women Group in Kabiyet can now run their businesses, invest in business, get income and have money in their pockets, courtesy of the same NGAAF. Today, Nandi County boasts of more than 700,000 seedlings of Kahawa that have been given out under the Mama na Kahawa Programme. The programme, in the next three years, will bear proper fruit; we will see fewer people going to the NG-CDF and NGAAF offices to look for funds because they will pay their school fees. This is equity that we have always looked for and have wanted to see in every aspect of this life. I cannot give enough accolades to NG-CDF. For me to be here today, I am a product of the NG-CDF. I got a bursary from the Emgwen office, then, in 2012. I appreciate what NG-CDF did for me and for other vulnerable children who need and require education. When we walk around the constituencies that we come from, we can tell where we are courtesy of the branding that is done under NG-CDF. One can know whether they are in Emgwen, Likuyani, or Msambweni. One will know where they are courtesy of projects that have been done by NG-CDF. I am in total support of the entrenchment of the Funds in the Constitution so that they can continue giving services to people and continue being important to the people of Kenya. We are not doing this because we are Members of Parliament today. I can assure Hon. Members that in September 2027, during the swearing-in, I will not be in this House, but NG-CDF and NGAAF must be in this House so that they can serve the people of Kenya, post-me and you, Hon. Temporary Speaker who are sitting in this House. So, we are not doing this for ourselves, but we are doing it for the people of Kenya, we are doing it for the children, women, youth, and People with Disabilities (PwDs) of Kenya so, that these Funds can live beyond any Member and any person who gets an opportunity to sit in this House. Hon. Temporary Speaker, with those very many remarks, I support the entrenchment of NG-CDF, NGAAF, and the Senate Oversight Fund into the Constitution of Kenya so that we can stop running battles in courts with the people who like going to court and deliver services to the people of Kenya."},{"id":1571731,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571731/?format=json","text_counter":237,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":null,"content":" Chairperson of the Committee on National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF)."}]}