National Assembly · Afternoon Sitting

Hon. Members, you may recall that on Tuesday, 24th September 2024, this House negatived the Question for Second Reading of the Mung Beans Bill (Senate Bill No. 13 of 2022) . Consequently, the Bill was referred to a mediation committee pursuant to Article 112 of the Constitution and Standing Order 149. Further, you may recall that on Tuesday, 8th October 2024, I reported to this House a

Hon. Leader of the Majority Party. Let us go to the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Broadcasting and Library, Hon. Epuyo. Daniel Nanok : Hon. Speaker, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table: Report of the Select Committee on Parliamentary Broadcasting and Library on the Study Visit to Parliament of Zambia from 9th to 16th June 2024. Thank you.

[(Turkana West, UDA)]

Hon. Leader of the Majority Party. Hon. Osoro.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to lay the following Papers on the Table:

The Chairperson, Mediation Committee on Sugar Bill, Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table:

Thank you, Hon. Emmanuel.

Next Order.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to give notice of the following Motion: THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Article 113 (2) of the Constitution and Standing Order 150 (3) , this House adopts the Report of the Mediation Committee on the Sugar Bill, (National Assembly Bill No. 34 of 2022) , laid on the Table of the House on Wednesday, 16th October 2024, and approves the mediated version of the Sugar Bill, (Nat…

Yes Hon. (Dr) Oundo.

Hon. Speaker, as it has been a practice since the beginning of this Parliament, when a cabinet secretary is invited to come and respond to questions and requests for statements, we always receive the response in advance so that we can read, interrogate and prepare to question the cabinet secretary. Unfortunately, as of this moment when we are about to enter into that Order, we have not received th…

Hon. (Dr) Oundo, we invited the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Roads and Transport to come and respond to questions, but I am told he wrote a letter to the Hon. Leader of the Majority Party and the Clerk seeking to be exempted from coming in today because of some emergency at the Ministry, a request which the Hon. Leader of the Majority Party has acceded to. He has advised me to convey that posit…

Let us have Hon. Mark Mwenje. He is not in the House. Members who came in for questions - and I do not believe you only came in for questions - hold your horses to the two Wednesdays down the line. You will be able to interrogate the Cabinet Secretary. That also means that any Members with other questions to the Ministry of Roads and Transport will be listed at that time.

Is there something else? There is a General Statement by the Chairperson, Public Investments Committee. Where is Hon. Wamboka, Member for Bumula? Hon. Deputy Speaker, I understand you also have a General Statement on Kenyan Athletes' performance at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Go ahead.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I want to join my colleagues in congratulating our athletes and correct Hon. Julius Melly that it is not only Elgeyo Marakwet County, Nandi County and Uasin Gishu County where athletes come from but rather, they come from all over Kenya. We have serious athletes from Kisii County. We have Munyao, the fifth best marathoner in the world from Ukambani, and others from all ove…

Hon. Atandi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. If there is something that makes me happy as a Kenyan, it is when our athletes are on the track in those foreign countries and are leading in their respective races while leaving everyone behind. It always makes me think more like a Kenyan. At such moments, I always forget being a politician. I even forget my ethnic background. Unfortunately, this is also the envy of many …

more in athletes by supporting and coaching them to enable them use the resources they earn properly so that those resources do not become a curse to them. Hon. Speaker, many of our athletes are running away from Kenya to go and run for other countries. When you engage most of them, they say that they have been forced out of this country. As a country and as Parliament, let us find a way in which…

Thank you. We will end there. Hon. Boss, being a lawyer yourself, I am sure you know that you can write to the Ministry and tell the Cabinet Secretary to take up this matter because I see a binge of racism in it. When white people win races, nobody raises a question. But, when our girls and boys beat the world, all manner of inexplicable questions are asked. I join you and the rest of the House in…

Hon. Speaker, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , I wish to request for a statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure regarding the status of funds allocated to Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) . Hon. Speaker, the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) was allocated additional funds under the 22 per cent and 10 per cent Road M…

Hon. Mwenje, the Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport and Public Works was supposed to be here today. He will be here on the first Wednesday after your two- weeks recess. Do you desire for your request for statement to go straight to the Chairperson of the Committee, who will come here struggling with an answer that he sometimes has no clear idea of? Do you prefer to turn your request for statem…

Cabinet Secretary to respond to you when we resume? It is up to you to decide. What do you prefer?

I will refer to your better judgement and prefer that the Cabinet Secretary responds. I can re-draft the request for statement into a question.

Re-draft the request for statement into a question and file it with the Table Office. I will direct the Clerk to include it among the Questions that will be responded to by the Cabinet Secretary when we resume after two weeks. Yes, Hon. T.J..

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. If my advice is agreeable, I would like to urge Hon. Mwenje that instead of just looking at Nairobi County, ask them to give us the statements for the entire country so that all the Members can interrogate those issues and we get to know each other.

Hon. Dick Maungu. Engineer. Hon. Dick Oyugi (Luanda, DAP–K) : Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I wish to seek your indulgence on a matter, now that the Cabinet Secretary who was supposed to come did not do so. I had raised some Questions at the Table Office about six months ago. Those Questions were not put on the Order Paper today. I ask that you direct that they be part of the Questions that the Cabinet…

Were they on roads? Hon. Dick Oyugi (Luanda, DAP–K) : Yes.

Mr. Tiampati, ensure that Hon. Dick Maungu’s Questions are included on the list. Hon. Melly, you said that you had a response to a request for a statement by Hon. Oku Kaunya. I do not see him in the House. He is here. So, you can respond to both Questions. Are you responding on behalf of the Committee?

Yes.

Go ahead. Hon. Kaunya is at the back.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to respond to a request for a statement on the status of supply of training equipment to Chamasiri Technical and Vocational College (TVC) by Hon. Oku Kaunya. Reference is made to a letter Ref. No.058 dated 26th September 2024 from the National Assembly requesting for a comprehensive response to a request for a statement regarding delayed delivery of modern training…

Hon. Kaunya, are you satisfied with that response?

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. I am satisfied so far because I can confirm that the first batch of the equipment arrived on the 3rd of this month after I raised the Statement. I am glad that the Statement has confirmed that the next batch will arrive on 5th November 2024. I will endeavour to confirm receipt of the equipment when we come back. However, I want to note one important thing. The c…

We will let it lie there. Hon. Members, I want to acknowledge the presence of learners from Mukui Primary School from Mathioya Constituency in Murang’a County, who are seated in the Speaker’s Gallery. On my behalf and that of the whole House, I welcome the learners and their teachers to the House of Parliament. Next Order.

I can see it is a resumption of debate. Member of Parliament for Manyatta was the last one on the Floor. He had a balance of six minutes, but he is not here. If you want to contribute to this debate, kindly press the intervention button. Since there is no continued interest to debate this matter, I call upon the Mover to reply. Hon. Bishop Kosgei is going to reply on behalf of the Committee. Give …

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. On behalf of the Chairman of our Committee, Hon. Dan Wanyama, I beg to reply. I wish to thank Members for their immense contributions in support of the Second Reading of the Kenya National Library Service Bill. It goes without saying that the

advancement of knowledge is key to the growth of a prosperous nation. Therefore, the importance of this Bill in advancing knowledge cannot be over-emphasised. Hon. Deputy Speaker, various issues that were raised by Members have been noted, and they are all critical with regard to the development of libraries for the benefit of the whole country. The Committee will continue to engage the Kenya Nat…