Senate · Morning Sitting

Clerk, do we have quorum. Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly ring the Quorum Bell for 10 minutes.

[(The Clerk-at-the-Table consulted with the Speaker)]

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]

Order, hon. Senators. I am informed that we have Quorum. Clerk, you may proceed to call the first Order.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport the following Question.

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. First of all, I thank you for according me this opportunity to

respond to questions from the Senators. As I have said before in my previous appearances, it is always my greatest pleasure to come back to the Senate and perform my constitutional responsibility to be accountable to the people of Kenya, through this important august House. I beg to respond as follows-

Kibwezi but even along the road between James Gichuru to Rironi and many others across the country. I thank you.

Hon. Wambua, you have the opportunity to ask two supplementary questions. You can ask both of them or you may ask one and be the last to ask a supplementary question after your colleagues have asked their supplementary questions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I am well guided. I will ask my two supplementary questions at a go. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his response. I believe he is just being honest on this one. This is because he has mentioned that I have been on this matter for the longest time. In this Senate, there is no matter that has engaged the Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing in terms of ques…

Sen. Wambua, you are giving a speech. What is the question?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is very difficult to just ask a direct question on a matter like this. Allow me to pave my way to the Question. I beg you.

Then do it quickly.

Thank you. An. Hon. Senator: On a point of order.

How can there be a point of order on a Question?

Proceed to ask your question, Sen. Wambua.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, the question to the CS is:

These people have been deprived of their land from 2019. They have not been cultivating on that land but they are being told there is no money. When will this money be available and when will these people be compensated? The second question is related to the first one. Cabinet Secretary, hon. Murkomen, belongs to the same church; the African Inland Church (AIC). Some of the persons affected by th…

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, give us an indication when these people will be compensated. Secondly, must you know somebody in your Ministry for you to be compensated? Be very brief. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I see the questions are many, so I will just go to the point. The first thing is that the question of land compensation is not on…

They have to receive an allocation from KeNHA before paying somebody. If they are paying other people without us giving them money, we then must thank NLC and ask them where they are getting this money. It will be unimaginable to think that NLC would get money from any other source other than the one being transmitted from KeNHA. We own up to the position that we have only given Kshs300 million a…

Proceed, Sen. Munyi Mundigi.

Thank you, Bw. Spika. Yangu ni kumuliza Waziri kulingana na Serikali ya Kenya Kwanza kuhusu mambo ya Kaunti. Kutoka Nairobi hadi Makutano ni kilomita 100, ni highway na tunasafiri kwa kilomita 40. Kutoka Makutano, Mwea, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi hadi Meru ni masaa matatu.

Sen. Mundigi, nimetoa kauli mwanzoni kwamba, Swali ambalo Maseneta watauliza ni lazima liwe na uhusiano na lile ambalo liliulizwa mwanzo na Seneta Wambua. Kwa hivyo, usiulize swali ambalo halina uhusiano na lile ambalo limeulizwa mwanzo. Endelea.

Lakini Bw. Spika, swali langu linahusu barabara na vile tunaweza kusaidia.

[(Laughter)]

Seneta, ni sawa kuwa linahusiana na barabara---

[(Loud consultations)]

Bw. Spika, nakuomba ruhusa tukimaliza maswali yote - kwa sababu Waziri yuko hapa na mara nyingi tumekuwa tukimhitaji na anakosa kuja

ijapokuwa ni mchapa kazi - utaniruhusu dakika ya mwisho nimuulize swali hilo la kutoka Embu.

Endelea. Ikiwa pengine Waziri ana ufahamu na hayo mambo atakujibu. Ikiwa hawezi kukujibu kwa sasa, atakwambia. Endelea.

Asante, Bw. Spika. Najua Waziri akili yake iko timamu kabisa---

Uliza swali, Sen. Munyi Mundigi

Swali langu, Bwana Waziri, ni hili: Hizi kaunti tatu za Embu, Tharaka-Nithi na Meru, tuko Mt. Kenya East na tunateseka sana. Kutoka hapa kwenda Makutano, ni kilomita 100 na tunaenda kwa dakika 40. Lakini kutoka Makutano kwenda Mwea, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi na Meru tunaenda kwa masaa matatu. Tunakuuliza kama kuna mipango ya kupanua barabara hiyo ipanuliwe ili hata sisi watu wa Mt. Kenya East tuweze ku…

[(Laughter)]

Hon. Senators, since the hon. Cabinet Secretary has eight questions to respond to, and I can see the trend we have taken in the first question; we may spend a lot of time just prosecuting the first Question. If you agree with me, allow the Cabinet Secretary to respond to the eight Questions, and then from there we can have supplementary questions.

Sen. Wambua, proceed to ask Question No. 15. After that, I will allow the Senator for Nandi to ask the questions and then we move Senator for Kisumu and Senator for Meru and lastly, Senator for Bungoma. Thereafter we proceed to supplementary questions. Question No.015

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport the following Question.

Cabinet Secretary? The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Ithookwe Kitui Airstrip is a code 2C Aerodrome, capable of handling aircraft with a passengers' capacity of 37 and has a runway with a tarmac surface with dimensions of 930 meters long and 18 meters wide. It is located about two kilometres out of Kitui Town. The pavement has deteriorated with potholes…

[(Hon. Kipchumba Murkomen)]

Before the contract could be signed, it was noted that there were outstanding land matters that are yet to be resolved and therefore the contract could not be executed to enable the commencement of the works. Following a joint boundary verification and establishment of beacons that was undertaken by the Kenya Airports Authority, the National Land Commission, the District Surveyor, and the County …

Question No.16. Sen. Kathuri? Question No.016

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport the following Question.

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Mr. Speaker, with your indulgence, because I see the road questions are fairly similar, whether it is in Meru County or Nandi County, in terms of, this road has not been done this; let me just make a very brief statement on the status of the roads in just three minutes. First, I noticed that f…

You have heard the President making publicly his intention, including in meeting that we were together in Bomet, that the next financial year we should provide a budget allocation of over Kshs100 billion so that then we can quickly complete the pending bills. The second issue is road maintenance. The enabling legislations governing the resource of road maintenance such as the Road Maintenance Lev…

have been done but were instead postponed and deferred. Specifically, the projected resources needed for the road maintenance levy fund for 2024/2025 Financial Year is Kshs110 billion while the anticipated collection for that same year is Kshs69 billion, a shortfall of about Kshs40 billion. This funding shortfall risks reversing the trend of ever-improving road pavement conditions that citizens a…

budgeting up to the inspection and acceptance of contracted goods, services and works, use of standard bidding documents and adherence to the set evaluation criteria has been paramount---

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, just a minute. What is your intervention Sen. Kathuri?

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to save the Cabinet Secretary, my friend, Hon. Murkomen, some minutes. I am satisfied with the explanation on Part (d) . However, I shall make a comment on the other part. I am okay with it. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am happy not to reread the statement again because it was submitted to Parliament earlier. I am gla…

Thank you. Senator for Nandi County, proceed. Question No.011

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport the following Question.

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond to Question No.012. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads, Transport and Public Works (Hon. Murkomen) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, this requires straightforward answers. I will just read the answers.

Senator for Nandi, proceed to ask Question No. 013. Question No.013

Senator for Nandi, proceed to ask Question No. 013. Question No.013

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I am glad that I am responding to this question having given a global picture of the roads in the country. Already I had shared with you the situation in the country, thanks to the question from the Deputy Speaker. Therefore, I will just go straight to t…

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I am glad that I am responding to this question having given a global picture of the roads in the country. Already I had shared with you the situation in the country, thanks to the question from the Deputy Speaker. Therefore, I will just go straight to t…

This has culminated in the accumulation of significant pending bills from certified works. Contractors have consequently been reluctant to complete the works in the affected projects, citing non-payment of their dues. The Government through the National Treasury is working on a mechanism to facilitate significant reduction of clearing of pending bills in the near future. This will result in the f…

Senator of Kisumu County, proceed to ask Question

Senator of Kisumu County, proceed to ask Question

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The total number of farm tractors presented for post-accident inspection are as tabulated below-

Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may proceed to respond. The Cabinet Secretary for Roads and Transport (Hon. Murkomen) : Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The total number of farm tractors presented for post-accident inspection are as tabulated below-

Senator for Bungoma, you may proceed to ask Question No. 031. Question No.031

Senator for Bungoma, you may proceed to ask Question No. 031. Question No.031

There are other two Questions from Senator for Kirinyaga County, Sen. (Dr.) Murango. Sen. Orwoba had approached the Chair and informed me that she had been requested to ask the Questions on behalf of the Senator. Proceed to ask the two Questions simultaneously. Question No.006

There are other two Questions from Senator for Kirinyaga County, Sen. (Dr.) Murango. Sen. Orwoba had approached the Chair and informed me that she had been requested to ask the Questions on behalf of the Senator. Proceed to ask the two Questions simultaneously. Question No.006

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir.

Let the Cabinet Secretary respond to the Questions by Sen. Sifuna and Sen. (Dr) Murango. I am informed that Sen. (Dr.) Murango wrote a letter to indicate that he would not be around. Sen. Oketch Gicheru will hopefully come back and ask his Question. The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Hon. Machogu) : Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir and hon. Members for according me this opportunity to respond…

Proceed with the other Questions. Give answers to the other Questions from Kirinyaga County. The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Hon. Machogu) : Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The Kirinyaga issue is that Kirinyaga University is a public university that was---

If possible, you can just summarise the responses. The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Hon. Machogu) : Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. That is better.

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir and hon. Members for according me this opportunity to respond to the number of Questions raised by the Senate. I will start with the Question from the Senator of Nairobi City County, which is about this particular school. The Visa Oshwal Primary School was registered as a public school by the Ministry of Education vide Registration Certificate Number PE/572/97 da…

Proceed with the other Questions. Give answers to the other Questions from Kirinyaga County. The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Hon. Machogu) : Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The Kirinyaga issue is that Kirinyaga University is a public university that was---

If possible, you can just summarise the responses. The Cabinet Secretary for Education (Hon. Machogu) : Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. That is better.

Kirinyaga University is a chartered public university since 2016 and the total number of staff at this particular university is 284. Out of these 284 staff, 69 are from the local community, that is, Kirinyaga County, whereas 215 are from other counties across the country. The total number of support staff is 48. Out of this, 30 are from the local community, that is, Kirinyaga County, which repres…

year. We have tabulated the number of classrooms we require countrywide as per county. I have attached the table there for Members to confirm. The Government has also taken proactive steps to ensure that the infrastructure requirement for the year 2025 is in place. For that particular purpose, the Government has allocated a conditional grant of Kshs3.39 billion to the National Government Constitu…

Question No.018