Tuesday, 3rd March 2026

Serjeant-at-Arms, ring the Quorum Bell.

Hon. Members, we now have a quorum to transact the business of the House.

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

Reports of the Auditor-General and financial statements for the year ended 30th June 2025 and the certificates therein in respect of the following institutions—

The Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning.

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

Report of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning on its consideration of the National Infrastructure Fund Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 1 of 2026) .

The Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure. Wapi Hon. GK? The Leader of the Majority Party, do you know anything about them? Where is the Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Blue Economy, Water and Irrigation?

Next Order. Is Hon. Rahab Mukami, Member for Nyeri, in? What about the Chairperson, Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, Hon. Kimani?

Okay, did you table the Safaricom report? Later today or tomorrow? Tomorrow afternoon. So, you have no notice of Motion to give.

Next Order.

of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 and Standings Order 232A (7) and

Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs and the Public Investments Committee.

introduction of this Bill underscores his commitment to strengthening professionalism and standards within the sector. Regrettably, it had not yet been introduced in the House. It is my hope that the Procedure and House Rules Committee will explore procedural avenues to ensure legislative business continuity in the event of the sponsors' premature exit.

Hon. Members, since joining Parliament in 2013, the late Hon. Ng’eno has maintained a close connection with the people of Emurua Dikirr, serving them with passion. He was a strong advocate for education, facilitating the provision of school buses to several institutions and ensuring the timely disbursement of National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) bursaries to needy students within his constituency. He was also deeply engaged in community welfare, selflessly supporting vulnerable families facing hardship and playing a key role in mediating inter-community conflicts in his cosmopolitan constituency.

Hon. Members, in recognition of his astute leadership, contribution to nation building, and marshalling the legislative business of the House, the late Hon. Ng’eno was conferred the Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) by the President in December 2023.

The late Hon. Ng’eno truly appreciated African culture and passionately promoted cultural activities, local talents, and the welfare of local artists. He was the founder and patron of the Kalenjin Music Festival, an annual event that will enter its fourth edition this year. For the record, the tragic helicopter crash ended his life when he was returning home from Endebess, where he had graced the 35th anniversary of local artist Kim Kim’s music.

In his demise, Parliament and indeed the whole nation have lost a devoted legislator, servant of the people, a problem-solver, mentor, an advocate for justice and above all, a paragon of courage. On behalf of the House, the Parliamentary Service Commission and on my own behalf, I convey our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the late Hon. Ng'eno and the five individuals who also lost their lives alongside him.

Hon. Members, in order to accord a befitting send-off to our departed colleague and the five other victims, I have constituted an ad hoc Parliamentary Funeral Planning Committee to coordinate funeral arrangements. The Committee comprises the following Members—

Dikirr Primary School, Narok County. This will be followed by the funeral service and interment at his rural home in Emurua Dikirr on Friday, 6th March 2026.

Consequently, this afternoon, the House Business Committee has resolved to suspend business for the morning Sitting of Wednesday, 4th March 2026, to allow members to attend the requiem service. You are aware that a Supplementary Order Paper has been published to facilitate a Motion to suspend the Sitting tomorrow morning.

Finally, permit me to record the thanks of the House to the County Government of Narok, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration and to all those who went above and beyond the call to facilitate the airlifting of the bodies of the deceased from Nandi to Nairobi. I also thank Hon. Members who have visited and continued to console and fellowship with the family and friends of the late Hon. Ng’eno. A team of 25 Members and I visited his home this morning to console the family. Hon. Ng’eno’s father-in-law is one of our former colleagues, Hon. Stephen ole Ntutu, who served with me in this House and the first Senate after the 2010 Constitution. He is also a brother to one of our colleagues, Hon. Kitilai ole Ntutu.

Hon. Members, in honour of our departed colleague, Hon. Johana Ng’eno Kipyegon, and those who perished alongside him, I request that we all be upstanding and observe a moment of silence.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to move the following Procedural Motion:

THAT, pursuant to the provisions of the Standing Order 30, and in honour of the late Member for Emurua Dikirr, Hon. Johana Ng’eno, and the other five distinguished Kenyans who lost their lives alongside him through a tragic helicopter accident on Saturday, 28th February 2026, this House resolves—

indicated, of our colleague Hon. Ntutu Kitilai and the entire Ntutu family who are in-laws to Hon. Ng’eno.

Are you signing away your right to speak after this Motion?

Yes.

Okay.

I thought I could do that now. On behalf of my family and the people of Kikuyu Constituency and, indeed, the entire House, I wish to convey my deep condolences to Hon. Ngeno's family and the families of the other departed passengers who were with him, including Captain Were. I knew Captain Were very well, and I have flown with him.

Hon. Speaker, you remember only the other weekend, I was somewhere with you, and you flew from where we were to Western Kenya with Captain Were. He was a very experienced captain. He once served in our Defence Forces, left and went on to a career in civilian aviation, where he was doing very well. He was also a very careful and dedicated officer in his service as a captain.

Hon. Speaker, one of the other gentlemen is Teacher Carlos, who is fondly referred to as Mwalimu Carlos. His name is Keter. I knew Mwalimu Carlos in 2016/2017. The Leader of the Majority Party in the Senate and I, in the 2017 campaigns, were designated by the then President to go and campaign in Narok County. I spent a lot of time in Emurua Dikirr, where I met Carlos. He was a gentleman because he served as a campaign manager for the man running against Hon. Johana Ng’eno. He was organising all our rallies in Emurua Dikirr whenever we were there. We put up a spirited campaign, but Hon. Johana Ng’eno put up a very strong defence. Notwithstanding the Jubilee Party wave in 2017, Hon. Johana Ng’eno, on a KANU ticket, trounced us, and we lost that election. I am saying this because Carlos was running the campaign for Keter, the candidate who ran against Johana in 2017.

As fate would have it, years later, Carlos made up with Johana, and that speaks to the person that Johana Ng’eno was. He held no grudges against anybody. They made up, and in fact, I dare say that Carlos was recently recruited as a teacher by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) , and the Member of Parliament for Emurua Dikirr, Hon. Johana Ngeno, had a big hand in helping him get recruited. Therefore, I am speaking of people I knew in person ― Hon. Ng’eno, Captain Were, and Mwalimu Carlos Keter. We have lost fine gentlemen, and it is, indeed, very sad for all the families. I convey my condolences to all six families who have lost their loved ones.

Hon. Speaker, we campaigned against Hon. Johana Ng’eno in 2017, as I have said, and I remember I also shared this at his home yesterday. When he returned to this House after the 2017 elections, we were friends because we had joined together in 2013. We continued our friendship, and I remember telling him there were only two reasons I had campaigned against him. One, because he was still single and he had the energy to fight; and two, because he was at another party against the Jubilee Party.

Order, Hon. Member! Is it the Member from Isiolo? Walk to the Bar and do what is necessary. Even in the middle of excitement, do not violate House rules.

Hon. Speaker, you must forgive Hon. Mumina. She crossed the Floor in excitement. You know, she just delivered a seat to UDA in Isiolo South, together with the other Members from Isiolo. So, she is very excited.

Hon. Ng’eno, as I said of him, never held grudges against anybody. I remember when we came back after the 2017 elections, together with a few colleagues, including my good friend here, Hon. Nelson Koech, we told Hon. Ng’eno that he had completed one term in Parliament as a bachelor and could not continue as a bachelor. He told us: “Watch this space”. I am glad that within the last Parliament, Hon. Ng’eno found a good wife and married the love of his life, Naina Ntutu, who is now a widow. Hon. Nelson Koech, whom I had challenged Hon. Ng’eno with, was the best man in that wedding.

It is sad that now the widow and the children are left without a father and husband, and the people of Emurua Dikirr have been left without a very dedicated leader. Hon. Ng'eno would go to great lengths to fight for his people and defend their rights. More importantly, he ensured that he delivered for them as a Member of Parliament, in terms of development. Hon. Ng’eno has done exemplary work. For those who had been to Emurua Dikirr when it was part of the larger Kilgoris... The Member for Kilgoris will bear me witness, before the constituency was split into Kilgoris and Emurua Dikirr, it was a very large constituency. Therefore, previous Members of Parliament had difficulty developing the entire constituency as it was. However, Hon. Ng’eno has done exceptionally well as a Member of Parliament over his three terms. I say that because I was in Emurua Dikirr late last year at the invitation of Hon. Ng’eno for his bursary award ceremony, and as he handed over a number of school buses to schools. The people of Emurua Dikirr were very proud of the performance of their Member of Parliament. He was a strong defender of their rights.

This House, the people of Emurua Dikirr, his family and, indeed, the entire country, are poorer without Hon. Ng’eno in their midst. We will celebrate his life as we mourn him. Hon. Ng’eno was a peacemaker and had never in any way entertained ethnicity, as you will see even in his clips. I was watching a number of his clips, and everywhere he spoke, he spoke against ethnicity. He was a unifying leader. I pray that as we mourn him and lay him to rest towards the end of this week, we will emulate Hon. Ng’eno in his steadfast leadership and his unifying character. More importantly, may we remember not only the family of Hon. Ng’eno, but also those of Were, Carlos and the other departed compatriots and countrymen who lost their lives on Saturday evening.

In conclusion, let us also mourn and celebrate their lives, bearing in mind that they have families that are hurting. I say this because I lost a relative some months ago. I know what it feels like, and I know many of you who have lost relatives understand. It is unfair and rather callous for any one of us who purports to be a leader to be using the death of any Kenyan for political gain. I say this because I saw the pain of the family, the widow, Hon. Ng’eno's relatives, and Carlos and others, having to learn of his passing from a careless statement by a leader at a political rally in Nyahururu. It is not just shameful; it is so callous. Even before the immediate family gets to know of the loss of a loved one, you are there in a political rally announcing their death. It is shameful. Two years ago, I described someone here by saying, ‘there was a dark man with a very black heart.’ I am now vindicated.

Hon. Speaker, you were at the late Hon. Ngeno’s house this morning. You saw how distraught that family is. It is sad that somebody who purports to be a leader can use such an opportunity to be seen as celebrating the passing on of another human being. I do not know what he leads. He leads nothing. That is what a man with a black heart does. That is what those with dark souls do. Shame on them. We mourn our colleague and the five other Kenyans who lost their lives, including our friend Captain Were, who, as I said, was a very dedicated and careful captain.

Let us not speculate on the cause of the deaths or the accident and allow the air traffic accident investigators to do their work. Let us also exercise caution wherever we move on the roads and in the air. Let us be aware of our surroundings, including the weather patterns, especially during this rainy season. May the souls of our departed colleague and the five other passengers rest in eternal peace. May God Almighty rest the souls of the departed in eternal peace and give comfort to their families. Allow me to end it there.

I beg to move and request Hon. Osoro to second. He may also use his time like mine.

Hon. Osoro. Use much less time. You have three minutes.

I will try. Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. I want to sign off my right to also speak after this Motion is passed. I would like to use this opportunity to also console the families of the departed souls of our great Kenyans

Hon. Members, I will allow you to eulogise the late Hon. Ng’eno and his colleagues who perished with him. The House Business Committee indicated that we give you two minutes, if not three, each. I want to assign this matter for 1 hour and 5 minutes, ending at 4.30 p.m.

Hon. (Dr) Pukose, you have two minutes.

Hon. Speaker, I stand to send my condolences to the people of Emurua Dikirr. I was with Hon. Johana Ng’eno in Endebess just before the tragic accident. I walked with the Member on the journey of supporting talent across the North Rift region and Mount Elgon area, all the way to Uganda. Whenever he visited, we would plan for him to stay the night. I would usually slaughter a goat so that we could spend more time together, but this time around, things took a tragic turn.

I have nothing else to say except that Hon. Ng’eno was a great man who supported people indiscriminately, especially the lowly and our artists. He gave his life to artists. At one time, he came to my constituency and helped raise funds for an artist called Kim Kim. I am very saddened and in shock. He was a close friend. May his soul rest in eternal peace until we meet again.

Hon. Robert Mbui.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On my own behalf, that of my family, and on behalf of the constituents of Kathiani, I rise to convey my condolences to the family, friends, and constituents of the late Hon. Johanna Ng’eno following his passing.

Hon. Johanna Ng’eno was a fine gentleman. I was privileged to have served with him for three consecutive terms in Parliament. He was a fiery politician and a strong defender of the people. We saw him confront the police many times when they appeared to harass or hurt the people he represented. Our country has lost a great leader. It is a sad moment.

I also urge those responsible for investigating such accidents to do so expeditiously so as to allay any fears or suspicions of mischief. I agree with the Leader of the Majority Party, who cautioned against politicising such matters as he moved this Motion. It was, however, also shocking to hear him spend so much time demonising the former Deputy President. He called him a man with a black heart. By doing so, he was also politicising the situation. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. He must be careful not to misuse the privilege of this House to malign others.

May the soul of Hon. Johanna Ng’eno rest in eternal peace.

Hon. Jane Kagiri. If we are all disciplined like that, it will go very well.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to eulogise our Chairman and colleague. On my own behalf, that of the great people of Laikipia County and my family, I convey my condolences to the families of the six departed souls. Of the six, three were personally known to me. One was Hon. Ng’eno, my

Chairperson in the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works. He was a great man who always brought us together.

It is interesting that just last week, after our Committee meeting, for the first time in the three years that we had worked together, we sat in Hon. Kimilu’s office to plan Committee matters and share a hearty laugh. Little did we know that it would be our last meeting with our Chairperson. The week before that, Captain Were visited Laikipia and spoke with my son, who expressed his desire to become a pilot. Captain Were advised him to always finish his homework.

It is with deep grief that we mourn our Chairperson, Hon. Ng’eno. May his soul and the souls of the other five departed Kenyans rest in eternal peace.

Hon. Sunkuli.

Hon. Speaker, on my own behalf and that of the people of Kilgoris Constituency, I rise to eulogise Hon. Johanna Ng’eno, the Member for Emurua Dikirr. Johanna was my constituent for many years when Emurua Dikirr was part of Kilgoris Constituency. We journeyed together in politics. At times we were competitors, and at other times we worked together. He was courageous and stood firmly by his word. He has left a significant mark on his constituency. Emurua Dikirr’s identity is closely intertwined with his legacy. He has left an indelible imprint as the first Member of Parliament for that area.

Although we often competed, we did so with dignity and maintained our friendship. I am going to bury my friend. We recently found even greater common ground, defending shared principles and expressing anger over similar issues. We will bury him on Friday. I urge Members to turn up in large numbers. The place is easily accessible. You can all come to Kilgoris and then proceed to Emurua Dikirr.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Hon. Hilary.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On behalf of the people of Kipkelion West Constituency, I join the House in condoling with the farming and friends of this great man. I first knew Hon. Johanna Ng’eno before 2007. We were young men then, under the political mentorship of the late Kipkalya Kones. A dark cloud of sorrow hangs over the Kipsigis community, as this is not the first time they have lost a leader through a plane crash. The late Kipkalya Kones and the late Hon. Lorna Laboso also perished in similar circumstances. I urge the people of Emurua Dikirr to remain calm and patient as they mourn their departed leader.

Hon. Johanna Ng’eno cannot be fully described in just a few minutes. He was a passionate defender of the people of Emurua Dikirr, the Kipsigis community, the Kalenjin nation, and Kenya at large. His passing leaves a significant leadership void. I assure our community that we shall rise again from the agony of this tragedy.

Finally, I urge the government to fast-track the implementation of all projects envisioned by Hon. Johanna Ng’eno, so that his constituents may benefit from the development that he intended for them.

Commissioner Makau.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On my own behalf, on behalf of my family, and on behalf of the people of Mavoko, I convey our condolences on the passing of Hon. Johanna Ng’eno. He was a gentleman who invited me to many of his functions. The last one I attended was a cultural event, which I greatly appreciated. I witnessed how deeply he connected with his people. He was truly loved. The crowd repeatedly chanted “Kingpin!” That demonstrated how widely his influence extended. It is no wonder that he met his untimely death in Endebess, far from his constituency, which is a testament to his national stature.

As we mourn the five other passengers who perished alongside him, the House must also re-examine the provisions of the Civil Aviation Act (No. 21 of 2013). We are all consumers of chopper services. We have seen that most pilots are not controlled when they venture out there. The pilots decide how the weather is. We need to review the regulations and focus on how to regulate chopper pilots. As it is, the situation is not good. I know that this was an accident. However, as the House with the mandate to make laws, we need to relook the Civil Aviation Act (No. 21 of 2013) to provide for the control of pilots during bad weather.

Hon. Johana Ng’eno was the only man from Kenya Kwanza Coalition who favoured me with many projects, unlike his best man.

Thank you very much.

Hon. Murugara.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. Allow me to also join the House in mourning and condoling with the family of the late Hon. Johana Ng’eno. I mourn with the great people of Emurua Dikirr and the entire Kipsigis community. We will remember Johana as one of the most astute legislators we have had here, especially on the positions he took on pertinent matters affecting his people. It was a no when he said no and a yes when he said yes. His contributions in the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works and the Liaison Committee were extremely valuable. We will miss this Member in the House.

I extend condolences and pole from the great people of Tharaka Constituency. He was a great friend of my people. As they listen to me, I would like to remind them that Johana Ng’eno came to Tharaka Constituency on 25th July 2025. That was not a mean feat because not many people visit that constituency.

Hon. Speaker, I commend you. You have actually visited my constituency not once or twice. You have done so more than thrice. Johana Ng’eno came with a team led by the Leader of the Majority Party and the Whip of the Majority Party. We were having an empowerment event for our young boda riders. He did many jigs with the local community, as a result of which we were able to raise Ksh8 million for that group. Sincerely, he was a true friend of Kenya. He was a true friend of Tharaka Constituency.

May his soul rest in everlasting peace.

Hon. Makali Mulu.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I join my colleagues in mourning our late brother. On my behalf, my family and the good people of Kitui Central, I send my deepest condolences to the family. I joined this House for the first time on the same day as Hon. Ng’eno. I would go for Hon. Ng’eno if asked to choose someone who championed the interests of his people. I would go for Hon. Ng’eno if asked to choose someone very principled, and I would stand by his principles.

May God's grace be sufficient for his family and the people of Emurua Dikirr. Let our colleague rest in eternal peace. Amen.

Chairman of the Parliamentary ad hoc Funeral Planning Committee, Hon. Melly. I would appreciate it if you could take a little time, as Hon. Makali Mulu did. Do not exhaust your two minutes. We will have many more people to speak.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to mourn and condole Hon. Ng’eno, together with the other departed passengers who were in the ill-fated craft. I also thank you for honouring me with the responsibility of chairing the 11-member burial committee. Hon. Ng’eno was more than a brother to me. He was a friend and a leader.

We joined this House together in 2013. I have to say that Hon. Ng’eno was a great inspiration to many of us when we came to the House. He would tell us how he went through the 2007 elections and how he was competing in the then larger Kilgoris Constituency before he contested in Emurua Dikirr.

Hon. Ng’eno was a man of the people. He actually took it upon himself to change the lives of the people of Emurua Dikirr. In fact, he built many schools. The constituency had very few schools. It had no roads. There were very few hospitals when he inherited it, or when it was carved out of the larger Kilgoris Constituency. Hon. Ng’eno went out of his way to change the lives of his community. He established infrastructure networks and improved education. He touched lives. More importantly, within this House, he mentored a number of Members. He even inspired many to serve the House.

I say pole to the family, to the nation, and to all of us. Asante sana.

Hon. Wamuchomba.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I join my colleagues in eulogising my colleague, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. I had the privilege of serving with him in the previous Parliament. I was not able to pronounce the name of his constituency during my first encounter with him. I come from a region where pronouncing an R and an L correctly is a challenge. He used to make fun of me for it. He would write down the name on a piece of paper and then ask me to pronounce it slowly, slowly.

The same patience and accommodation he had with my shortcomings, he had with his constituents, as he embraced talents, musicians, and talented young people. He promoted them to the extent that he could. I mourn a Member of Parliament who was passionate about the well-being of his people. He believed in justice for the people. He was a brave man who loved his family.

Rest in peace, my brother.

Hon. Bisau.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I also join my colleagues in mourning Hon. Ng’eno, who was the Chairman of my Committee. As a Committee, we had a very good moment with Hon. Ng’eno last Tuesday. It was one of the most exciting moments. As fate would have it, we never knew that we were seeing Hon. Ng’eno for the last time. That was last Tuesday. All of us in the Committee had a very good moment. I remember us moving to his home together with Hon. Rindikiri and the rest. It was a very trying moment.

I met Hon. Ng’eno adjusting his tie last Thursday, 26th February 2026. I told him, “Let me be your mirror, my Chairman.” He adjusted his tie and reminded me to join him in Endebess. I was unable to join him because I had other engagements with Members from Trans Nzoia County that Saturday. Surprisingly, while leaving our function on my way to another funeral on that same Saturday, I saw the same ill-fated chopper fly over where I was.

I will miss my Chairman with the many opportunities we had across the country and even abroad. I remember a visit to Singapore we went on together. He was a courageous and humanitarian man. He was very committed to uplifting others.

Rest in peace, Chairman, until we meet again.

Hon. Kangogo Bowen.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I join my colleagues in mourning Hon. Ng’eno on behalf of the people of Marakwet East, where he visited following the landslide tragedy almost three months ago.

As a country, we have lost a great man. As the Kalenjin nation, we have lost a hero and a very leader. Hon. Ng’eno, Hon. Pukose and I, and Hon. Ichung’wah and many of us here, joined Parliament together in 2013. Hon. Ng’eno and I have been very close since then. Hon. Ng’eno was a true leader who fought for his people. Emurua Dikirr Constituency is synonymous with Hon. Ng’eno. The only thing we can do now is to pray for the young family of our friend and colleague.

Because Hon. Ng’eno fought for the people of Emurua Dikirr on land issues, I ask the Government to handle the matter very carefully. His people should benefit even though he is

no longer with them. As a House and as the leadership of the Liaison Committee, we worked closely with Hon. Ng’eno. He was a great debater.

I wish his family well. May his soul rest in peace.

Hon. Passaris.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to stand with my colleagues in mourning the passing on of our Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. I remember his wife, Nalia and the children he has left behind. Nalia is a young wife who is now widowed.

Hon. Johana Ng’eno was a man of short temper, but the following day, you would not think he had quarrelled. He brought the Committee together. I hope that, since he was the first Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works, and housing being a major government agenda item, we shall one day name a housing estate after him. He pushed every button to ensure the Committee worked tirelessly, putting in place necessary laws, undertaking public participation, and overseeing projects. We travelled across the country inspecting projects and demanding the highest quality and deliverables.

On behalf of myself, my family and the great people of Nairobi County, I sent my condolences to his family and friends. We stand with the family in prayer. We are here to support them because that is what good people do for one another.

Hon. Nelson Koech.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. On my behalf, my family and the great people of Belgut, I take this opportunity to eulogise my friend, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. Hon. Speaker, as it has been said, Hon. Sudi and I were his best men when he solemnised his marriage to his now widowed wife. Johana Ng’eno was a man of many fronts. He was a fierce defender of the Kipsigis people in Narok. He was a fierce defender of those living in the Mau Summit area. He was a bold defender of the people of Emurua Dikirr and Angata Barikkoi. Land injustices were his driving and burning motto, ensuring that wherever the Kalenjin community lived, justice prevailed.

He will be missed dearly by the artists of this nation, particularly those from our backyard. Every year, he organised functions for them. I am sure that they will miss him. Many will miss his infectious laughter. They will miss his boldness and his confrontational politics. As Hon. Hillary said, he took over from my late father-in-law, Hon. Kipkalya Kones. In short, let me say to my friend, fare thee well till the trumpet of the Lord is blown and time is no more.

Dr Mwiti.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I join my colleagues in eulogising Hon. Ng’eno. I have known Hon. Ng’eno for the last three years that I have been in this House. We shared the same Floor. The late Ng’eno was in Room 213, and I was in Room 218. We shared the lift often and visited each other. I recognise his fearlessness and his commitment to his people. In many cases, we saw him fight and negotiate land matters of his people. We shall miss him.

May God rest Hon. Ng’eno in eternal peace?

Hon. CNN.

Hon. Speaker, let me join my colleagues in condoling with the family of Hon. Ng’eno. He was a friend to many people. He even visited my constituency, and no one knew about it. He was a good Member of Parliament who fought for the rights of his people.

Last week, I was with him in the gymnasium. He was keen on health matters. We laughed and discussed how we could hold elections in 2027. We discussed how we could collaborate to ensure that the majority of us return to Parliament. Hon. Ng’eno was a friend to many and a humble man. He loved everybody. We will miss him dearly.

On behalf of the people of Mwingi West Constituency and Kitui County, I join my colleagues in sending my condolences to his family, especially his young wife and children. They have been left feeling lonely. We pray to God to comfort them and give them fortitude to bear this loss.

May Hon. Ng’eno rest in eternal peace?

Hon. Tongoyo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I also rise to join the House in paying my condolences to the families and friends of the six Kenyans who lost their lives in the tragic helicopter crash. Of the six, five were known to me, including Carlos Mwalimu, a personal friend. Much has been said about Mr Were. He was a seasoned pilot. We lost great men.

Hon. Ng’eno was courageous and a go-getter. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He believed in social justice, fairness and equity. The motto of this House – For the Welfare of Society and the Just Government of the People – meant much to him. That is evident in what he did not just in Narok County, but also across the country.

Despite Hon. Ng’eno coming from Narok and a neighbouring constituency, we shared a lot. He used to sit next to me. We were desk-mates, and that is why I called his Vice Chairman to warm the seat. Despite the many political differences in Narok County, one could not tell. We used to be best of friends. We have lost a great leader, a defender of people and a friend.

Hon. Jayne Kihara.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to eulogise my friend and colleague, with whom I shared a lot, although we were not seen together most of the time. I sympathise with the young widow and her children because the journey ahead is long. I pray that God gives her grace, comfort and strength to bear this huge loss.

Hon. Ng’eno is known for fighting for his people. The clips that have been circulating show him barehandedly confronting policemen who had gone to kill his people. That is what we know him for. I agree that we should not politicise the matter. I wonder, between the Leader of the Majority Party and the former Deputy President, who has politicised the matter. The former Deputy President just said what he knew about Hon. Ng’eno and what he was to him. Telling us that the former Deputy President is a black man with a black heart is actually politicising the matter. Hon. Rigathi Gachagua was impeached, and the Leader of the Majority Party should just let him be. We are mourning a great man.

Leader of the Majority Party, just let him be. It is not necessary. We are mourning a great man who has left behind a young family. As he said, he got married at an advanced age.

May God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Hon. Major Bashir.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On my behalf and that of the people of Mandera North, I join my colleagues in condoling with the family, relatives and friends of our late colleague, Hon. Ng’eno. As I said, he was a great and courageous gentleman who fought for the rights of his people. He was also a Member of the Pastoralist Parliamentary Group. I worked with him very closely in that caucus. I express my deep condolences to the family and wish them all the best as they overcome this emotional grief.

Poleni sana na mtulie kabisa. Ahsante sana.

Hon. Mandazi.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. On my behalf and on behalf of the people of Chepalungu Constituency, allow me to extend my condolences to the family and friends of the late Hon. Ngong. He was commonly known among

his people as Chebombumbu and among his close allies as Chumindet. His people have lost him.

Chepalungu and Emurua Dikirr Constituencies are neighbours. We have cross-cutting issues and challenges. When I was elected to this House, Hon. Ngong held my hand. I have lost him as a friend and colleague. He loved the local artists, his people, and his young family that had been left behind. We pray to God that he keeps them well.

Hon. Ngong can be described by so many words. He was a very brave or courageous person who stood by his words. His no was a no while his yes was a firm yes. When the people of Angata Barikkoi wanted a shoulder to lean on, Hon. Ng’eno was always there for them. I was there yesterday. The people spoke bitterly about the loss of their leader. They told us that they had lost a person who was their title deed. We call upon the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to address the issues raised by Hon. Ng’eno so that the people of Emurua Dikirr...

Time is up. Let us have Hon. Kimani, the Member for Molo.

Ahsante sana, Mhe. Spika, kwa kunipa muda huu. Kwa niaba yangu na wananchi wetu wa Eneo Bunge la Molo, hasa wa eneo la Kapsinendet, Mariashoni, Sabtet na Sachangwan, ambao walimuenzi sana Mhe. Ngong, tunatuma pole zetu kwa familia yake, mke wake, watoto wake na jamii yote ya Eneo Bunge la Emurua Dikirr.

Nakumbuka tulifanya kazi vizuri sana na Mhe. Ng’eno tulipokuwa tukiunda sheria ya ujenzi wa nyumba. Wakati mwingi, tulikosana na watu wa mkono wa Serikali Kuu kwa sababu kuna mambo tuliona hayafai. Tuliwasilisha katika Bunge hili Ripoti ambayo imewezesha mpango wa ujenzi wa Nyumba za bei nafuu katika nchi yetu ya Kenya.

Pia, natuma pole zangu kwa familia ya rubani Were, ambaye alinibeba mwezi mmoja uliopita. Pia, natuma pole zangu kwa wandani wa Mhe. Ng’eno ambao walifariki katika hiyo ajali ya ndege. Kama viongozi, ni ukumbusho kwetu kwamba sisi sote tuko katika safari ambayo hatujui muda wala wakati. Jambo la maana ni kujiuliza, je tutakumbukwa kwa mambo gani? Je, wale watakaokuja kuongea baada yetu, wataweza kuongea mazuri kama vile tunavyoongea mema ya mwendazake Mwenyekiti wa Kamati ya Ujenzi, Mhe. Ngong?

May his soul rest in peace. Ahsante sana.

Hon. Maungu.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On my behalf, that of my family and the great people of Luanda Constituency, allow me to join my colleagues in saying a great pole following the demise of our colleague, Hon. Ng’eno, and the friends who travelled with him.

The late Ng’eno was a great leader. One of the things I always admired about him was his boldness or bravery. He spoke for his people many times. Therefore, the people of Emurua Dikirr have lost a leader who championed their rights. He supported young people’s talents. He hosted and supported teams. He was particularly instrumental in establishing the upcoming Kalenjin Museum. He brought the natives together and supported them in their adventures. We mourn him because he was a warm leader and a man with a great heart. I remember that at one time, he was so tough on police officers who were harassing his people. Since then, I kept on calling him the “arresting officer.” It was such a great interaction with him.

May Hon. Johana Ng’eno rest in peace.

Hon. Rindikiri.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I stand here to mourn my boss, Chairman and very close friend, the late Hon. Ng’eno. I was his assistant. I worked with a man who was difficult at the beginning, but I realised that he was one of the great leaders that we have in this House.

Hon. Ng’eno was not only a motivator but also someone to emulate in leadership and in championing the cause of success. He was a man who did not give up. When we faced

challenges in the Committee, we saw him behave like a leader, father, and mentor. We are aware that we did not have terms of reference for our Committee because housing was a new concept. Through his wise leadership, consultation and humility, we developed them, and they have made us very successful.

This man was a father, a community leader and a churchman. Many people do not know that. We have lost a great man and other strong people, particularly Captain Were, who is known by almost everybody in this country. I eulogise them. May the Almighty God stand with the young family.

Mwalimu Kombe.

Ahsante, Mhe. Spika, kwa kunipatia nafasi hii ili nitoe rambi rambi zangu, za jamii yangu na jamii pana ya Magarini. Nitamkumbuka Mhe. Ng’eno kwa ushujaa wake wa kupigania haki za wananchi wake, hasa kwa upande wa mashamba. Alikuwa mtu wa kusimama kidete kuhakikisha kwamba watu wake hawadhulumiwi kirahisi. Alikuwa na ushujaa wa kuweza hata kuvurutana na polisi, na hatimaye kuhakikisha kwamba watu wake hawahangaishwi.

Hakika katika Bunge hili, tutamkosa kiongozi shujaa na kiongozi mpenda watu na maendeleo. Niombe tu Mwenyezi Mungu, mwingi wa rehema, yule aliyeweza kunishika mkono nilipoachwa na baba nikiwa mdogo, aweze kuwashika mkono wale watoto wadogo waliowachwa, na akampe nguvu na hekima mjane ili aweze kuinua vijana kwa njia njema.

Mwenyezi Mungu ailaze royo yake mahali pema peponi palipo na wema. Na akaijalie kaburi yake kuwa bustani katika mabustani peponi.

Asante, Mhe. Spika.

Hon. Richard Yegon.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for this opportunity to eulogise our departed colleague. On my behalf, my family and the people of Bomet East, I would like to pass my sincere condolences to the family of the late Johana Ng’eno, who was very inspirational to some of us new Members of this House.

I want to mention what the Members of this House have not mentioned. We need to put serious legislation regarding flying aircraft, since it has taken the lives of so many people, including the late Saitoti, the late Kipkalya Kones, the late Lorna Laboso and now our colleague, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. We need to enact serious laws governing civil aviation to ensure that pilots follow the rules that prevent them from flying in extreme weather, as witnessed last weekend when our colleague was flown by chopper.

The weather was so bad. I am not going to pre-empt because we have left it to the investigative arms to look into it. We need them to be decisive and avoid flying the aircraft in very bad weather. I sincerely pass my deepest condolences to the family and the members of the Emurua Dikirr, including…

Hon. Liza Chelule.

Asante sana, Mhe. Spika…

Hon. Liza Chelule. I believe you are not Hon. Liza Chelule.

Huyu ni kiongozi mmoja aliyeleta watu wote katika nchi yetu pamoja. Ninaposema hivi, unakumbuka alitembea katika kaunti zote. Alikuwa amefika kiwango cha kupita nusu ya idadi ya kaunti zetu, akitembea kusaidia vijana ambao wanajihusisha na mambo ya uimbaji.

Nataka kuchukua nafasi hii kusema kuwa hakuna kiongozi mwingine ambaye amewajibika katika kazi yake na eneo bunge lake la Emurua Dikirr. Hakuna mwingine ambaye naweza kumfananisha. Kitu cha maana ambacho alisema akienda hivi juzi, ni kwamba sisi kama wananchi wa Kenya lazima tutekeleze kazi yetu kikamilifu na kwa kiwango ambacho wananchi watafurahia. Pia alisema tuweke amani katika nchi yetu ya Kenya. Kwa hivyo, nachukua nafasi hii kuwaambia wananchi wa Emurua Dikirr kwamba wakae chonjo, wapokee wageni wa Mhe. Johana Ng’eno hii Ijumaa wakati wa mazishi yake.

Mungu aweke…

Hon. Moroto, now you can legitimately speak. Mhe. Samwel Chumel (Kapenguria, UDA) : Asante sana, Mhe. Spika, kwa kunipa nafasi hii. Mhe. Ng’eno, ambaye tunaongea juu yake, ni mtu aliyesaidia vijana wengi sana wa West Pokot, Mt. Elgon hadi Uganda. Hakuwa na mpaka kwa usaidizi wake wa vijana. Vile tulivyo hapa saa hii, vijana wamekusanyika kutoka Uganda na Trans Nzoia kule Makutano kuwasha mishumaa kwa heshima yake na watakuja wote pande hii.

Sisi kama viongozi, tuendelee kushikilia kazi ambayo Mhe. Ng’eno alifanya. Alipozunguka, kuna shule ya wasichana alisema isaidiwe, na alikuwa anafuatilia kuhakikisha shule hiyo inajengwa. Kwa sababu kuna kamati na naibu mwenyekiti, alishikilia mpaka hiyo shule ya West Pokot ijengwe.

Otherwise, nasema Mungu amlaze mahali pema peponi. Ahsante.

Hon. Onyango K’Oyoo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for remembering me at last. I join my colleagues and, on behalf of my family and the people of Muhoroni and Nyando, send condolences to the people of Emurua Dikirr during this difficult time.

We joined the 13th Parliament with the late Hon. Ng’eno, together with the Leader of the Majority Party and a few people here. Hon. Johana Ng’eno and I shared one thing: we are people who believe in people first, then party leadership, and other bureaucrats later. As a result, we became very close and often consulted each other. I had difficulty pronouncing the name of his constituency, so each time I saw him, I called him “dik-dik,” and he would aptly respond and ask how Muhoroni was.

The people of Emurua Dikirr have lost a very serious leader. In Kalenjin land, this was, in my experience, a serious leader after the late Kipkalya Kones and the late Jean-Marie Seroney. He valued his people and did everything he could to protect their dignity and prosperity. As a friend, I was courting him to talk to those young musicians in Muhoroni, and he was planning to come. We will really miss him.

May God rest his soul in eternal peace. Amen.

Hon. Justice Kemei. Hon. Justice Kemei (Sigowet/Soin, UDA) : Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Before you proceed, we have 15 minutes to go. Can I cut it to one minute so everyone can speak?

Yes.

Hon. Justice Kemei, take one minute each so that everybody can have an opportunity.

Hon. Justice Kemei (Sigowet/Soin, UDA) : Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for the opportunity you have given me to join my colleagues in mourning the passing of the late Johana Ng’eno. I will be very brief. We joined Parliament together with him in 2013. He remained close to me, and I remember him visiting the constituency to work on a project at Kipsamoi. In his community, if people delay getting married, they are taken to a place called Kipsamoi. So,

when I took him to Kipsamoi Secondary School, he got married about one year later. He also joined my family at my father’s funeral and gave a generous contribution. I will always thank him for that. May God bless his family, and may his soul find favour with the Lord.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Taitumu.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity so that I can tender my condolences and those of the people of Igembe North to the people of Emurua Dikirr and particularly the entire Ng’eno family.

Hon. Ng’eno was a true servant of humanity. He was a role model, an icon and a person who believed in what he stood for. He was a true crusader, particularly for the downtrodden. He served people with dedication and passion. Not just the people of Emurua Dikirr but the entire country.

Hon. Rachael Nyamai.

Asante sana, Mhe. Spika, kwa kunipa fursa hii kupeana pole kwa familia ya Mhe. Ng’eno, ambaye ameaga. Tulikuja naye mwaka wa 2013. Ningependa kupeana pole kwa bibi yake, ambaye amebaki na watoto wadogo. Tumemuona na kumpa nguvu. Mhe. Ng’eno alikuwa anajua wakati wa kupiga kelele akitetea watu wake, na wakati wa kuzungumza pole pole ndio watu wake waweze kusaidika. Kwa watu wote wa Emurua Dikirr, kwa Wabunge wote, na kwako, Mhe. Spika, poleni.

Hon. Naomi Waqo. It is Emurua Dikirr.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for mentioning that. It is a bit difficult for many people. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to mourn our brother. On my behalf and on behalf of the people of Marsabit County, I extend our condolences to his family, his wife, and all his other loved ones. We have lost a very dedicated person. He was a strong leader who was passionate about serving his people and transforming lives, especially the likes of artists and young people in our society. Having been elected three times, he must have demonstrated his love, concern and ability to lead his people. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Hon. Millie Odhiambo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. On behalf of myself, my family and the people of Suba North Constituency, I also give my condolences on the demise of Hon. Johanna Ng’eno and the people he was with on that flight. I know many people have struggled to call his constituency, but I have always called him by his constituency. I call him Emurua Dikirr.

When I first came in as a nominated Member and sat on a redistricting committee, he came to our committee with delegations. He was so passionate that when he finally got elected, I only knew him as Emurua Dikirr. Since he got elected, I have been serving with him. We used to sit with him, compare notes and share. He was so committed to his constituency. Due to time constraints, I want to say that he was fearless, funny, resolute, principled, no-nonsense, and committed to justice.

Thank you. Member for Njoro.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. We are mourning our colleague, Hon. Ng’eno. On behalf of myself, my family and Njoro Constituency, we have sincerely lost a great leader, a man who was reliable and available even to us as Members of Parliament in our events. In my constituency, he has come many times. Therefore, we are really mourning a good, hardworking man. He is a man we struggled with so much while fighting for

our people as they were being evicted from their own farms in the Mau Forest. He is a champion who has fought to prevent his people from being evicted from their farms.

As we mourn, may we pray for the family and for peace among Kenyans. We also request that Kenyans remain peaceful and allow the investigating team to complete their work without incident. Thank you so much. May God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Hon. Edith Nyenze.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. Let me take this opportunity to pass my condolences and those of my constituents to the family of the late Hon. Ng’eno. Especially for the young wife, pole for the loss of your loved one. There are so many lessons which we can learn from our colleagues. Some of them include: importance of youth involvement, leading by example, empowering others, courage and conviction, selflessness and dedication. Above all, we also learn that we are on a journey whose end we do not know. Let me pass my condolences.

Amb. Sigei.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for allowing me also to join my colleagues. I have just come from Hon. Ng’eno’s house in Karen. His constituency borders mine. The artists that Hon. Ng’eno was always fighting for are mainly based in Kaplong. As we speak, a whole delegation from Kaplong has gone to Emurua Dikirr to pay homage to this great man. This evening, our people in Kaplong and other parts of Sotik Constituency will light candles to remember this man. We have lost a great man in the Kipsigis land.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Asante sana, Mhe. Spika, kwa kunipa nafasi hii. Ama kweli Bunge hili limepoteza mtu ambaye kwamba kila aliyemjua alijua ukarimu wake.

Mhe. Spika, Bunge la kumi na mbili wakati mimi nilichaguliwa, tukiwa hatujaanza likizo ya kwanza, nakumbuka nikikutana na Mhe. Johana Ng’eno kwa constituency yangu kwenye kikao ambacho sikuwa nimemualika, na wala sikujua amealikwa na nani. Ilikuwa ni kikao cha vijana chipukizi katika talanta zao. Nikakutana naye, na sikuwa najua ni Mbuge. Hadi wakati alipotambulishwa ndio nikaona tuko Wabunge wawili. Mungu ailaze roho yake mahala pema peponi. Mhe. Johana Ng’eno aliacha mfano ambao wengi tutang’ang’ana sana kuingia kwa viatu vyake, na haitakuwa rahisi.

Hon. Rose Museo. Mhe. Rose Mumo

: Asante sana, Mhe. Spika, kwa nafasi hii. Nachukua wakati huu kumuomboleza Mhe. Ng’eno. Tulikuja Bunge naye mwaka wa 2013. Kwa niaba yangu, familia na watu wa Makueni Kaunti, tumepoteza kiongozi aliyekuwa shujaa. Tulimuenzi kwa vile alikuwa na upendo mkubwa sana kwa watu wa eneo bunge lake. Tuseme kuwa Kenya imepoteza, na inahuzunika. Tunaomba kuwa usafiri huu wa ndege uangaliwe sana kabla ya ndege kuondoka. Na pia rubani wafundishwe kuendesha ndege vyema ili maisha ya wa Wabunge yasiwe hatarini.

Pole sana kwa familia yote ya Mhe. Johanna Ng’eno.

Hon. Ndindi Nyoro.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. I join other Kenyans in mourning all six Kenyans who lost their lives last week in the tragic accident. We all know the Hon. Ng’eno was a leader of his own kind, courageous, always standing up for what is right for the people. I am sure we can all learn a lesson in this House. That every time given a choice between standing on the side of power and standing with what is right for the people, we must always choose to rise and be counted for standing with what is right for the people of Kenya, since they are the true bosses. We send our condolences to the family and

may peace that surpasses all understanding be with the family of Hon. Ng’eno and the five other Kenyans who lost their lives alongside him.

Thank you.

Member for Kesses.

Thank you so much, Hon. Speaker, for allowing me to stand here and eulogise my good friend. Indeed, I have lost a dear friend. Everyone knows that among the leaders who supported me during the campaigns is Hon. Johana Ng’eno. He came several times. Even after the election, he visited Kesses more than once on development and social issues. I worked with him.

In December last year, we travelled to Uganda to support Ugandan artists. He is a man who grew his people. In his constituency, it is said that since his election, the community has advanced in educating its children. More children have now gone to university. Sadly, we have lost him. I say fare thee well. To the family and the widow Naiyanoi, be strong and may God be with you. God will raise another leader to take over from him. May he rest in peace.

Hon. Nyakundi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I also want to convey my sincere heartfelt condolences on my behalf, on behalf of the people of Kitutu Chache North and on behalf of the team ground that the Speaker is part of. Ng’eno was a courageous man who fought for his people's rights. He was one person who was very passionate about what he did, from assisting artists to fighting for his people’s rights and affordable housing. Many people were scared of affordable housing. If there was one person who fought for affordable housing legislation and market reform, it was Johana Ng’eno. I remember a week ago, we were with him in Isiolo campaigning for Tubi Mohamed Tubi, who is now a Member of Parliament. We will remember him as a fine guy. He never walked with a bodyguard, but people just...

Hon. Mwalyo.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for the chance to eulogise our friend and brother in this House. I want to give my condolences to the families of the six people who perished in that plane crash. I pray that God will take care of their families and comfort them, for He is the greatest comforter. Ng’eno was a very good man. I approached him when I had a problem with affordable housing, and he helped me get whatever I wanted. I thank God that his life was an example to many. He has gone on to do a lot for the people of his constituency.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Janet Sitienei.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to eulogise with my colleagues the death of one of us. I wish, on my behalf and on behalf of the people of Turbo, to condole with the families of the late Hon. Ng’eno and the rest of the crew that perished with him. May God give them the strength to bear the loss. We have lost a great man. He was a man who stood by his constituents and loved them. May God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Hon. Makilap

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First and foremost, on my own behalf and that of my family and the people of Baringo North and Baringo County, I want to take this opportunity to condole with the familyof Johana Ngeno, his wife, his two children, his parents, the great people of Emurua Dikirr and the Kipsigis nation as a whole. We have lost a gallant soldier who actually came to Baringo North four times. He came to Kipcherere High School, Full Gospel Church, Poi, AIC Torolokwonin, and Full Gospel Church, Bartabwa. He always stood with me. He was a patriot who helped artists across Kenya, whether they were Christian or secular artists. He was a fanatic. I went to Kapkatet for that

particular purpose. Even as we rest his soul, let the Government investigate what Ng’eno was fighting for in …

Hon. Lenguris.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I want to send my condolences, my family’s and those of the people of Samburu to the family of Hon. Ng’eno, the people of Emurua Dikirr and the people of Narok County at large. We say pole. As we mourn the loss of Ng’eno, we lost three women on the same day who were killed by an elephant. So, our hearts are still very heavy, and we pray for all the affected families. May their souls rest in peace.

Thank you.

The Women Representative for Kericho County, Hon. Kemei.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I want to pass my message of condolence to the family of our great brother and Member of this House, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. Until his demise, he was a great Kipsigis son of our soil, a great warrior and a great defender of justice and our heritage. His laughter made many happy; it actually brought joy to many. Artists were happy with him. I remember one time I asked him why he mixes Christian and secular artists, and he said that if he brought only Christian artists, many people would not attend. He agreed to separate them next time so that everybody else can join in. May his soul rest in peace.

Hon. Komingoi.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for allowing me to eulogise my friend, Johana Ng’eno. The people of Kenya, the housing industry, and the people of the Great Rift Valley are mourning. My sympathies also go to the staff who worked with Johana Ng’eno, as well as to the people who may have depended on him, directly or indirectly. They are now feeling the loss. I pray that God will keep them and watch over them all, together with the five that perished with him. I pray that they will be kept well by the Lord in all their endeavours in this life.

I thank you.

Hon. Martin Owino, we are coming to an end. Be quick.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. On behalf of the Ndhiwa community, Hon. Ng’eno did a harambee for us in Ndhiwa. He was a guy who did not have boundaries when it came to serving Kenyans – allow me to express my condolences and strength to the family and to the entire nation. He was a national figure. May God bless the family and keep them strong.

Hon. Muthende

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for this opportunity to join my colleagues in eulogising a great son of Kenya. I wish to pass my condolences on behalf of my family and my constituents of Mbeere North to the family, especially the immediate family, for this loss. I ask Kenyans to pray for this young family. I also want to ask my colleagues not to forget that our colleague has left behind a young family. We should be there for them. Words alone will not count in this difficult situation, but prayers and our presence will.

Thank you.

Hon. Kitany

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I wish to pass my condolences to the family and the people of Emurua Dikirr for the loss of Mhe. Johana Ng’eno and the other five people who perished with him in the accident. We all remember Johana Ngeno. I knew him way before he joined Parliament. He was always a very happy soul. When I came to Parliament as a first-timer, he always took the time to walk us through what needed to be done. I remember one time when I was actually moving a Motion

in this House, and I did not know what to do. He walked across to help me move it. As I conclude, I wish to thank the people of Nandi and the people of Mosop who went out of their way, especially one girl who had just learnt nursing…

Hon. Sabina Chege.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I take this opportunity to eulogise my friend, who joined Parliament in 2013 and is a strong leader. I remember when we were going to Narok to get his young wife. Hon. Ng’eno was very happy, ever smiling. To his wife and children, may God console them. As leaders, let us support the family and, most importantly, let us love one another, because we never know what tomorrow holds. Fare thee well, Hon. Ng’eno, and the other workers who were with him on the plane. May all their families be consoled. Thank you.

Hon. Sirma.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to eulogise my great friend, Hon. Johana Ng’eno. Ng’eno was a person of principle. He was a person who would stand on his own and become what his people would like to be. He came to this Parliament on three different tickets, not one, because it was his people who determined. He would have come earlier, in 2007, but because of the clashes, he was not able to come. What we are saying is that the people of Emurua Dikirr have truly lost, and we feel equally that we have lost a warrior and a leader. May the Almighty God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Thank you.

Hon. Members, we shall end here. Thank you very much to all of you who have expressed your condolences to the family and friends, not only to Johana Ng’eno, our colleague, but also to Captain Were, whom many of you said you knew. In fact, Captain Were flew Sen. Aaron Cheruiyot, Farouk Kibet and I two weeks ago from Narok to Kakamega and back to Nairobi. He is someone many of us have dealt with, as well as the staff and friends of Hon. Ng’eno, who were with him. As I said earlier, we have passed a Motion that we will not sit tomorrow morning.

The requiem mass will be held in a church in Karen called NGC. I believe it is somewhere opposite the Catholic Church. I encourage all of us to be seated by 8.30 a.m., so that by 9.00 a.m. the service begins, and by 12.00 or 12.30 p.m. we return to start Parliament at 2.30 p.m. Once again, we condole with the family, collectively and individually. Those of you who can, please also go to Emurua Dikirr on Friday to join the President and many other Kenyans to bid farewell to Hon. Ng’eno and our other Kenyans.

I direct the Clerk that the eulogies made here by Hon. Members, and the condolences by at least 50 of you this afternoon, be printed and sent to the family for their records.

Next Order.

Hon. Members, we go back to requests for statements. Hon. Abubakar Talib.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise, pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c) , to request a Statement from the Chairperson of the Departmental

Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security, Hon. Tongoyo? He is not here. Any Member of the Committee? Leader of the Majority Party, instruct them to bring a response in two weeks or at least the week we resume after the short recess.

Next is Hon. Ojiambo Oundo. Is he in the House?

We go to response to statements. Hon. Koech, are you ready?

Go ahead. Is Hon. Onchoke in the House? Yes, he is there.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. This is a response to a Statement sought by Hon. Charles Onchoke regarding the reported coercion of Kenyan citizens

to join the Russian military and the whereabouts of Mr Clinton Nyapara Mogesa and Mr Justus Mayienda Ombati in Russia. I will go straight to the response to avoid wasting time. The response is as follows.

On the whereabouts of Mr Clinton Mogesa and Mr Justus Ombati, the Ministry, both at headquarters and through our Embassy in Moscow, has limited access to Kenyans in distress unless the matter is reported by the family or diaspora leadership. This is why a 24-hour diaspora call centre was established under the State Department for Diaspora Affairs to receive distress calls, contact family members, and serve as the first point of contact for such cases.

At the mission level, the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow has continuously requested the Russian authorities to grant access to information to ascertain the actual number of Kenyans involved in the Special Military Operation (SMO), those injured, and those deceased. These requests have been sent to the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The mission is, however, yet to receive a response to the numerous requests for information, consular assistance, or repatriation of Kenyans.

The Ministry, after confirmation from our Embassy in Moscow, wishes to report the following. There has been no formal confirmation of the death of Mr Clinton Nyapara Mogesa, passport number BK154412, from the Russian authorities. However, the Mission has written to the Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to request confirmation of this, and we are yet to receive the response. There is no information related to Mr Justus Mayienda Ombati of Passport No. AK0516222. The Mission in Moscow has equally written to the Russian authorities to confirm, and has been following up on the matter, but it has yet to receive a response.

Immediate action being taken by the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs to engage with the Government of the Russian Federation to repatriate Mr Ombati and the remains of Mr Nyapara. As informed above, there is no information related to Mr Justus Mayienda Ombati of Passport No. AK0516222. The Mission has written to the Russian authorities to confirm his whereabouts, but up to this point, no response has been received.

Hon. Speaker, there being no formal confirmation from the Russian authorities of the death of Mr Clinton Nyapara Mogesa of Passport No. BK154412, it is difficult to ascertain his death or the whereabouts of his remains, so that any repatriation of mortal remains can be undertaken. The Ministry, through the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow, has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to request confirmation of this, but we have yet to receive a response. The Ministry has vowed to continue following up on this matter to its finality.

Regarding measures put in place to strengthen collaboration with the Russian Government to curb fraudulent employment agencies that target unsuspecting Kenyan job seekers, this is a very emotive matter that affects us, especially when we read and hear about young people who take up those jobs and end up dying. To this end, the Prime Cabinet Secretary will undertake an official visit to Moscow, Russia. It is worth noting that with your permission, I will accompany him from 13th to 17th March to meet with his counterpart to discuss this matter. We hope to bring the matter to a finality and to not only protect the welfare and rights of Kenyans, but also the sanctity of life of Kenyans in Russia.

The Ministry continually holds meetings with officials of the Russian Embassy in Nairobi, raising concerns regarding this matter. They are working jointly to sift out rogue agents trying to process visas for Kenyans, and to follow up on the whereabouts of Kenyans as reported by their families. The Ministry continues to sensitise Kenyans through the media and social media platforms, the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), barazas, educational institutions, labour mobility pre-departure trainings and other public fora in a bid to inform them of the dangers of rogue recruitment agencies, fake non-existent jobs and the

challenges that come with not seeking information, verification and engaging the Government in such ventures.

The Statement is quite long, but let me quickly go through it.

Summarise.

Hon. Speaker, in addition to the above, the Government continues to put in place measures to protect all Kenyans working abroad, including in Russia, through bilateral labour agreements, ratification of international labour conventions, continuous registration of Kenyans, establishment of a 24-hour diaspora call centre, welfare checks, provision of consular services, deployment of labour attachés and liaison with the State Department for Foreign Affairs.

In conclusion, the Ministry stated that it is keen to ensure the welfare, rights, and interests of Kenyans abroad are protected and will continue to employ all necessary measures to guarantee their safety and well-being. However, even as the Government undertakes all the above interventions, the Ministry has noted that Kenyans are not heeding its call to avoid recruitment to Russia, but are instead taking a leap of faith in the hope of financial empowerment. That provides clarity on the issue of coercion, as information the Ministry receives through engagements with some family members and even from those who have returned indicates that some of those going to Russia to join the Russian Army are doing so willingly. Therefore, the Ministry urges Kenyans to desist from taking up jobs in the Russian military. That is an active warzone that does not involve our country. Death is almost guaranteed.

I submit. Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Thank you. Hon. Onchoke, are you satisfied?

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I thank the Chairman, Hon. Nelson, for the response. Given that Mr Nyapara and Mr Ombati have not been traced and there is no indication of their return to Kenya, I urge the Government to continue doing what needs to be done so that our request is met. As you can imagine, the families are anxious. They are pained by the disappearance of their sons and hope that they will come back to Kenya, so that the matter is put to rest.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Hon. Kimani.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. The matter of young Kenyans being allegedly killed in Moscow, Russia, is cross-cutting. I knew one of those young people before I came to Parliament. He is called John Mwangi Nduta, an ex-army officer, who hails from Thika. I was very surprised to see photos of him on social media this week, alleging that he died while fighting in Russia. Perhaps the Chairperson needs to inform this House on the measures being put in place to ensure that Kenyans being taken to Russia are aware that they are being recruited for war, that they are adequately trained, and that there are adequate contracts that will shield them and their families in case of any eventualities.

Lastly, although I had not raised this issue, I have a follow-up question on the status of John Mwangi Nduta, who was allegedly killed in Russia. What measures are in place to repatriate his body to his family? Can we, at least, get an official confirmation from Moscow on his status?

Yes, Hon. Julius Sunkuli. Do you want to contribute to the same issue?

Hon. Speaker, as I had already indicated, many of my constituents are involved.

Yes, Hon. Julius.

As I said, I am in a similar position as Hon. Kuria. I have a request for a Statement, which is yet to be approved by your Office. I appreciate the answer by the Chairman. However, the Embassy in Moscow should be more

thorough. Every day, we speak to people who are admitted to Demikhov City Clinic Hospital. One victim, called Tiepon, had his limbs amputated and is simply surviving. He can talk, but he needs special attention from the Kenyan Embassy. Hon. Chairman, your trip should be more comprehensive.

Hon. Speaker, I urge you to be actively involved in it so that the people’s representatives can go and see what is happening.

After receiving the Cabinet Secretary’s request, I instructed the Clerk of the National Assembly to include the Chairpersons of the Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations and of the Diaspora Affairs and Migrant Workers Committee in the delegation. They will represent us.

Yes, Hon. Koech. Those were just comments. Do you want to comment on them?

No. They are very fair. All I can say is that we will issue a comprehensive statement once we come back from the authorised trip.

If not, the Prime Cabinet Secretary will come to Parliament to answer questions.

Absolutely.

Thank you. Clerk-at-the-Table, go back to Order No. 5.

Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.

Hon. GK, do not be distracted. Attend to business. We are at Order No. 5. Lay your Paper.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. The good ladies have made admirable requests.

And you look overrode and overwhelmed.

Hon. Speaker, I am a feminist.

Go on.

I beg to lay the following paper on the Table: Report of the Departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure on its consideration of the Miscellaneous Fees and Levies (Amendment) Bill, National Assembly Bill No. 57 of 2025. Thank you.

Under the same Order, is the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Blue Economy, Water and Irrigation ready to lay his Paper? Or did you do it? Are you ready?

Leader of the Majority Party.

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

Supplementary Estimates I for the Financial Year 2025/2026 from the National Treasury and Economic Planning, and the following accompanying documents—

Let us move to Order No. 11.

Leader of the Majority Party.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to move that the National Infrastructure Fund Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 1 of 2026) be now read a Second Time.

Hon. Speaker, allow me first to thank the Chairperson and the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning for considering this Bill and guiding it through a rigorous public participation process since its First Reading in the House. This afternoon, the Chairperson tabled the Committee's Report on their consideration of this Bill, which includes the input received during public participation.

It is important to provide some background on the genesis or basis for the current presentation of this Bill. Its presence in this House at this time is neither accidental nor an afterthought. If one refers to the Kenya Kwanza Manifesto, specifically page 10, it states that we shall establish a National Infrastructure Fund financed by the proceeds from privatised state corporations. This provides the foundation for the National Infrastructure Fund, which is aligned with the National Sovereign Wealth Fund. Furthermore, last August, this House enacted the Government-Owned Enterprises Act, which underpins the basis upon which we are now establishing the National Infrastructure Fund. I am saying this because certain individuals have led many to believe that this is an afterthought lacking any strategic consideration. I would like to remind these naysayers that this Bill did not just land on the Floor of this House without a foundation.

Allow me to refer to comments made by His Excellency the President in his State of the Nation Address last year. If you will permit me, I would like to quote a part of that speech. The President began by outlining four national priorities/imperatives that our country must invest in: addressing energy, the provision of water for irrigation, the construction of 50 mega- dams, and an additional 200 medium-sized dams to reduce our reliance on rain-fed agriculture for food production.

The President also talked about the huge investments required to expand our road network. I recall him going through a list of road projects slated for dual carriageway development. What caught my attention was the dualling of the Muthaiga - Kiambu - Ndumberi Road and the investment in a new expressway from Museum Hill to Thika. He also mentioned the Kericho - Kisii - Migori - Isebania Road, the Mau Summit - Rironi Road and the Karen - Ngong - Bomas Bypass. I can see Hon. Ngogoyo’s broad smile, as he is well aware of how long it takes him from Matasia to the National Assembly. With huge investments in these areas

and many other projects, including the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), we can improve our connectivity, especially since the initially proposed SGR was left incomplete near Suswa after Duka Moja. This SGR has now been christened "The railway to nowhere." The extension of the SGR to Kisumu-Malaba will enhance trade opportunities with our neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region.

The four imperatives the President addressed are essential, not because they are cheap, but because they are priorities for advancing our nation. Therefore, I respectfully request your indulgence to provide a quotation from the President on this matter: “We cannot continue funding essential infrastructure through unsustainable borrowing or additional tax burdens on taxpayers. Neither can we afford to postpone these imperatives without risking our future.” Thus, we cannot afford to delay these initiatives. I have heard some naysayers say that it is feasible to construct all these projects without borrowing, solely relying on our revenues. These same critics often argue that we raise enough revenue but face considerable challenges in repaying debts under the Consolidated Fund Services.

The President further emphasised the necessity for innovation in utilising our national revenues. We must be creative in deploying our available resources and in establishing public-private partnerships that can crowd in the enormous pool of financial resources in the private sector, both regionally and globally. This is a central objective of this Bill: to attract the immense private sector resources (globally and regionally), enabling us to raise additional capital for these capital-intensive projects.

The President further stated, “This is why we will establish the National Infrastructure Fund, whose architecture will be underpinned by the reforms in the Government-Owned Enterprises Bill that this House passed in August last year.” He noted at that time that he would be signing that law the following day. I can confirm that the President assented to the Government-Owned Enterprises Bill, which is now an Act of Parliament.

not go into repaying our public debt or into financing our budget to pay salaries or other recurrent expenditure.

Additionally, the President said that the NIF will come in to break this cycle where you dispose of national assets and have nothing to show for it tomorrow. He stated that all proceeds from the privatisation will be ring-fenced, preserved, and reinvested into new infrastructure and wealth-creating assets.

When ownership shifts to the private sector, the institutions are more efficient. The benefits to the public do not diminish; instead, they multiply. When we were anticipating a debate sometime back on the sale of Safaricom shares, I said that if you look at what Safaricom was before privatisation, and the behemoth of an institution that Safaricom is today, courtesy of the sale of shares by the Government of Kenya (GoK) to Vodacom Group Limited, you would be amazed. Additionally, we have seen other companies take the same route bring more benefits to the public. That is why today, Safaricom, Kenya Power and KenGen are more efficient. They employ more people and generate more wealth for their shareholders and this country.

Safaricom pays hundreds of billions of shillings in taxes every year. If you compare this with when the telecom industry was a monopoly of the old Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC), where Hon. Chepkonga used to work, it is a pale shadow of what Safaricom is today, not to mention that other players have also come into the market in that space of telcos, like Airtel Kenya and others.

The NIF not only intends to leverage private-sector expertise and capital, but also to multiply the public benefits from what we hold as public assets. Those in this House, like Hon. Wamboka, who has just walked in, who oversee our public investments in State corporations, will tell you there is a lot of wastage of public resources in many of the State corporations in this country. One of the ways to ensure that we stem the wastage is to inject private sector capital, expertise and management into this space. That is part of the intent of this Fund.

This fund will be managed by a board of management. In the Bill’s language, the Board shall be competitively recruited. For those who have bothered to read the Bill, I say this because many just speak out there without even reading the Bill and claim that the Board will have political appointees, it specifies the mode of appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Board shall be recruited competitively from the private sector, or independent board members, including the Chair.

In the past, both chairs and directors of boards have been nominated in a noncompetitive manner. We have seen a lot of political patronage in such an appointment. This Bill provides that the board, the chair, the CEO, and all independent directors and board members shall be recruited competitively to ensure the fund is managed prudently, giving priority to public interest rather than political interests.

We are not the first nation to do this. I must mention successful case examples of other funds similar to this. This is a proven model that has worked in Australia. Australia’s Future Fund is modelled on what we are doing today as a third-world country becoming a first-world country; it is not just about the strategic interventions that have been made, but also about the legislation we seek to enact.

I must thank all Members. We were all here and participated in the enactment of the Government Owned Enterprises Act. I also thank them for being here to participate in the enactment of the Bill. Last year, in the State of the Nation Address, the President challenged us that it is the 13th Parliament that will be remembered for the transformation of our Republic when this nation eventually transforms from being a third-world country.

I have mentioned Australia’s Future Fund. Now, if you go to Singapore, and I know the transformation of our country from a third-world to a first-world nation has been christened as “the road to Singapore.”

(Hon Clive Gisairo spoke of the record) Protect me from my younger ‘old boy’, Hon. Clive Gisairo.

Order, Hon. Gisairo.

He attended the Alliance High School years after I left, and now he has the audacity to shout from his seat. He should know I was in charge of discipline. Hon. Temporary Speaker, now that you are in charge of discipline, discipline him to read the Bill and contribute to it.

I was giving examples of places where similar funds have worked. I had mentioned Australia's Future Fund. In Singapore, they have Temasek, which has also played a huge role in the transformation of the country. We also have the United Arab Emirates' Mubadala, which demonstrates that commercially run public investment funds can grow national wealth and deliver transformative infrastructure. This Bill intends to do the same by ensuring we have a public investment fund that will not only grow our national wealth but deliver on transformative infrastructure in the development of dams for irrigation, provision of water and in the generation, distribution, and provision of energy to drive the industrial transformation that we intend to have, something we have spoken for years.

I have heard a story of the few billion-dollar investment that was to come to Naivasha, and I wish the Member of Naivasha were here. I hear that behind me is the Member of Parliament for Njoro; they are neighbours. Nakuru County was to benefit from a project worth billions of dollars in investment and construction of a data centre.

The only reason that the project has not taken off or could not take off is that we did not have energy. It was to be a huge investment utilising the geothermal wells in Olkaria and Menengai. Probably, we had enough energy to run that data centre, but it became clear to investors and to us as a country that we did not have even a third of the required energy. The data centre had the potential to employ hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, both directly and indirectly. Leave alone the immense foreign direct investment (FDI) that would come into this economy. We lost it because we did not have enough energy.

We must invest in energy generation and distribution to extend the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and our sea and airport infrastructure. Every crisis comes with an opportunity. The most efficient airlines in the world are in the Gulf region: Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Emirates. Today, they have all grounded for the last three or so days. People are stuck in Dubai and elsewhere in Europe. They have planes that the Kenya Airways Authority does not have, but they cannot move.

What if we had an efficient Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, a state-of-the-art Moi International Airport in Mombasa, a world-class airport at Moi Airport in Eldoret, Kisumu International Airport or even the one in Lokichogio? We missed those opportunities today because we slackened or delayed making deliberate, large-scale infrastructural investments, be it in our road infrastructure, our sea, or our airports. We cannot afford to wait any longer or listen to the naysayers.

I have heard some say that the late President Mwai Kibaki built the Thika Super Highway at a cost of Ksh26 or Ksh28 billion. They forget to tell us that Mwai Kibaki had the pre-2010 Constitution. He never had any obligation to send Ksh400 billion to counties every year. Let me say something for the benefit of those who joined this House after my friend Nelson or even yourself, Hon. Temporary Speaker. They may not know that a fine gentleman and a man of God, Hon. (Rev) Mutava Musyimi, was the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee in the 11th Parliament. He led the Committee around the country to audit the implementation of the 2010 Constitution. The Committee comprised about 51 Members then.

I encourage those who speak for political expediency and the gallery to take their time and read, as the Report is available in the Table Office. Then they will see the dichotomy that existed before the 2010 Constitution and the administration challenges that came with implementing the 2010 Constitution. They will understand when speaking out there, seeking cheap political publicity. Sense may come to them to speak as leaders and not politicians. Speak to what is right; speak to what is good for the country.

The four imperatives spoken to us here during the State of the Nation Address last year are not national imperatives for one leader or this Parliament. They are national imperatives for this generation of leaders and the generations of Kenyans to come. That is why someone once said that politicians look at the next general election. That is why you will see people say things they think will excite the masses ahead of the next election. That is why you will hear them talk about terms with no agenda, plan, or thought for what they have for the country.

(Hon. Robert Mbui consulted Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo)

Order, Hon. Mbui and Hon. Oundo.

Hon. Oundo is very innocent. He listens to make sensible contributions in the House. Those who know what they usually shout out there are the ones shouting. I do not need to name them because they know themselves. It is like those who are celebrating the death of a colleague to make political capital in a rally in Nyahururu. Shame on them and shame on the person who was also shouting here.

objectives. What has already been debated in this House, the four strategic interventions that the President spoke to in the State of the Nation Address, will inform the first Board. The President emphasised the need to invest in our human capital in education. The cost of education is very expensive, not just in this country but also globally.

It has been said that you should try ignorance or try not to educate your country if you want to know how expensive education is. We must invest in the education of our children. We should also invest in water resource management by constructing 50 mega dams, 200 medium-sized dams, and generating electricity. Our industries will grow with that generated power, creating jobs for the youth we educate.

This Bill creates the provision under Part 3, stating that the Board will be responsible for adopting an investment plan based on national strategic objectives. That plan will serve as the basis for the annual performance contracts, which the Board and the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury must sign. This will help to hold people to account. The Bill includes the imperative that a performance contract be signed by the Board and the Cabinet Secretary, so that we can measure and evaluate how they are doing. For example, if you promise us a certain rate of return or the delivery of certain infrastructure projects but are unable to deliver, it will be noted during the evaluation. For those who have cared to go through the performance evaluation in Clause 20 of this Bill, there is a very good mechanism for evaluating performance. There is a performance-based contract for the Board and the management of this Fund.

As I said earlier, the Bill also ensures competitive recruitment of both the Board and the secretariat that will manage this Fund. We must ensure that we have the best. If you are Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah or Hon. Robert Mbui and you have served in a political office or have been affiliated with a political party in the last five years, including those who serve as party officials, you cannot be nominated for appointment to this Board.

(Hon. Onesmus Ngogoyo spoke off the record) Hon. Temporary Speaker, protect me from the Member for Kajiado North, Hon. Ngogoyo. He was an MCA in Kajiado County, and I visited his Ward during his tenure.

Order, Hon. Ngogoyo. When I look at the screen here, my presumption is that you really wanted to contribute to this matter. But I only see you talking across the aisle. You should communicate through the Chair. In any case, for God’s sake, if you have some good ideas about this National Infrastructure Fund but you do not have a card, come and tell me, and I will make some arrangements. This is a House of structured debate. It is done in a disciplined way. Hon. Mbui, I am sure you know that. It is your Third Term in the House.

Proceed, Leader of the Majority Party.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, Hon. Robert Mbui is the one to blame because he is seated next to Hon. Ngogoyo, and Hon. Ngogoyo, being a First-Term Member, probably thinks that we just sit and shout one term or two terms. Hon. Mbui should help Hon. Ngogoyo read the Bill and contribute to it.

Proceed, Hon. Ichung’wah.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, the Bill will ensure that this Fund is not misused. The Bill has put mechanisms in place to ensure that the Fund is audited by the Auditor-General and thereafter, reports to Members of Parliament. All the reports from the Office of the Auditor-General end up in this House. Therefore, you will have your place in making sure that whatever is audited comes to this House. That is why you see diligent people and Chairs like Hon. Wamboka keen to listen because he knows these reports will come to him in his Public Investments Committee.

The Bill also seeks to ensure that the Fund is not overdrawn. That is an imperative that we are legislating in law here. Also, to ensure that we cap the Fund's expenditure so that it shall never and cannot exceed its annual income. Once the Fund is established, there will be a secretariat. If anybody imagines this is an opportunity to start buying buildings in town or cars for the Chairman, Directors, CEOs, and whoever else, too bad for them. We shall regulate how much you spend and ensure it is within what you are generating.

There is also a ring-fenced withdrawal in terms of investments. What kind of projects are you investing in? Are they properly evaluated? Do they have a return? Are they commercially viable? Those are the issues that this Bill addresses. There should be reinvestment of any surplus, so that if we have surplus from the Fund, that money does not just hang around, as it used to in many parastatals. I must thank the National Treasury because over the last two years, they have been able to mop up a lot of surplus funds from many of our public investments. Just like all other public investment funds, if there is any surplus in this Fund, it must be reinvested to keep growing the Fund.

I could belabour too many points in the Bill, but I want to imagine that many Members have read this Bill, and are aware of its provisions. I implore all of us to support this Bill. This is because it will establish a structured and transparent process to identify and evaluate the approval and financing of infrastructure projects in the country. If you go through Clauses 21 to 25, you will see that a detailed structure and framework have been established. It will ensure transparency in how you identify, evaluate, approve, and finance projects. I mentioned the issue of the investment policy, which will be done and subsist for a period of five years.

This Fund is within the powers that have been vested by our Constitution in this House. Article 206(1)(a) of the Constitution empowers Parliament to establish other public funds for a specific purpose through an Act of Parliament. That is why I began by giving the genesis of this Fund, right from the Kenya Kwanza manifesto. When we were campaigning, we went to every village and county in this country and told Kenyans that we would establish a National Infrastructure Fund to grow our economy. We all know where the economy was at that time.

Therefore, this Bill gives effect to this constitutional provision by creating a well-structured, accountable framework for infrastructure financing in the country, without overburdening the Kenyan people through additional taxes or future generations through additional borrowing. I gave you the example of the opportunity that we would have had if Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Moi International Airport, Kisumu International Airport, Lokichogio Airport and Eldoret International Airport were state-of-the-art airports with good runways to accommodate the Airbus 320s and 330s and all the huge Boeing jets that are stuck around the world. It has been estimated that a new airport or the rebuilding of JKIA would cost us about Ksh200 billion. It would be very easy to raise the Ksh200 billion or Ksh100 billion that was raised from the IPO from the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and approximately Ksh200 billion that will be raised from the Safaricom partial divestiture, should it be approved by this House. How can we take Ksh200 billion and build an airport, yet people in the Northern parts of Kenya, including parts of our Coastal regions like Magarini and Kwale, are starving, and animals are dying there every day? Even in parts of Central Kenya, people are starving due to the recent drought.

Thank God the rains are here. We have two competing priorities as a country; we must decide whether to pay school capitation for our children or build an airport. We could easily raise Ksh200 billion through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and invest it in building an airport. We already have that railway to nowhere, that stalled around Duka Moja after Suswa. It is not giving us a return on the investment the Kenyan public made in building that railway. For it to be meaningful and deliver a return on investment, it must connect our Port in Mombasa to Kisumu Port and to the hinterland of landlocked countries in the Great Lakes region, namely Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and others. With all these competing

priorities, do we finish building a dam in Galana Kulalu and provide food to the starving Kenyans, including hay to animals that are starving in parts of our country, or do we build the airport?

It is possible to chew gum and scale the stairs at the same time. That is what this Fund is speaking to. It is inviting us to chew gum and scale the stairs so that we do not overburden Kenyans with additional taxes and borrowing. We, however, need to invest in capital-intensive infrastructure projects, such as the construction of a new airport, the completion of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), and dual carriage roads, as we have mentioned, for example, Mau Summit - Rironi, Marwa - Nanyuki - Isiolo - Meru - Makutano, or Ngong - Karen - Ngong Road. I have heard many people ask what this Fund will do. You are telling us you have a National Infrastructure Fund, you privatised state-owned companies and put the money in the Fund, then you have told us you will not pay debt or salaries from that Fund, and it will not be a budgetary support Fund. Instead of getting Ksh200 billion to invest in building a new airport here in Nairobi, any person you invite to do a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), even in the private sector…

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I know you are a very successful businessperson, and you know that, whatever investments people make, they leverage on equity. People will have equity, then they go out and borrow. For example, if I have my Ksh1 billion and want to invest in a Ksh5 billion project, that constitutes 20 per cent of the investment in that project. So long as it is commercially viable, I will go to the markets and raise another Ksh4 billion, then the project pays for itself. That is what the Government intends to do with this Fund. It will not use the Ksh200 billion raised from Safaricom or Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) for paying salaries, buying relief food or paying for our school capitation. We will continue doing that as we have been doing; through our locally raised revenues, and what we are borrowing domestically and externally.

Construction of an airport is a huge commercial opportunity. All the world-class airlines in the Gulf had the opportunity to use Nairobi as their operation hub. Imagine an airline going to Europe would probably need three sets of crew members. The crew would need to be accommodated in hotels in Nairobi for them to come and change shifts. Imagine the investment opportunity in our hospitality industry like the hotels, taxis or Uber drivers having Nairobi as a connecting hub between those countries where there is war and the rest of the world. Somebody who was going to the United States of America today through Emirates or Qatar, cannot. But if Qatar could operate from Nairobi, that is a business opportunity, and a commercially viable opportunity.

That is why I am saying that if, say, we need Ksh200 billion to invest in a new airport, and we invite Hon. Robert Mbui as a private investor to invest in the airport, all he will need is Ksh50 billion. Then we will go out and raise another Ksh150 billion from the capital markets and the financial markets. That is the opportunity we want to tap into. That instead of investing all our Ksh200 billion in that airport, we will take our Ksh50 billion, then invite a private investor who will bring the efficiency of the private sector to bring in their Ksh20 billion or KSh30 billion and buy equity in that new airport project. That new project will leverage the equity and capital you have to raise, probably five- or tenfold the money you are holding. This will enable you to efficiently run a new airport that will pay for itself.

Therefore, instead of investing Ksh200 billion into one project, that money can go into ten projects. That is how the President, in his State of the Nation Address, alluded to for those who care to remember. He said one can invest Ksh5 trillion in the next few years by leveraging what we raise from privatising our public assets, then raise more capital and invest in capital-intensive infrastructure projects that will further grow our economy and create job opportunities for millions of our young people. These are the young people we are happy to keep lying to, as we lecture them out there, telling them, “Oh, you will get jobs. Oh, go to

school. We are paying your school fees, and when you finish your education, you will get jobs.” But there would be no jobs if you did not grow this economy. We will not grow this economy by taxing Kenyans or over-borrowing.

It is true.

Do not tax Kenyans to death. Let us have innovative new financing models that have worked elsewhere. Like in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Australia, Germany and other countries around the world. Because we aspire to be a first-world country, that aspiration must be backed by solid legislations like this; that will ensure that we protect our public assets; solid legislations that will ensure that money from the assets we privatise do not go to waste; legislations that will ensure that generations to come will see new SGRs, airports and dams in Galana-Kulalu, Tana River, Kilifi, and a nation that feeds itself…

Give him an additional two minutes just to wrap it up.

That will not happen by accident. It must be deliberate and with conscious efforts by leaders. I say this because politicians will tend to speak to what they think will be exciting to the gallery. Hon. Members, please desist from the temptation to be politicians. I know next year is an electoral year. Kenyans will remember you for the legislation you passed that protected their assets, grew the economy, and secured the future of our children, especially those of us with young children. I know some of us have children who are as old as I am, but those with young children...

Order, Leader of the Majority Party. If it were not for politics, you would not be addressing this House. There is good and bad politics. Please make the distinction and proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. There is good politics and backward politics, which we call retrogressive politics, which only seeks to excite the masses without speaking truth to them. I hear people saying, ‘Oh, I want to speak the truth to power. Also, speak the truth to the people because power belongs to the people. Power comes from the people. If you do not speak the truth to them, they will punish you next year.

I beg to move. I request the very intelligent Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning to second the Bill. He is not just a politician; he is also a leader par excellence, a first-class honours student, and a Second-Term Member of Parliament serving the people of Molo and doing an exemplary job. I say this because I have investments in Molo and I know what is happening there. He is a man who has dedicated his life to transforming this country. He is the Member for Molo Constituency and my namesake, Hon. Kuria Kimani, the Chairman of the Departmental Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning.

Proceed, Hon. Kimani.

I thank the Leader of the Majority Party. He forgot to mention that there are fewer than 150 Fellow Certified Practising Accountants (FCPAs) in this country. I am one of them in this House.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to second the National Infrastructure Fund Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 1 of 2026). To pick up where the Leader of the Majority Party left off, we have been living a lie as a country, telling ourselves that we can develop the country with the revenues we collect and the loans we seek, whether domestic or foreign. In this financial year, we anticipate collecting Ksh3.32 trillion as ordinary revenues. Out of this, KSh1.098 trillion will go to payment of interest on loans, not the principal. These are loans taken, such as Eurobonds, that financed some of the infrastructure we see. Some of the loans were stolen, such as the proverbial Ksh2 billion that was being stolen every day. Ksh205.2 billion goes to payment of pensions. This is another area that has been mismanaged by previous administrations. For a very long time, and even now, Members of this House receive messages from retired teachers, police officers, and army officers asking for assistance in accessing their pensions. Why is it that our teachers and civil servants retire, and the money they saved as a pension is not available? It is because we continued budgeting for pension monies in our annual budgets instead of ring-fencing them. This Administration introduced the Public Service Superannuation Scheme, which now sets aside both employee and employer contributions into a fund so that when these people retire, the money is available to pay them both their lump sum and their monthly pension.

We send about Ksh405 billion to counties as an equitable share per year. Our recurrent expenditure is around Ksh960 billion. These are the salaries of teachers, police officers, and all civil servants. When we deduct all these statutory deductions, which form the first charge on our revenue, the only money left for development is KSh29.8 billion. For your information, Ksh29 billion can only build between 30 and 90 kilometres of roads. If we continue running the economy in this manner, we will only be able to build between 30 and 90 kilometres of road per year.

That is why this is a time of reckoning. How do we balance the need for development expenditure with the need to honour our constitutional mandates, whether it is Equalisation Fund, pension obligations or salaries for recurrent expenditure or capital expenditure for schools, without doing what Kenyans have told us not to do? They do not want additional taxation and borrowing. How then do we grow our country? How do we build infrastructure while balancing these interests?

That is why the National Infrastructure Fund Bill is a game-changer on this matter. The Fund is proposed to achieve several purposes. One is to scale up and accelerate the development of catalytic national infrastructure, such as national highways, railway networks, airports and seaports, electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, water reservoirs, irrigation, and agribusiness infrastructure.

I have had the opportunity to traverse this country while processing the partial divestiture of Safaricom shares and during the consideration of this Bill. We covered 30 counties. We travelled from West Pokot to Wajir to Marsabit. We went to Nyeri, Murang’a, Nakuru, Baringo and many other places. It is as though we live in different countries. In some counties and constituencies, there are tarmacked roads leading to almost every homestead. Some homesteads have had piped water since Independence, not since the Kenya Kwanza Administration, not since the Kibaki Administration, but since Independence. Yet in other parts of the country, it is extremely dry. Some constituencies do not even have a single stretch of tarmac. Some counties are not connected to the national electricity grid.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, the reality we face is how to ensure that counties and constituencies that already have tarmac receive the social infrastructure they now require, while those that still need hard infrastructure, such as roads, dams, and electricity, receive it without increasing taxation or debt. This Bill therefore aims to reduce reliance on public debt for financing commercially viable infrastructure investments and to strengthen national capacity for irrigation, the structuring, and execution of large and complex infrastructure projects. The

Bill represents a pivotal moment in our nation’s quest for sustainable, debt-led infrastructure development. As Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, I am very proud to midwife this Bill, which will have the most consequential impact on our country.

A few years ago, we had what was then considered one of the most successful debts acquired by this country, the Eurobond. It was approximately Ksh200 billion. If we recall, a year ago, we were required to make a bullet repayment. That was one of the reasons that significantly affected our exchange rate, which rose to as high as Ksh160 to the US$. What did the Eurobond finance? The money was deposited in the Consolidated Fund. We cannot pinpoint a single project and say that the loan taken 10 years ago went to a specific project. We are burdening future generations, asking them to repay that loan without something tangible to show for what it achieved.

We must also be cognisant that in privatisations we are undertaking, whether of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) or the partial divestiture of Safaricom, we are potentially denying future generations assets that could have benefited them. How do we compensate them? That is why the Bill proposes that such proceeds be deposited into the National Infrastructure Fund for specific purposes as outlined in the Bill, if this House passes it. This will provide a robust legal framework for financing catalytic national infrastructure projects, such as those I have mentioned.

The Bill establishes an Oversight Board of Directors comprising eight persons, including a chairperson. One of the safeguards we will recommend through an amendment is on qualifications. Those appointed to the Board must be competent Kenyans who have demonstrated a track record in infrastructure engineering, finance, banking or accounting. Even though politicians have benefited from board appointments, we have seen that most of us still carry the politicians in us into the corporate governance of these institutions.

Every time we go back to our constituencies, we have people telling us, “Please get me a job, please get me a tender, please get me this”. What you have seen is that most of these institutions throw corporate governance out the window and now run these votes politically. That is why we, as politicians, are saying we are sorry. This is not the firm that you run. This is not the business that you run. Go do your politics. We welcome professionals to come and raise particular institutions.

In terms of the National Assembly's oversight mechanisms, I must admit that when this Bill was tabled before us, and we conducted public participation, we realised there was a huge gap. The investment policy and investment plan were to be approved by the board and the Cabinet, but there was no requirement for express approval by Parliament, and not just Parliament, but by the National Assembly. We are back to where we were when we were making the privatisation law. The Privatisation Bill that came before this House required that the Executive develop a privatisation programme and a privatisation plan. However, there was no express requirement that needed to be approved by the National Assembly.

When the Committee on Finance and National Planning and the Public Debt and Privatisation Committee conducted public participation across the country, Kenyans and experts told us that, if it is to be a privatisation programme or plan, it must have express authority and the express approval of the National Assembly, as per our Constitution. I am happy that we were able to convince this House last year to adopt amendments that ensure that, whether it is a KPLC privatisation or partial diversity of Safaricom, it must be approved by this honourable House. Any future privatisation programmes must come to this House for approval. So, we are back to that place again. We are saying that we will be proposing at the Committee of the whole House that the investment policy and the investment plan by the National Infrastructure Fund must expressly be approved by the National Assembly.

In addition, we realise that the Bill, in its current framework, would contravene Section 24(4) of the Public Finance Management Act, as the Fund or the board is required, under the current drafting of this Bill, to approve and implement the investment plans. When we looked further, we found that the Public Private Partnerships Act expressly provides the State Directorate for Public Private Investment with a mandate to conduct feasibility studies, to receive projects due for this particular financing, and to conduct feasibility studies. Therefore, we are recommending that the function cannot be carried out by the Board. The role of the Board is to fundraise and seek seed capital and investment. However, the State Directorate of Public-Private Partnerships will now co-lead all those projects, conduct feasibility studies, and submit them for funding through the fund.

In respect to the significant matter of refinancing funds for infrastructure projects, this Bill is responsive to the views received by both the Departmental Committee of Finance and National Planning and the Select Committee during public participation on Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025 on partial divesture of Safaricom by Government of Kenya in which the members of the public proposed that the partial divesture be ring-fenced in a public Fund established through an Act of Parliament. If it is anchored by government equity, it is envisioned to attract billions of private funds for roads, renewables and ports while easing fiscal pressure.

Many countries have used this model. When you say the journey to Singapore is here with us, we have examples. We have a case study of Temasek Holdings and GIZ that channelled domestic savings into strategic infrastructure and generated returns for the national Government. We have examples of Malaysia through its Kazana National, Saudi Arabia through the National Infrastructure Fund, and Canada through the Canadian Pension Funds, which have demonstrated professionalism and long-term funds crowding in capital without straining budgets. The question has been asked about how it aligns with the PFM Act. I can comfortably confirm to this House, having scanned the entire Public Finance Management Act, that this is guided by Section 24 and by the principles of our Constitution, Articles 201, 206 and 209, which guide us on matters of transparency, accountability, prudence and no contingent liabilities without hidden scrutiny. I repeat: no contingent liabilities that will be hidden from scrutiny. The NIF Bill complements the PPP Act of 2021 (No. 14 of 2021) by facilitating blended finance and, most importantly, de-risking PPPs through government support measures, such as guarantees under Section 28.

The Bill, in Chapter 4, affirms and bridges critical financing gaps with strong safeguards, independent boards, clear investment policies, performance reporting and other mechanisms to prevent abuse or interference. The Bill will position the country to mobilise the envisioned Ksh5 trillion in private capital and to transform targets, as highlighted in our 2026 Budget Policy Statement, which was tabled before the House and will come to debate soon. The Fund will become a self-replenishing engine. Viable projects will yield returns. They will attract foreign direct investment (FDI), generate jobs, deliver legacy projects, connect our farms to markets, empower our industries, and secure water for food security. This will all be possible if debt sustainability is ensured.

I have had the chance to participate in seven budget cycles. I have had the opportunity to serve as a Member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, a Member of the Finance and National Planning Committee, a Member of the Public Accounts Committee, and now as the Chairperson of the Finance and National Planning Committee. In my eight years in this House, when you go for budget participation, Kenyans tell us they need a road here, power connectivity here, or a water project there, all of which cost money. When we go for revenue-raising measures through taxation, they tell us they do not want to be taxed. Some of us bore the ultimate pain of trying to convince Kenyans that we need to pay more taxes. This House paid the absolute pain of trying to say, “Let us become self-financing as a country.” When the former President would travel, and he would say he had signed a loan agreement, he

was called names for borrowing. So, how do we make our roads and markets? How do we build dams for farming? Sometimes His Excellency the President is taken out of context, and people make jokes about some of his comments. One of them was that we do not need rain, we need water. People thought it was a joke. The truth is, what we need to grow food is not rainfall but water. It is possible for a Northern area to be very productive.

I live on a very small piece of land in Molo, barely two acres, where I have my home and a farm. I am able to produce a lot of food in terms of dairy, poultry and other animals because I have a source of water in that home. I cannot let them graze outside without water. So, it is possible to grow our food. It is possible to grow that food not just in the rich highlands but in the North-Eastern, the Coast and the Eastern areas if we have viable water projects in our country.

Lastly, some of us, while going to the constituency, I usually have a tete-a-tete with my friend, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah. We agreed that he can go to his Constituency in the morning, attend a function, return to the office, attend to matters of the day, come to the House, and move a Motion. Even here, when the Bill is done, he will go to his Constituency, attend a few functions, and have dinner with his family.

My good friend, Hon. Ndindi, when we used to serve together in PAC, he would tell us, “Give me a few minutes; I am rushing to my constituency.” He would rush to his constituency, perform two functions, return to the House, and we would proceed with the Sittings. He would then tell me; I have a lunch meeting with the pastors in my Constituency. He would go and have lunch with those pastors, return in the afternoon at 2.30 p.m., and we would contribute to matters in this House. For me to go to my constituency, which is almost the same distance as Nyeri from here, I need to give myself at least five hours on the road, if I am lucky and there are no accidents along the way. Are you going to tell us we will have to wait another 50 years for the dualling of our Rironi–Mau Summit Road? I am cognisant that you are envious of me, and that it will take five hours to go to my Constituency. For you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, to go to yours, you probably need a whole day or two if you are to go by road. Are you going to tell the rest of this country that we must wait another 30 or 50 years for us to develop?

We are saying, no. We are going to be strategic. We are going to think. We are going to be innovative. We are going to raise money for infrastructure projects across the country, without increasing taxation or overburdening our next generation with debt.

With that, I beg to second.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

What is your point of order, Hon. Basil?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, notwithstanding the Resolution of the House regarding limitation of debate, made on 11th February 2026, and pursuant to Standing Order 97, I beg to move that the debate on this Motion be limited to five minutes for each Member speaking.

Thank you.

Hon. Members, every Member now has five minutes to contribute to this. Hon. Murugara.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Bill with a lot of fervour. That is enthusiasm. I support this Bill because, for the first time,

we must move away from looking at things only from urban centres. We must also move to looking at areas in rural areas that require development, just as we do in urban areas. We have been going to our government agencies to solicit development funding, and we are told there is none. Once you are told there is no money, you have to wait. Sometimes you are told to wait for the budget, but even after the budget, the money will not be available.

Today, we debate a very important Bill that seeks to establish the development funds we need in rural constituencies, as we did yesterday. This is where we will draw our roads, water and electricity from. There cannot be any meaningful development in every area of this country if those three factors are missing. Therefore, this Bill is timely.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, this Bill is timely because the sources of the money we seek to raise are questionable investments by our Government. Remember, it does not own any firms. In fact, it is a misnomer for the Government to invest in certain companies we call parastatals, unless they are high-yielding companies that yield real profit. Today, as we speak, we have the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), where we have disposed of some of the shares. If you are asked how the profit derived from KPC is used and how much it is, nobody will answer. This is because it is ordinary income like any other, subsumed into the country's daily expenses.

With this Act, if we sell a company through IPO, we will know where the money will go and will ask for it from that particular purse. The same applies to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). Who watches it? What exactly does it do? However, it is a very important asset for this country in divestitures and in generating income to develop the country's infrastructure, roads, water, and electricity.

The Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning stated that we need water to move this country forward. We need dams. But where do we get the money from? Is it from borrowing or taxation? We must support the Leader of the Majority Party to say we have taxed Kenyans enough. We do not want any more taxation. Let us explore innovative ways to raise money for our development. We have also borrowed enough. The country is reeling from debt. Therefore, we must think outside the box again.

I laud His Excellency the President because he said he would bite the bullet. He will make some of the most unpopular decisions, which will become extremely popular in the long term. One such decision is to come up with this Bill through the Cabinet and the Leader of the Majority Party. We will now cushion the money for development in the National Infrastructure Fund.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I beg to support this Bill wholeheartedly and urge Members to support it. Thank you very much.

Member for Yatta.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. At the outset, I rise to support the Bill. There are specific reasons I support this particular Bill. Countries like South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Brazil, Indonesia, and many other progressive nations have infrastructure funds. If you go to rural areas today, they ask for energy, roads, electricity, water, and all these very essential items. We borrow a lot of money from Eurobonds, China, and many other nations. This Bill will reduce over-reliance on borrowing. We will reduce the pressure on debt. Through it, our people will feel the relief of repaying debts. That is why it is a very essential one.

Additionally, through this Bill, we will attract international investors who will support us in driving our country's economy. It will also generate jobs. Many young people are struggling to find jobs today. Jobs will be generated across energy, roads, and other sectors, such as agriculture, as water is a catalyst for agricultural growth. Through this particular Bill, we will align ourselves with Vision 2030. Those who have read it know that it speaks of key

sectors: energy, roads, and rails. That is what will boost this country's GDP. Any patriot, therefore, who means well for Kenya should support this Bill.

To summarise my summary, I want to say that through the Bill, we are going to reduce the debt pressure that many Kenyans, particularly taxpayers, are experiencing, and this will give us a lot of freedom to ensure the payslip is healthy. The payslip is currently squeezed due to the need to pay our debts. Importantly, we will be able to mobilise private capital. Public private partnerships will be a reality through this Bill. That is why I say any patriot should support the Bill, as it will ensure timely project completion. Most of our projects have stalled due to a lack of funding. We are talking about mega dams we have been yearning for, like the Yatta Dam, which has never been started, simply because we do not have the funds. We also have many other stadiums, like Kipchoge Keino Stadium, and other mega projects, including Thwake Dam, that have stalled.

Therefore, through this Infrastructure Fund, we will jump-start these essential projects that have stalled and ensure their completion. There will also be long-term national developments which will be more structured than they are today.

With those few remarks, Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support the Bill and urge Hon. Members who mean well for Kenya and future generations to support the Bill. Thank you.

Hon. Phylis Bartoo, followed by Hon. Nyoro. Hon. Bartoo, are you in the Chamber?

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also rise to support the National Infrastructure Fund Bill. It reminds me of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, which provides for the disposal of assets, but it can sometimes be problematic. When I read through this Bill, I see that there will be a clear connection between the disposal of public assets and depositing these funds in a Fund that will make it meaningful. I support this because it will put the money into useful ways to develop the country. We have been doing budgets year-in, year-out, but we have not actualised development. For how long are we going to wait and compare ourselves with other countries like Singapore or first-world countries like America and China if we do not make a decision and do it ourselves without borrowing from them? I think Kenya has come of age, and it is high time it stood on its own feet and prioritised its development using the resources available locally.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, this Fund will be run by an established board with established structures for utilising the resources. One thing I like about it is the identification of projects in the entire country. We have had stalled projects nationwide. Every year, we have new projects, and others are left out. The National Infrastructure Fund Bill clearly stipulates how this will be done. That infrastructure will be identified, and a policy will be established. Incomplete projects will be carried forward to the next financial year. So, nothing will be left undeveloped.

Currently, in my Moiben Constituency, there are many incomplete projects that are at various stages. I always scavenge offices looking for resources to complete these projects. I think it will solve a major problem by ensuring development is carried out in a unified manner and fostering unity in Kenya. With this Bill, we will realise the development of good roads connecting us from Nairobi to Mombasa and other borders of Kenya.

Our airports are in a dilapidated state. It is very embarrassing that when we take off from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and land at airports like Amsterdam, we are perplexed by how advanced they are. Kisumu International Airport and Eldoret International Airport look like small restaurants. I hope that the Infrastructure Fund will take us to higher levels and have admirable airports that will generate more income to develop Kenya. I am looking forward to a beautiful, well-developed Kenya, a country to be proud of, with equity and enough resources. I support the Bill. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Ndindi Nyoro.

Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for this chance to contribute. Any time there is a new Bill, there must be a problem and a solution to prescribe. I have read the entire Bill word-for-word and sat here listening to both the Mover and the Seconder. One of the issues the Bill highlights is infrastructure: roads, airports, water, and energy. It is important for us to know that all the things we claim to want to do are already being done by Kenya. We also implement all the other revenue-raising measures being put forward, except one, which I will highlight.

Since Independence, Kenya has been a respected economy. Kenya is number three in paved roads and economy, only second to South Africa and Nigeria. When it comes to energy and electrification, Kenya is actually number two in the entire Eastern Central Africa and number one in Eastern Africa. Therefore, when it comes to infrastructure, Kenya has always done what it needs to do without the need to introduce a new Bill or entity with very weak oversight. What is it that we are trying to cure or prescribe? Our economy is solid out of the budget. I was sitting here listening to the contributors and especially the Mover and Seconder. We are here telling Kenyans how Kenya has not been able to do many things because there was no such Bill. But all the infrastructural development of our country has always been done through the budget. Therefore, when we say we need this Bill to build roads, I think we are misleading Kenyans. Kenya has always done this.

Secondly, everything in this Bill has always been handled by Kenya, except for one thing: Kenya now wants to move away from recording our debt in a single debt book. We are now opening another debt book and calling it the National Infrastructure Fund. Our intentions in the long run are not given in the examples. We are trying to do what Ghana and Senegal did.

In fact, the right title of the Bill should be the ‘National Illegal Borrowing Fund’ because of what we are seeking to do through the fancy words being proposed. I have heard words like ‘crowding in’ and ‘leverage’. Those are synonyms of borrowing. We want to borrow more than we already have. We continue borrowing in the main book, but we open a different book on the side. We are trying to cover up incompetence and to create a cover for work that has not been done in the last four years. Kenya is currently borrowing Ksh1.25 trillion per year. That means we are borrowing Ksh4 billion every day. Where is this Ksh4 billion going since the PFM Act stipulates that we only borrow for infrastructural development?

Because my time is almost up, let me address the examples given. I was waiting to hear something different from what I had read. I do not think the Mover fully understands the Bill. The first example given was Australia’s Future Fund. The second one was the Mubadala Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) . The third one was Temasek Holdings Limited. Those are investment companies, not infrastructure funds. The Mubadala Investment Company is a major global investor in companies like Tencent Holdings and the Alibaba Group, among others. That is very different from what is being proposed.

I will give you one more minute.

The examples being floated around are misleading. Whereas the work of the Mubadala Investment Company, the Future Fund of Australia and Temasek Holdings Limited of Singapore is to invest and get returns for their respective countries, this proposed Fund seeks to raise money through Parliament and privatisation, not to invest, but to leverage and crowd in, which are synonyms for borrowing. We want to give someone a pass to borrow Ksh5 trillion and to determine how it will be spent. Parliament oversees our Ksh4 trillion Budget. The National Assembly, the Senate and the 47 county assemblies oversee the Ksh400 billion equitable share, yet here we are debating whether to hand over Ksh5 trillion to an individual. You cannot be patriotic and support this kind of reckless experimentation.

I submit.

Although I am not an ex officio Member of this House, I would have loved to be on the other side to rebut many of the things that have been said. Infrastructure development is ongoing in this country, but only in your regions, not in my region or in the rest of the country. In any case, the UAE Government wholly owns the Mubadala Investment Company. I do not want to debate the Bill while I am chairing the House.

Hon. Sabina Chege, then the Deputy Leader of the Minority Party.

One thing I thank God for is that I was in the Azimio la Umoja team. That gave me an opportunity to travel across the nation. I just want to echo what you have said. As my colleague said, there is development in Kenya, but not everywhere. Even if I go to my own Murang’a County, the road network the Hon. Member from Kiharu enjoys is not the same as that of the Hon. Member from Kandara.

We still need roads and electricity networks. It is not right for anyone to claim that what we have in Kenya is self-sustainable. We all know the roads stopped because there was not enough money. That is, even with Mau Mau roads that cut across Murang’a, Nyeri, and Kiambu Counties, all the way to Laikipia County. We must have a way to finance the roads where our people are making a lot of noise. We cannot keep on borrowing from other countries where we have homemade solutions.

This National Infrastructure Fund Bill will help us build national highways, especially the Rironi-Mau Summit Highway. I know I might be privileged to have the Thika Superhighway when I go home. We are also waiting to have an expressway from Thika to Nairobi. However, it is a pity that our colleagues have to spend a whole night and another day going all the way through Nakuru. As we discuss infrastructure and development in this nation, we must ensure that this development reaches everyone.

Under this Bill, there is a provision for a team of directors who will be in charge of the Fund. Therefore, you cannot say that you are handing a blank cheque to an individual because there is a team. There is also an opportunity for Parliament to oversee and see how the money is being utilised.

As I support this Bill, it is high time we did the same and stopped borrowing from abroad or relying on other countries. Let us ensure we have a local and domestic solution that allows us to work with the private sector to find solutions that help our people. I hope we will not start politicising this Fund. We must look at the cup as half full, not half-empty. Let us trust our institutions. We cannot just say that other countries did something. We have solutions.

We talk about Singapore and it is on record that we were with some of these countries at some point. They were together with Kenya. What happened to our Kenya? Any project or proposal normally has naysayers. We normally have people whose work is just to oppose, not to look at the bigger picture to see how we can develop this country, and who have a negative mind and energy. I hope we do not politicise the Bill as we debate. I hope we can find a way to use homemade solutions. Let us have a chance to make sure that our people get what they want. They are asking for water and electricity. They want a conducive educational environment. You have seen classes where some students are studying under trees even today.

We are working on our airport. How are we able to finance it? We know Kenya Airways used to be the leading airline in Africa. What is our biggest challenge? The biggest challenge is that we only have one landing place. We need to expand our airport.

We talk about food security. Today, I had the privilege of visiting one of our genetics offices. It is the Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Centre (KAGRC) in Kabete. We only need to give them a few more coins to train farmers to breed even better cows with better breeds and genes. How are we going to finance this? We have our own homegrown solutions.

I urge the Members of this House to look at it positively. We, as a House, have a chance to come up with solutions so that, within the next five years, with oversight in this House, we can sit back and say we contributed something positive, and Kenya can now be self-sustainable.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Once again, I support.

Hon. Mbui, Member of Parliament for Kathiani Constituency.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I listened to the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, Hon. Kimani Kuria. He said that we have been living a lie. I agree with him because Kenya has become an experimental guinea pig under this regime. They attempted to overtax Kenyans, but it did not work; they then borrowed and have now reached their limit. They have changed the term for borrowing. It is now called securitisation and other terms. That, too, is not working. So now they have settled on selling everything Kenya owns. Hon. Temporary Speaker, if you have a cow and use it to educate your children, it makes absolutely…

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Order, Hon. Mbui. Hon. Kimani is on a point of order. What is out of order?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, is it in order for the Member to deliberately deceive this House by stating that we are selling everything we own? If he is referring to Sessional Paper No. 2 of 2025 on partial divestiture, it proposes divesting only 15 per cent of the shares. The rest remain owned by the Government of Kenya. He has deliberately misinformed this House to skew emotions. That is very unfair. The Hon. Member should withdraw the statement that we are selling everything. That is very far from the truth.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I said that when you are milking a cow and using the proceeds to educate your children, it makes absolutely no sense to sell that cow. If you sell it and build a house, how will you pay the fees afterwards? I also listened attentively to the Leader of the Majority Party when he spoke about roads, mega dams, and electricity distribution. He used very colourful language, but he said nothing new. He made it sound as if forming this Fund would create money from thin air. That does not work. Money must come from somewhere.

He quoted the President, saying we do not want to overburden our Budget with infrastructure and cannot continue borrowing. Yet when we read the Bill, the board formed will have the power to borrow. So, I totally oppose this attempt to take Kenya backwards. I do not think there is anything positive about this Bill. We have been constructing roads and an international airport before this Fund. It may not be excellent, but it was built when we did not have this Fund. We built highways and dams before this Fund was established. We are pretending that this Fund will help us have things we did not have before. That is far from the truth.

The stated purpose of the Fund is to scale up and accelerate development by mobilising private capital from non-traditional sources, for example, pension funds. That means the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) will be in trouble because that is where they will look for money.

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

The Leader of the Majority Party is on a point of order. Order, Hon. Mbui.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, my good friend, Hon. Robert Mbui, has invited me from my office as I listened in. He mentioned my name in particular, and I have a right of reply. He said that I said we are going to do infrastructure that

has been done before without this Fund. I also heard someone else claim that this is another way of borrowing. It is not.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I thank God that you are in the Chair because you corrected something. We are being told that what we are doing is what Ghana did. It is not fair to discuss another country. Ghana defaulted on its public debt because it borrowed in ways we are moving away from. Hon. Robert is now saying that we have done roads before. Yes, in 2008, we did the Thika Superhighway. We did the expressway through a public-private partnership, exactly what this Bill proposes.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, somebody has said that we are handing over Ksh5 trillion to an individual and that the Bill has no oversight mechanism. Hon. Temporary Speaker, that is why my point of order is that we must restrict our debate to what is provided for in the Bill because if you read the Bill…

Leader of the Majority Party, when you are on a point of order, you pick out what was out of order, which I think you have done.

Yes, Hon. Temporary Speaker, because you are saying…

Order. Order, Hon. Members. Order. You are now debating, and, in any case, as you put it…

Order. You know, I miss those old days when I was a Deputy Speaker, and I used to throw Members out of this place, including ministers. So, if you want me to do that, I will gladly do it again. You put it very well, and you have already put in words that this is not borrowing. Even if it is borrowing, it is creating equity and then a public-private partnership, which means these are going to be companies on their own. It is not the State or the Government that will be borrowing, Hon. Mbui.

Nonetheless, proceed. I am actually putting in some of these things because, unfortunately, today you do not have the normal Speaker but somebody who is also a Member and who also wants development in his place. When you talk about development being there in every corner all these years, that was discriminated against and institutionalised abuse of office by the previous governments, who took this development only to certain areas. 80 per cent of the country lacks development. Anyway, let us continue. I just have to buttress in on this because I also have to represent Dadaab Constituency, which has never seen a tarmac road or a mega-dam.

Proceed, Hon. Mbui. I know you come from Kathiani in Machakos, and that place is very well developed. Go on.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I want to confirm that it says we will reduce reliance on public debt. I want to point out that if you look at Part II of the Bill, which talks about the establishment and functions of the Board of the Fund, one of them in Part 5 (2) (c) is borrowing money. So, when you say you are not borrowing, and it is there in the Bill… We have read the Bill.

I wanted to continue and say this. The real purpose of this Infrastructure Fund is to ensure you evade Parliament. How do you do that? Money that is appropriated through this House is what we distribute so that you can do development, as you have said, without being skewed in a certain way. However, there is no way in this Bill to show any plan that will ensure the money distributed through this Fund reaches everybody fairly. So, there is absolutely no benefit for this Fund. I think it is just a way for us to borrow more money and have money we can use, especially going into the next election, because I am certain that is the purpose for

which this Bill is being pushed. I am certain Members here will push for it to go to Third Reading tomorrow so that we can pass this for the next election. I can tell you that Kenyans are watching us. Kenyans are watching us, and they know exactly what we are doing. Kenyans will stop us if we do not stop ourselves.

There are a lot more problems with this Bill. They say that for you to qualify to serve as a member of the Board, you have to have worked in a senior managerial position for 15 years. That basically means that you lock out all people who are youthful in this country. To finish the age of what you call youth, you have to be above 35 years old. When you finish university, you are already over 22 years old. If you add 15 years, you will already be over 35. That means absolutely no youth will be able to serve in this. How fair is that? In my opinion, that is even unconstitutional. There must be a way for people under 35 to participate as well. The Bill also mentions that you cannot be an independent director if you have served as a Member of Parliament. That is also discriminatory. How can you stop people from being able to serve in any position in this country? It is absolutely not acceptable.

I have seen that Clause 15 talks about the CEO while Clause 16 talks about an administrator who is supposed to be designated by the Cabinet Secretary. Therein, I just see conflict. Why would we have the two of them? I think one of them is enough to manage this Fund. Why do you have a CEO and, at the same time, somebody designated by the cabinet secretary? Obviously, that means that the Cabinet Secretary wants to be able to run the Fund. That is absolutely unacceptable. If we do not stop it, this regime will leave this country high and dry because the real intention, which they do not say, is to attempt to borrow about Ksh5 trillion. If they do this and you know that they will go home in 2027, what will happen?

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

What is your point of order?

We will not take over our Government and struggle to pay a loan that has been...

Order, Hon Mbui. Hon. Ichung’wah is on a point of order. Allow him to raise his point.

Hon. Robert, listen to me. There is a reason we have committees in this House that help us to interrogate some of these Bills before we debate them. Hon. Robert was here this afternoon because I was with him in the House Business Committee. I am certain he was here at 2.30 p.m. He witnessed the Chairperson tabling the Report.

He should go through this Report. He has a researcher in his office who is paid by the public. That is why he should have seen, from the Committee's Report, that some of the issues he has raised are already addressed in the Report vis-à-vis the role of the administrator and secretary. The Committee has recommended that they move an amendment to make the secretary of the Board or the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) the administrator of that Fund so that there is no duplication. I am drawing that attention to Hon. Robert. Even the years of experience he has spoken to are issues that are already addressed in the Report. As I said earlier, we debate to excite people out there without looking at what is here.

Order, Hon. Kaguchia and

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. We debate the Report and the Bill. I am reading the Bill. The leader of the Majority Party is mixed up.

You can move an amendment in this Bill.

We do not debate the Report on the Floor of this House, but we debate the Bill. The Report is a proposal by the Committee which can be agreed to or opposed.

As I finish, there is an issue of the remuneration of the Directors in Clause 13 of the Bill. The proposal is that the Cabinet Secretary will issue guidelines from time to time on this. I do not know whether this is constitutional because this can be done in a better way by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) . Why should the Cabinet Secretary make decisions on remuneration when we already have an independent Commission that deals with salaries and remuneration?

With those few remarks, I oppose the Bill.

Hon. Kombe Harrison.

All Members will get time to contribute.

Do not worry, Hon. Ngogoyo. Hon. Naomi Waqo is next, followed by Hon. Kaguchia. Proceed, Hon. Kombe.

Asante, Mhe. Spika wa Muda. Nachukua nafasi hii kuunga mkono Mswada huu kwa sababu tamaa yetu ya kipekee ni kupata maendeleo katika maeneo yetu. Wabunge wengi huenda kunyenyekea katika Kamati ya Bajeti ili waweze kuwekewa angalau inchi tano za lami katika maeneo yao. Makadirio tunayoyafanya wakati kwa wakati hayatoshelezi hayo mahitaji.

Hapa sasa tunapata nafasi...

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

What is your point of order, Hon. Kaguchia?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, Hon. Kombe has said he humbles himself before the Budget and Appropriations Committee to get some projects. I am not sure whether he understands that he will now have to humble himself before the President to get any project done in his constituency.

Mhe. Spika wa Muda, naona utaniongezea dakika zangu.

(Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah spoke off the record)

The issue raised by Hon. Kaguchia has been addressed by the Chair. Hon. Kaguchia is out of order.

Mhe. Harrison Kombe

(Magarini, ODM)

: Mhe. Spika wa Muda, nimesema wengine, sijasema ni mimi. Kwa upande wangu, nimeweza kupata kilomita 68 za lami, na 23 zingine ambazo zinaenda kukakimilishwa mwisho wa mwaka huu. Ningetaka muwe watulivu kidogo, kwa sababu kile ninachokiona hapa, nafikiri viongozi tunastahili tuwe watu wa kufikiria mbele.

Kile Kiongozi wa Wengi bungeni amekileta hapa ni Mswada wa kuokoa nchi, si wa vichochoroni. Ni Mswada wa kuokoa nchi. Lakini kinachohofiwa ni kuwa haya yote yakipata kutekelezwa, hakuna vile kiongozi mwingine ataweza kumuondoa Mhe. Rais Ruto mamlakani. Huo ndio uoga ambao upo. Lakini sisi tuko hapa kuwafanyia wananchi wa Kenya kazi. Hatuko kwa mambo ya kibinafsi. Masuala kama hayo hayastahili kabisa. Inapaswa tujiepushe na uchoyo, ulafi na ulaghai ili tuweze kuiendeleza Kenya mbele.

On a point of information, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Do you wish to be informed by Hon. Caroli Omondi?

Mhe. Harrison Kombe (Magarini, ODM) : Wacha alete tu, bora awe ameelewa kile nazungumzia.

Inform him, Hon. Omondi.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, and Hon. Member. I just wish to inform him that I fully agree and share his sentiments that we should not be kneeling to get development. The only problem with this Bill is that there is no parliamentary process for approving infrastructure projects that the money will be invested in, unlike the current situation, where all the budgets and projects come to this House. We will be thoroughly exposed this time round. That is the information.

Fair enough. Mhe. Harrison Kombe (Magarini, ODM) : Mhe. Spika wa Muda, Mhe. Caroli amenipotezea wakati wangu.

(Kicheko) Mhe. Spika wa Muda, tunaujadili Mswada huu sasa, kisha utafika wakati wa kufanya mabadiliko, ndipo utapata fursa ya kuweka yale yako unayoyaona yanafaa.

Spika wa Muda

: Muongezee dakika moja. Endelea Mhe. Kombe.

Mhe. Harrison Kombe (Magarini, ODM) : Mhe Spika wa Muda, Mswada huu kwa hali yoyote ile, ningewaomba Wabunge wenzangu tuweze kuunga mkono na tukaupitishe asubuhi na mapema ili maendeleo yaweze kufika katika kila eneo bunge.

Asante, Mhe. Spika wa Muda.

Mhe. Naomi Waqo. You know the Speaker looks at so many things. He looks at the region, gender and everything. This thing has to be balanced.

Hon. Naomi is also extremely beautiful. You can proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I stand to support this Bill. I happen to come from the northern part of Kenya, which remains underdeveloped to date. I do not know how many years it will take for us to catch up with the rest of this country. All the people who are trying to oppose this Bill come from developed areas. They have roads and other infrastructure. They are opposing this development because they do not want the rest of us to benefit.

I come from Marsabit, and today what we want is water. In fact, our main problem in Marsabit is water. Unless we get these funds, we will not be able to access enough water to support agricultural activities. Even other areas of this country can no longer depend on rainwater. If we can undertake irrigation farming and feed some of the people who come from the northern part of Kenya, that is what we are lamenting today, so that we can also be like any other part of this country.

When it comes to infrastructure, where I come from, it is only during the late President Kibaki’s time that we got the main road from here to Marsabit and beyond. When you go to Marsabit, you will not see feeder roads. Students in some schools still study under trees. That is why I stand to support the Bill, even as some of the Hon. Members here laugh at the challenges faced by parts of this country. I do not want to be...

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

You have had your time. What is your point of order, Hon. Mbui?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I just want to confirm that several Members have continuously indicated that this Fund is supposed to be sorting out problems of development where there were none before. This is not an Equalisation Fund. They need to tell us where that is...

Order! The Equalisation Fund is

Hon. Mbui, you had your time. Allow me to have my time so that I can also express myself.

I strongly support the Bill. It is an innovative way to raise funds for infrastructure without imposing an additional burden on Kenyans. That is what every Kenyan is looking forward to. Two years ago, we had a lot of challenges because of taxes. Today, if we approve the Bill and the President assents to it, we will avoid overtaxing Kenyans.

The legal background of the Bill says that the Constitution empowers Parliament to establish other public funds for specific purposes through an Act of Parliament. That is all that we are doing today. The Bill gives effect to this constitutional provision by creating a structured, accountable infrastructure of financing in the country.

Our country has suffered a lot. I want us to imagine what percentage...

On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker.

Hon. Makali Mulu, allow this lady to say something. What is your point of order?

Hon. Temporary Speaker, you know, I have been listening to Hon. Waqo, and I really respect her. However, it will not be in order for what she has said to go without correcting the record. If you look at Clause 23 of the Bill, it says that the Fund shall undertake feasibility studies on investment projects to determine the commercial viability of the projects. The word ‘commercial’ is important. I come from...

Order! Proceed, Hon. Waqo and conclude.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Again, I support the Bill. I have read through it. The composition of the Board of Directors is quite good. The only thing that we need to correct is the qualification for appointment of the Chairperson. It says 15 years. I am sure that the Committee has taken care of that. They have reduced it from 15 to 10 years, which is acceptable and will be beneficial. It is my prayer that every part of this country will be developed so that we can go to Singapore.

Hon. Mboni. Hon. (Dr) Makali, the most commercially viable areas in this country today are the arid and semi-arid areas, both on land and for minerals. For your information, these are not the days of just coffee and tea. Things have changed.

Proceed, Hon. Mboni.

Yes, Hon. Makali is correct in what he is saying. When you look at the Bill, it talks about funding nationally commercially viable projects. That is what it addresses. It refers to highways, railway networks, airports and seaports. The intention of this Fund, when channelled into commercially viable projects, is to generate proceeds and revenues that are returned to the Fund to finance other projects. That is the essence of this Bill.

When I listen to Members contributing, it is as though they are waiting for this Fund to finance 20 kilometres of road somewhere in their constituencies. This Fund is not for that purpose. If one is looking for that, it should be pursued through the national budget.

Having said that, before I proceed, I am a member of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning, so I am familiar with this. It is common knowledge that this country does not currently have borrowing space, yet we still require investment. We need to invest in infrastructure. We need good roads, seaports, railways, and airports to attract investment. That is the essence of the whole matter. Infrastructure development opens up a country to investment.

No foreign investor will come where there is no proper communication network. No investor will establish a factory where there is an inadequate electricity supply. That is the essence of this Bill. There is therefore a need to seek alternative sources of income. This Bill proposes to mobilise funds from non-traditional sources. We have been relying on tax revenue, yet we are now facing what is referred to as the Laffer Curve. When you continue increasing taxes, revenues may decline because people can no longer afford to pay. We therefore need to explore non-traditional sources such as public-private partnerships, private capital and the utilisation of domestic pension funds.

The privatisation of Kenya Pipeline and the sale of 15 per cent of Safaricom shares will provide the seed capital for this Fund. That is the essence. From there, the Government intends to raise Ksh500 billion as seed money. This Bill reminds me of Vision 2030. We had projects such as the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) , which were projected to contribute two percentage points to GDP. The LAPSSET project was intended to open up the north-eastern region and increase GDP by approximately two percentage points. That translates to about Ksh300 billion added to GDP, which is significant in terms of development.

Order! Hon. Jackson Kosgei, you have three minutes, and we will then adjourn the House.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I begin at the outset…

The Chair will ensure that Hon. Oundo, followed by Hon. Ngogoyo, Hon. Kaguchia and Hon. Makali are given priority in that order when debate resumes. Hon. Wa Muthende, the Member for Njoro, and the Member

for Nyeri Town, Hon. Mathenge, will also follow in that order. The Hansard will reflect this and you will be given the opportunity when the debate comes up again tomorrow afternoon.

Proceed, Hon. Jackson.

Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. As I said at the outset, I support the Bill. When I read this Bill, it reminded me of where this nation began in 1965. I wish to draw the attention of the House to Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965, African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya. It was a foundational Paper that informs the policy document for an independent country. They proposed a middle path, that we should neither go West nor East. Many years later, we discovered that all other areas in the country, except the white highland areas, were developing, and the others were not. The question has been, what went wrong, and what did we miss in the beginning?

In 2022, a man by the name Joseph Burrell said, and I quote, “Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.” Hon. Temporary Speaker, what did they do to build that garden? They established a fund after World War II. They established an institution called the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It had two facets: one in which the nation raised funds, and the other in which public-private participation was involved. This is a case that we can look at and say that we must have missed that particular point at Independence.

Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support the Bill.

Hon. Members, the time being

Published by Clerk of the National Assembly