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{
"id": 1502202,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502202/?format=api",
"text_counter": 119,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Leader of the Majority Party has eloquently spoken about his Speech. If you are a President and have the Leader of the Majority Party on your side then 50 per cent of your problems are solved. Hon. Speaker, when you become the President, ensure that the Leader of the Majority Party is on your side. On Thursday, 21st November 2024, Parliament held a Joint Sitting of both Houses, and the President made the State of the Nation Address. That was pursuant to Article 132(1)(c), which states: “(1) The President shall – (c) once every year – i. report, in an address to the nation, on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realisation of the national values, referred to in Article 10; ii. publish in the Gazette the details of the measures and progress under paragraph (i); and iii. submit a report for debate to the National Assembly on the progress made in fulfilling the national obligations of the Republic.” We were all present here, and this was a very important occasion for the country. These are some of the benefits that the new Constitution has given to Kenya. Hon. Speaker, you are a veteran Member of this House. You remember in the old days, the President used to open Parliament and address issues that he wished without talking about what Kenyans were expecting. I mean, Members of Parliament are holding the President accountable. It is mandatory for him to address the nation annually because it is a constitutional requirement. It is not a choice. His only choice is to agree with you on the date he will come here. He has to come here annually. Next year, God willing, I am sure he will appear in this House to address the country. We must be alive to the fact that this year's state of the nation address came against the backdrop of certain unique happenings. You will remember that in June, we had demonstrations - the so- called Generation Z demonstrations - the formation of the broad-based Government and the historic impeachment of the former Deputy President. These historical issues have happened in our country in the last six months. So, the President came to address the nation under the backdrop of those issues. One thing I picked from the President's Address is the cancellation of the Adani contracts. Kenyans had raised issues about this contract. It is rare for the Leader of the Minority Party to applaud the President. However, I want to applaud him on this occasion because it was timely. He did the right thing by reading the mood of the country and making bold decisions that Kenyans were happy with. Having said that, the cancellation of the Adani contract does not end the problems in the airports. I am a regular traveller at the JKIA, and I do not believe we have an airport. There is no difference between Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Migori City Bus Park, where people board their buses and the matatus . You drive into that airport and do not know where to start or end. I regularly visit the airport, and I experience problems too. What of a visitor who does not know anything concerning the airport, knows no one, does not know where to park their or where to be dropped? The roofs are even leaking."
},
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"id": 1502203,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502203/?format=api",
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"speaker": null,
"content": "It is because you go there when it is raining."
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"id": 1502204,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502204/?format=api",
"text_counter": 121,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon Speaker, I am praying to God that I do not appear there at a time like now when we are experiencing some rain because it gets worse. I am telling those Kenyans who gave their strong views on the Adani issues to now provide opinions on how they want us to transform the airport. It cannot be one-way traffic. If they say the Adani thing is bad, they should give us alternative ideas and views on improving our airport."
},
{
"id": 1502205,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502205/?format=api",
"text_counter": 122,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
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{
"id": 1502206,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502206/?format=api",
"text_counter": 123,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "That is the first place visitors interact with this country. You land at the airport and do not know whether you landed at Kisumu International Airport or a bus park. Wilson Airport is better of late because it is smaller and the traffic is smaller. Things are bad at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and you cannot tell me the Government is supposed to fix everything. Yes, they have to do their work; they can fix what they can, but look at the standards and what is happening globally. Look at how the PPP has transformed many countries. If you go to Turkey, there is a completely new airport, bigger than Migori City, built through a Public- Private Partnership. We want to be the hub of this region. Look at what is happening in Ethiopia, yet our minds are fixated on issues that we think are against us; we only think of who is doing this and that. I may not vote for Adani, but I want to say on the Floor of this House that for those of us who are against him, let us now give alternatives on how we can improve our airport. We cannot be saying Adani was bad without giving any alternative. Hon. Speaker, I want to give a very good example. The Expressway we are enjoying today came through PPP. How would we be accessing our airport if we had not contracted them? Today, unlike before, you can take less than ten minutes to get to the airport. We must ask ourselves the hard questions. We cannot do politics at the expense of killing the country. The Nairobi Expressway is a good example of a PPP project. It might have been done expensively, but it serves the purpose it was meant for. Kenyans who can afford to pay for the service of the Expressway would ask how they can access it from whichever point they are in, be it from the Southern Bypass or Thika Super Highway. This is because it has made life easy. That is what PPP does; it makes lives better. Leader of the Majority Party, I hope and pray that transparency will be adhered to in the subsequent decision that is going to be made concerning this issue. We need to get the next PPP; this time, we want Kenyans to be taken on board. We want Kenyans to be carried on board through transparency and accountability. Hon. Speaker, the second issue I noted in the Speech is SHIF and SHA. It is a brilliant and good idea for us to transform the health sector of this country because Universal Health Care has been in all our manifestos. It is a constitutional right that every Kenyan must get. However, the ideas and laws passed here are very good because they underpin universal health are. The way it has been rolled out is not right because many Kenyans are not aware of the transfer from the NHIF to SHA. Hon. Speaker, when the IEBC conducts mass voter registration, it does a lot of campaigns in the media, print media, and radio. You will hear it asking people, “Je,umejiandikisha ?\" However, we have not heard anyone talk about SHIF or SHA. We need to do a serious campaign so that Kenyans can know that a new programme called SHA is taking over the NHIF programmes. On that front, we can do better. Kenyans need to be made aware of the benefits of SHA. I was one of the Members who participated in making these laws. If they are correctly implemented, they will solve many problems concerning our healthcare. We, however, need more awareness so that more Kenyans can get an opportunity to learn that there is a new programme taking effect in the country. Hon. Speaker, the President raised an issue concerning the Conflict of Interest Bill. If you read the Bill, you will think that the people who published it did so to deal with Members of Parliament. It is like the Bill was meant to target the Members of Parliament and no other Kenyans like those holding offices like the cabinet, principal secretaries, and parastatal heads. It was purely about Members of Parliament. The thing must be put into a broader perspective. Everyone holding an office must be part and parcel of that Conflict of Interest Bill. Members of Parliament are not the only ones doing business in Kenya. We have many Kenyans in high offices. So, if you target a certain segment of the Kenyan leadership, it has to revolt. That is why the Senate made 20 amendments to the Bill and is now in the Mediation Committee."
},
{
"id": 1502207,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502207/?format=api",
"text_counter": 124,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
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{
"id": 1502208,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502208/?format=api",
"text_counter": 125,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Hon. Speaker, we need to look at the whole issue holistically because it looks like it was meant to target some people who are politically exposed, like the Members of Parliament. No one holds an office that has been created politically. The Executive is a politically created office, it holds people who are politically exposed. They must agree with the Conflict of Interest Bill. We are, therefore, going to look into the Bill and ensure that all Kenyans who hold different positions, starting from the sub-chiefs, chiefs, Members of County Assembly (MCAs), to county officers, Members of Parliament all the way to the Executive are part of this Conflict of Interest Bill. If we are going to drain the swamp, let us do it properly. We should not only target the Members of Parliament. Some Members are peasants; they do not even own businesses. Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah, for example, is running butcheries; therefore, when you only target them, you would be doing so with ulterior motives. I do not know where that Bill came from, which is why it has not gone through. We should look at the Bill holistically so that everyone is covered under it and we finish the issue of conflict of interest once and for all. Hon. Speaker, the other issue that I took note of in the President's Speech is gender- based violence. It is very sad that our women are being killed by the people they trust whom they stay with, like what happened in Eastleigh the other day. A lady, her daughter and niece were killed at the same time for unknown reasons. Other women have been killed elsewhere in apartments and Air Bed and Breakfast (air-bnb's). Others were killed in the quarry area. This is a matter that requires the full attention by law enforcement department. Women cannot live in fear in this country. They must live with freedom and do whatever they want, with their safety assured. I, therefore, want this matter, as has been raised by the President, to be addressed properly by the police, DCI and everyone who is concerned so that our women can feel safe. If a woman is not safe, a man cannot be safe. The safety of men is intertwined with the safety of women. The President raised that serious matter. Even though the President stretched it a bit, and I felt that it was a bit unfair to men, that is beside the point because femicide must be dealt with. The President raised the issue of demonstrations. He said that he supports and acknowledges that Article 37 of the Constitution allows people to picket and demonstrate peaceably. It is important to note that the national security organs must be very careful about how they deal with demonstrators because we do not want to lose lives during demonstrations, which have been allowed by the Constitution, as long as they are peaceful. People should not forget that demonstrations are important. Those who currently do not feel good about demonstrations might need them tomorrow, and those currently demonstrating might not need to do so tomorrow. That is how it goes. The Leader of the Majority Party might not need demonstrations at this point in time, but at a certain time hapo mbele, he might be the one leading the demonstrations in the country. We have to get a balance between those who want to demonstrate and those who do not. Otherwise, demonstrations are important to all politicians. I am not predicting anything, but I agree with the President that demonstrations must be peaceful and must not destroy people's properties. We must not curtail people’s freedoms of assembly and association. This country is a constitutional democracy. We are guided by our Constitution. When Kenyans give their views in the form of public participation, we have to take into consideration what they are saying because that is what they want us to do. Kenyans must also be enlightened through civic education. There is a serious conflict between what the Government and the Executive is supposed to do, what Parliament is supposed to do, and what Kenyans think should be done. Kenyans must know that they have also delegated their sovereign power to Parliament and the Executive through elections. They must have trust and faith in what those institutions are doing. A country can fail. A country can go bananas if the citizens lose faith in the institutions that have been established in the Constitution. We must always remind Kenyans"
},
{
"id": 1502209,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502209/?format=api",
"text_counter": 126,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1502210,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502210/?format=api",
"text_counter": 127,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Mohamed",
"speaker": null,
"content": "that it is important to have faith in our institutions. Lack of faith in institutions results in anarchy. For that reason, corruption and non-adherence to the Constitution must be addressed in a manner that can restore the public’s faith. Currently, there are many issues in the Judiciary. Kenyans are losing trust and faith in it because some of the decisions that are emanating from there are not necessarily constitutional. Yesterday, I came across a judge who issued a court order in Mombasa while another judge in Kwale issued a contrary order on the same issue. Those counties are next to each other. I was shocked. One judge issued that order four days earlier than the other. I am sure that the other one knew what had happened. I am not running a country, but a country cannot be run in that manner. Kenyans should not be forced to lose faith in the institutions that they created in the Constitution. Parliament has passed many Bills. It is one of the institutions that conducts public participation extensively compared to the other two arms of Government. We can do better. I was in Parliament last year when the President gave his State of the Nation Address. This year’s Address was far more promising and satisfying than any other. I hope and pray that things get better because a lot has been achieved economically. After the broad-based Government was formed, things are changing for the better and Kenyans have a lot of faith and hope. The shilling has been stabilised, and inflation has come down. We are praying and hoping that the interest rates will come down in a short time. They have shown signs of coming down. God has blessed us with rain. If our people engage in good farming, this country will flourish. We must give our people hope. We must live on hope. There is nothing to support, as the Leader of the Majority Party said. Therefore, I take note of what the President said. As the Minority Party, we are watching. We will raise our voices where we see a wrong, and we will support where it is right. Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker."
},
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"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502211/?format=api",
"text_counter": 128,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Applause)"
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