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"id": 1068026,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1068026/?format=api",
"text_counter": 193,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bomet CWR, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Joyce Korir",
"speaker": {
"id": 11255,
"legal_name": "Joyce Chepkoech Korir",
"slug": "joyce-chepkoech-korir"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. I must sincerely thank you for giving me this chance. I have really been waiting since morning. I have been here since 9.00 a.m., waiting to contribute to this very important amendment Bill which I know the entire country is waiting for. This is an amendment that has come at a time when the entire country is struggling with a very serious pandemic that has taken the economy down. It has also taken the lives of many Kenyans. We also face a serious challenge. A number of youth have missed employment in various sectors, but today, as politicians, we are discussing the BBI instead of looking at ways and means of assisting the youths of this country in order for them to, at least, be able to move on with life. Hon. Speaker, I also want to say this: I have stood to state categorically that I will not be a conveyor belt in this House. It is for the women who have been here before me, those who struggled to an extent of having the affirmative action. They struggled to an extent of having the 47 Women Representatives in this House. Today we are here, as women, celebrating the BBI which is removing women in the National Assembly where they are supposed to oversee the budget-making process. This is where Government money is shared. Today, as women in this House, we are celebrating the BBI and women being taken to the Senate yet a judge of the High Court ruled that this House is not constitutionally constituted. Hon. Speaker, I would want to be informed why the 47 Women Representatives are being moved to the Senate and not remain in this House. Then, you find some funny women here telling us that the women are going to be nominated. I want to say this: we do not fear going to the single constituencies; that is not a problem for us as women. We are also capable of doing the same. You should remove the notion of telling us that we are going to be nominated. We are equal to the task. Removing us from the budget-making process to just go and oversee the county governments, checking on the governors, I think there must be something wrong with the ladies. This is something that our people have been fighting for. Not only that, they are talking about 35 per cent being taken to the counties. That is not a challenge because the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 states clearly that we can give to the counties at least 15 per cent, meaning we can go up to 100 per cent. Right now the 15 per cent that we are talking about that is supposed to go to the county governments is not there. The Government is borrowing daily to run the Government. This is the same Government that is being run by akina Junet and the rest. I want to say this, Mhe. Junet, I applaud Mhe. Orengo and Mhe. Otiende Amolo, not because he is from the other divide, but because he saw the sense that it is not a must for this Constitution to be amended. It is so weird to be in a house of debate and you tell me that I should not bring any amendment to this House. But, because the Speaker ruled that way, all I will want to say, and I will repeat, is that I will never be a conveyor belt in this House. We must debate in this House. We must tell Kenyans the truth. We have lawyers and we have politicians who are always interested with their lives. They are never interested with what is going to the common mwananchi . It is shocking! Right now you are talking about the new virus, the Indian variant, yet the same Government allows their flights to come in. You are now giving us the problems and not how to solve them. As politicians, we are just here discussing the BBI using the same money that was supposed to assist Kenyans to get the vaccines and what have you. The women are still here. The top seats have been discussed. Men have put themselves inside there. There is no single woman there. They have been given the position of a Deputy Governor in case of a Governor being a man. That is “may”. It is not a must and you are here as women celebrating nothing. I am shocked. I want to say this, Hon. Speaker: unless the current sitting women come out clearly and tell us what is in the BBI, I will 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."
}