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{
"id": 110175,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/110175/?format=api",
"text_counter": 509,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Otieno",
"speaker_title": "54 Tuesday, 30th March, 2010 The Minister of State for Public Service",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have a large document, but it is a large document because of the past practices in the governance of this country. There has been glaring abuse of power and we have been trying to seal every loophole, so that we do not get subjected to that process. Kenyans have witnessed the growing inequality and injustice in regions, income and gender. It has become necessary that we seal all these loopholes in this particular document. Every chapter has this time incorporated matters of leadership and integrity. We have allowed our country to reach a point where a perception has been dominant that it is our turn to eat. That this society, at one time, was described as âa man eat manâ society. The point I am trying to make is that we have a Constitution which we must live. We must think of it, act according to it, feel, behave and believe in it. If the national, regional and the local leadership of this country will not emphasize the values and the principles that are elaborated in here, we shall not benefit from this document to the extent that we really should. The change objectives have first of all been to improve governance and make sure that we shall have a structure and a system that is effective, efficient and accountable. Unfortunately, the structure of devolution is so inadequate that we cannot agree on a proper design because of fears that we have allowed to accumulate between our communities. The hatred that we have allowed over the years to grow within us makes it difficult for some of our societies to live amicably with one another. The second change objective was to accelerate development. We have come through a period where even a lot of Members, after 46 years of Independence, have not been to some regions in this country. In order to live this document, believe in it, act according to it and live within and feel the principles and values in it, every national leader, namely, Members of Parliament and Senators, should be made to visit each and every corner of this Republic, so that they get to know what really Kenya is. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the third objection was resource allocation. When Members say that we should not amend some parts, I am not satisfied with 15 per cent. It should be higher. Those are some of the clauses that we should amend. I am not satisfied that we should allow some transition clauses to target say, the Chief Justice or the Attorney-General. Some of those should be amended. I am not satisfied that a Kenyan should not have an account outside the country when we are in a global economy and we expect Kenyans to invest all over the world. We should accept to amend some of those clauses. The country has become hostage to several bad practices. Corruption and tribalism have been mentioned, but the worst is the fear of ourselves. Out of the experience during the retreat, I can say that Kenyans, leaders, Members of Parliament fear for their own personal security. Members fear marginalization. We heard a Member saying:- âPlease, sympathize with me. My entire community lives in fear. Please, allow me to have a Senator because I will never have one if you did otherwiseâ. We fear the unknown and we fear the loss of dignity. These are serious fears amongst our people. Unless we pass a Constitution in which we all agree that we are going to practice in accordance with the principles and values enshrined in this Constitution, we shall still be rendering lip service to this particular Republic. As we are now, the bill of rights says that the rights of an individual belongs to the individual and is not granted by the state. We have come through 47 years where we"
}