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{
    "id": 1112532,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1112532/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 18,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "It is a sad story listening to what Sen. (Dr.) Lelegwe presented before the Senate about the things that they have had to put up with. It dates back to pre-colonial days. Post-colonialism, the Blackman came in, but the policies of the Whiteman still reign in that particular part of the country. It is unfortunate that in the 21st Century, leaders still have to call upon us, but there is a silver lining out of this. I do not believe that it was for lack of alternatives that they brought this Petition before the Senate. I am sure they skimmed through the length and breadth of the Republic, saw the options that are available for them and chose this particular august House as the place where they think their rights can be guaranteed. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, Sir, it will be a great travesty of justice if the Committee that you will charge with the responsibility of responding to this petition just brushes over without giving the kind of response that Kirimun residents are looking forward to from the Senate. We look forward to a speedy and faster resolution of this particular issue. I want to imagine how many generations have passed through this particular problem, which is constant marginalization because there are communities that are considered to be backward and not progressing as the rest of the country. Many times, people ignorantly look down upon communities like the Pokot and the Samburu and those found in marginalized parts of the country and blame them. They ask where their leaders are and why they do certain things. That includes the people in the northern part of the country and lower coastal regions. If you follow the debate we had here a few months ago, when we were trying to divide revenue, it was controversial how that particular issue was. The Senate captured the attention of the country for 10 weeks. If that was a fight for 58 per cent that we had, what about 85 per cent of the resources? We asked how resources are distributed and the audit, but nobody has been able to handle that particular issue, not even the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA). We asked that question on many occasions when we used to have the first Chair of the CRA, whom we used to refer to as the 48th governor. He would appear before us on many occasions and we would tell him that his responsibility constitutionally does not end with the 15 per cent. That is the constitutionally mandated body that advises the Government on how to prioritize and share resources at both levels of Government. It does not just end at dividing into two and saying that 30 per cent goes to the counties, while 70 per cent remains with the national Government. If you read our Constitution and capture the spirit of what the drafters expected, we should know how to push for 70 per cent to reach all the communities of this Republic, such that we do not talk about marginalization anymore in the 21st Century. The Petition speaks to those particular issues, where the colonialists made a decision about how the Kirumin residents were pushed out of their land, of course, with a very noble idea that we are setting up a disease control zone for their livestock and people gladly made the decision and said: “Ooh, that is a very progressive thought.” Unfortunately, when the colonialists left, they have never been able to go back to their land."
}