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"speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
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"legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
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"content": "The railway was built at the turn of the other century, and now we have under President Uhuru Government the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and so on. This has also been at a cost and that is why one can say that the foreign debt, which is very high and reached record levels is a problem that has to be dealt with. I would have liked to know to hear a bit more on what President Uhuru’s Government is proposing or doing to reduce the foreign debt structure. I would also like to hear more from our various presidential candidates what they will be doing to reduce the foreign debt. The President also mentioned some very good examples on how some county governments have made use of the little they have had. He highlighted Makueni and Kajiado particularly. He highlighted Makueni for the Universal Health Care Insurance known as Makueni Care and also for starting mango processing, where farmers are now getting Kshs15 for a mango, up from Kshs5. These examples of Kajiado and Makueni counties are what we want to see in every county in this country. The county governments should not just be there to receive the little they get from the national Government. They should be proactive in ensuring that within their own counties, there is enough development not only in agriculture, but also in other areas, so that the internally raised revenue can even beat what they get from the national Government. That can lead to greater development of the counties. If all counties did so, it will lead to the greater development of the country as a whole. I would like the county governments to emulate the examples given of Makueni and Kajiado counties, which came with a novel way of distributing food to the hungry, called the Riziki system. If we have to proceed along this trajectory, and I could see here that the President was and is very ambitious for the good of this country. He has engaged in very many programmes to accelerate growth. He has given the Asian Tigers as an example that we should follow; not to follow the European example, where they took more than a century or two to be industrialized. We are following the example of the Asian Tigers, and we can also have African Tigers. In order to achieve that, the President is on the right track. However, let us also remember that the Asian Tigers reached where they are because, one, they are very cohesive and united in their politics. Kenya is sort of divided in its politics to some extent. Most critically, they also did not tolerate corruption from the very beginning. The clearest example of this is - and I am mentioning this example of corruption and other issues because according to Article 132 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 under which the President was giving this State Address--- Once every year, he has to submit a report to the National Assembly on the various issues raised, including in that report, all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realization of the national values referred to under Article 10. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}