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{
    "id": 1132874,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1132874/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 332,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is obviously very clear that if we had unity of purpose we would have achieved far much more, including the search for unity which the President said is pending. As we know, unity is really a by-product of political goodwill among players that aim to hold political power. For what does it benefit any person to get power but then you cannot exercise it because the country is divided? We have seen that happen in1992 and 1997. In 2003, there was total unity. One year after, there was disunity. And we saw the by-product of that disunity in 2007. As such, we should be much more careful and aware of the impact that our quest for power has on the health of our nation and on service delivery. At the end of the day, and that came out clearly from the President, Kenya is bigger than each and every one of us. A time comes when political ambition should be shelved for the nation to prosper. We can only achieve our dreams in an environment of peace and unity. When the President fights corruption, it is not political persecution or weaponisation of the fight. He has done his part and he continues to do more. It is up to us leaders to take up the occasion and exhibit good leadership. Coming to the last two issues, can Kenyans seriously examine candidates at all levels and make informed choices during election? The answer to this is both yes and no. Power belongs to the people as given to them by Article 38 of the Constitution. It is up to the people to elect the person they like. As the President prepares for the end of his tenure, I want to ask Kenyans to be aware that it is important to vote for leaders who shall carry on his legacy of transformation and not reverse the gains or plunge the country back to regression. Kenyan politics, to a larger extent, is based on ethnicity and tribal backgrounds. The ‘mtu wetu’ syndrome may have plagued Kenyan politics and still continues to do so as evidenced by various protest groups based on ethnicity who feel their politicians have been targeted by certain actions or that their person has been mentioned not necessarily because of what he wants to do but because it is ‘mtu wetu’ . With this in mind, it is our duty as leaders and following the spirit of the handshake and other unity forums or initiatives, that we ensure Kenyans are not duped into voting along tribal lines. They should make firm choices through identifying and supporting leaders they deem fit morally and those that hold the people’s interests at heart. I am talking of all levels: ward, constituency, county and the national level. The next question I was to put to the House as an interview choice is: Who will educate the masses to create that enlightened citizenry to vote wisely to secure our future? About 50 years ago, universities in the UK had an extra vote. It was believed that the ordinary citizen may not vote with his brains and it needed the people who were intellectuals to also cast votes. If you were a university lecturer in Oxford, for example, you could have had two votes: one in the university constituency and the other in your local constituency so as to improve the quality of the vote. In the USA, there was a law in terms of minimum education for you to vote which was only removed in the last 40 years or so by the Congress because it was being used to discriminate against the black communities. However, there is a realization that allowing people to vote without enlightenment of what they are voting for is more dangerous than not voting at all. Unfortunately for us in Kenya, we seem to be having this. We vote and within three months, people are then asking why they voted for such and such a person, and demanding a re-vote with others campaigning against them. What do we need to do to educate our citizens as leaders? Civic education is necessary. It is a collective responsibility but would require a multi-sectoral approach. I heard Members mention that even as stakeholders come together to ensure we have credible Elections in 2022, the real beneficiary of that coming together… The Chairman of IEBC 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."
}