HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 113925,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/113925/?format=api",
"text_counter": 271,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Namwamba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 108,
"legal_name": "Ababu Tawfiq Pius Namwamba",
"slug": "ababu-namwamba"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. It is with great pleasure that I also wish to join my colleagues in the House to support the Presidentâs enunciation of public policy contained in his Presidential Address to this House a couple of weeks ago. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to commend the President for setting very clear beacons for this House in this Session, and also for the setting of what I can call the national mood in respect of certain very important issues. It was gratifying to hear the President flag the constitutional review process as a national priority, and make his personal and his Governmentâs commitment to support that process fully. Indeed, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, right now, no national agenda, or task, is more urgent or more critical than the completion of this process that has taken this nation round and round in circles for over two decades. When Nelson Mandela walked off Robben Island almost a decade and a half ago, he told the people of South Africa: âSometimes, and rarely so, it falls on a generation to be great.â He reminded the people of South Africa that time that âbeing the generation that was poised to cross the threshold from apartheid to a free nation, a nation of various ethnicities and races existing side by side, was a favour granted to a generation only once in such a long time.â Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I can only say that the current generation of Kenyans is a blessed one. This generation is blessed with the opportunity of being the generation that remakes the very foundations of our nation state. That will happen by the enactment of a Constitution which 200 years from today, future generations will look back and be proud of the generation that we live in today. It was gratifying to hear the President acknowledge the work of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Constitutional Review. Indeed, the PSC has set the tone and momentum that those of us who have had the privilege and humble honour to serve in that Committee hope will inspire the rest of this House to conclude this process and the long search for a new Constitution and enable this country to have a fresh beginning. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, to honour all those who have sacrificed for this process all these years, we should set aside our political, ethnic, regional and other sectoral differences in order to give this country a Constitution that can unite us and one that can be the beacon of renaissance for our land. I also took note of the Presidentâs commitment to have the economy of this country back on the fast track of growth. Indeed, as the President noted, in the buildup to the 2007 elections, the economy of this country was not only growing at a healthy pace, it was, indeed, galloping in comparison to the economies of other countries within this geopolitical zone. Of course, after the post-election crisis, the economy has been hit hard. We hope to see action beyond the commitment the President has made. That is actions that can make fast economic growth a reality. Therefore, it is a bit disappointing that a major initiative like the Economic Stimulus Programme is yet to take off in any major way six months since it was first initiated. A programmes like Kazi kwa Vijana (KKV) which was intended to trigger faster economic growth by putting money in the pockets of ordinary Kenyans has really not functioned the way some of us expected. For the goals that the President has set out to be achieved in terms of economic growth, we need to get serious in terms of implementing these programmes. We also need to get serious in pursuing equitable distribution of the resources of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say something about education. My concerns are in two levels. There is no way you will talk about fast progression of this country without serious regard to matters of education. First, I am concerned about what I call the âdisappearing middleâ and the tendency by the Government to transform every middle level college we have had, for example, teachers training colleges and institutes of technologies into university campuses. That has been done to the extent that we hardly have any serious institutions of learning providing technical professionals that can provide the link between professionals at the highest level and artisans at the lowest level. Even the Kenya Polytechnic has now been transformed into a university thereby removing it from a very critical mandate that institutions like polytechnics have played traditionally in the growth of professionals in this country. My other concern is the proliferation of the so-called Parallel Programme. When this Programme started, we did not expect that it was going to replace the normal process of admitting students who have attained the minimum grade to go to the university. At that time, the Government made it clear that it could not take more students because of lack of capacity and facilities in the universities. This is the case and yet, since this Parallel Programme started, where we now have the so-called self-sponsored students, all of a sudden, our public universities have space! When will the Government go back to the original arrangement where any student who has scored a C+ (Plus) and above is granted an opportunity to join university as a public sponsored student? I really hope that the Ministry for Higher Education, Science and Technology will tackle these two issues. That is the issue of the âdisappearing middleâ and the issue of admission into our public universities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the question of national healing and reconciliation is critical. That is why it is important for us to ensure that processes like the truth, justice and reconciliation are on track. It is really sad to see what is happening to the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). One hopes that what is happening to the TJRC can be sorted out. I challenge this House to rise to the occasion and rescue the TJRC process even if it means taking the painful decision to disband the TJRC as currently constituted and put in place a new team that can enjoy public confidence. This House cannot afford to sit back and watch what is happening to the TJRC. On the question of national reconciliation, and it is gratifying that we now have the National Reconciliation Commission, we want this Commission to go beyond paying lip service. We want to see them engage the people of Kenya and handle issues like inequitable distribution of resources and improper manner of appointing people to public positions; a manner that makes Kenyans start feeling that they are not part of this country. Finally, I want to talk about corruption which has brought this country to its knees. In Budalangâi, my people and I are feeling the heat over the suspension of a Kshs6 billion World Bank project because of corruption. So, when you talk about tackling corruption, it is not a theoretical thing. Tackling corruption must be real, realising that this is an issue that affects the people. Today, my people remain at risk of floods because the Kshs6 billion project has been put on hold by the World Bank due to corruption. So, I urge the Government to go beyond merely paying lip service and face the problem of corruption head-on. However, I agree with the President that we cannot run this country on the basis of rumours and fight corruption on the basis of speculation. I even urge the media to help this country to fight challenges like corruption in an orderly and effective manner. People have compared Kenya to countries like the USA and Japan. If you are mentioned in a scandal in Japan, you leave office. If you are mentioned in a scandal in the USA, you also leave office. However, we have forgotten to compare two things. For your name to appear in the media in Japan in connection to anything, it must be based on very substantive information. It is not the way we do it here where some reporters in an excited spurt of inspiration pick up your name, links it to something and everybody says; âLynch that person!â Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support this Motion."
}