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"id": 113945,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/113945/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyangâ-Nyongâo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
"slug": "peter-nyongo"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, at the moment, we have a Geothermal Authority which is exploiting out geothermal natural resources. If we combine that with solar power, we will realize that we have a very good source of energy that will reduce the emission of green house gases that the whole world is currently against. In certain parts of this country - and I am glad that the experiment has already been initiated as far as this is concerned. We have a very high potential for wind energy power in the northern part of Kenya. The old model of development that we initiated is now outdated. In the 1960s, especially if you look at Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965 on African socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya, it was assumed that the best way to develop this nation is to emphasize the growth potential of the so-called high potential area, which essentially is the area that follows the railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu and to Uganda. If you read Kelly Francisâ book on the geography of Kenya through the railway line, you will understand what this high potential area is. The potentiality of this so-called high potential area becoming a growth pole for this nation has been exhausted. It has been exhausted by the fact that there is too much population here. The use of land without using high technology has made land very exhausted. If this land will be revived per capita, we have to put in a lot of resources. Whereas the areas that are assumed to be of low potential like northern Kenya, only require infrastructural development that will help them develop in a long-term basis. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this integrated model of development that will not forget the former so-called high potential area, but will bring in the areas that were neglected, will be a great boon for the development of this nation. Indeed, when we worked on the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation for 2003-2007, one of the things that we emphasized is that the ASAL areas or the so-called marginal areas must become the new growth poles for this nation. I am glad now that we have approved the building of the northern corridor infrastructure and we have also proposed a railway from Bangui through Lokichogio to Juba, which will open up that part of the country. That too should be revisited. It should not be ignored as it was during the NARC Government. I am appealing for this because I believe that, sooner rather than later, as the population increases in the southern part of Kenya along the so-called high potential area, when infrastructure is developed in the north in one united nation called Kenya, we shall be able to move northwards and settle there. The reality of one Kenya will then be realized. Sometimes, when we travel in certain parts of northern Kenya, people ask you: How are you doing in Kenya? This is because they are not really integrated into this nation. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, having said that, I would like to say something about the need for national integration and reconciliation in one nation. We will not have national reconciliation and integration unless we really take the National Accord seriously. This was an agreement arrived at after a very painful experience in this country; an experience that no Kenyan would like to go through again. Having worked so hard to put in place that document, having gone further to institutionalize it in the Constitution, it is our responsibility as Kenyans to respect and honour it and make sure that the governance of this nation is done according to the precepts of that document. If we do not do so, it is clear that we run a great risk of going through yet another experience like that whenever we hold elections. It will be a tragedy if that was to occur. So, let us respect that important institution in our governance. I would like to support."
}