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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for, finally, noticing me. I stand here to exalt and commend His Excellency the President for giving his Speech during the opening of this Session, and expounding on the policy framework of the Grand Coalition Government. The President was very clear on various issues that his Government and this Parliament should work on. However, in my view, irrespective of how eloquent he presented his Speech, and how well-intentioned that Speech was, without appropriate actions, the Speech will not produce much. The President did his bit. It is now up to the various Ministries and Government agencies to rise to the challenges that were given by the President in order for us to realise what was given in the Presidential Address. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of constitutional review process, the President was very clear. We cannot afford to spend even a single day putting roadblocks to the efforts geared towards giving Kenyans a new Constitution that they have waited for, for so long. That is why the President even commended the Parliamentary Select Committee that went to Naivasha. They went there as Kenyans and not as members of political parties. They reasoned together and when they came out of Naivasha, they gave us a draft that set the whole country at peace and there was a sigh of relief. I want to say that what came out of Naivasha were compromises and settlements. When you have compromises and settlements, it is only the people who were involved in the processes of arriving at those settlements and compromises who understand the background under which they were made. They are the ones who understand the reasoning behind those compromises and settlements. Therefore, there is a lot that is required. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, it is now upon the PSC and those of us who strongly support the search for a new constitution, to sell those compromises and settlements to the doubting Thomasâs and the rest of Kenyans, so that we can carry them with us. If we do not do that and, instead, resort to grandstanding and say: âIf the people of my faith do not get this, we are going to do thisâ, then we are not better off than when we started. I would, therefore, appeal to hon. Members of this House to sit and reason out together, cultivate a mood of soberness and then negotiate and put our cases together, so that we can get a new Constitution. But if we hold our positions without seeing the others points of view and reasoning with them, we will get nowhere. That is why I appeal to members of the public and hon. Members of this House: Can we be sober, reason out together and see what is good in this proposed draft and run with it? Otherwise, the realisation of a new Constitution will elude us as it has eluded us for the last 20 years. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President talked about corruption. Sometimes, my heart goes very low when I hear Members of the Government complaining and lamenting about issues like corruption whereas, they are in a position to do something about it. When you hear Cabinet Ministers say that we pay lip service to the fight against corruption, then where is the hope of Kenyans? Kenyans have brought us to Parliament to make laws to fight corruption. The President appointed his Government to put measures in place to fight corruption. If we have to complain like everybody else, I ask once again: Where is the hope of Kenyans? It is high time we stopped pretending to Kenyans that we are fighting corruption and, instead, stood up and faced corruption squarely. Whether it is corruption perpetrated by my brothers or sisters or by persons from whatever party, we all reckon that corruption is an evil that we should fight. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President said that he had instructed all Government agencies to fight that vice very strongly. We are waiting to see whether those agencies will take the Presidentâs que or they will just continue benefitting from it and, therefore, carry on with business as usual. The President also talked about national cohesion. He said that we already have a law in place with very strict penalties for people who malign others and propagate hate speech. However, since we passed that law and put in place the National Cohesion Commission, we have not seen a single case being prosecuted and yet, at burials, rallies and birthday parties, people preach hatred against other Kenyans. However, since we passed this law and put in place the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, we have not seen a single case being brought up and yet people in rallies, burials and birthday parties are preaching hate against other Kenyans. It is high time that we walk the talk. We should be sincere with Kenyans. If we make any law here, the necessary arms of the Government like the Executive should enforce those laws. There is no point of making laws, putting commissions in place and using public money to pay them and yet they achieve nothing. We look forward to seeing the National Cohesion Integration Commission doing its work, putting Kenyans together and taking to court those who go against the law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President explained that in 2007 the economy grew at 7.1 per cent but then due to the Post Election Violence in 2008 we realised only a growth rate of 1.7 per cent. We recovered to 2.5 per cent growth rate in 2009. That ought to be a very strong lesson to Kenyans that violence will only hurt us. If we cannot live together as one nation with each working hard to provide for him or herself, and result to tribal affiliations--- If we want to climb the political radar we must not use our tribes to fight other tribes because if we do this, it will only hurt the economy of this country and everybody. Lack of planning by agencies like the New Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC), the Ministry of Co-operative Development and Marketing and the Ministry of Livestock Development to buy surplus milk from farmers when they knew that farmers were doing their best to produce more milk is a reflection of what happened in 2007. The Government does not plan but just talks without doing much for the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President also touched on the Judiciary. He said that they will put in place an efficient recruitment mechanism. We are waiting to see this because the Judiciary is very crucial to the development of this country and in building investor confidence. It is also important to the mwananchi who walks on the streets. They want to know that if they are wronged, they can go to court and get justice. Finally, I would like to touch on Vision 2030. This is a vision we put in place about two years ago. If you go round the country, you will find that not many people know about it. This was the hope of the youth. If we do not do something to actualise Vision 2030 then the youth in this country will have no hope. With those few remarks, I support this Motion."
}