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{
    "id": 1151695,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1151695/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyaribari Chache, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Richard Tong'i",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2611,
        "legal_name": "Richard Nyagaka Tongi",
        "slug": "richard-nyagaka-tongi"
    },
    "content": "do things in extraordinary ways. I am grateful to our President, Hon. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, for the opportunity he has given them to demonstrate what they are capable of doing. Before the President started giving them assignments, all of us never got to appreciate their capacity. Now we see what they are able to do. Look at the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), which has been a loss- making company for ever. Today, KMC is able to pay suppliers within a week. The precision with which the soldiers operate is amazing. Look at Nairobi City County. How I wish we could replicate the same in every county. Real change that you can feel has occurred in our lives before our eyes. We are able to walk on pavements which we thought could only happen in America or elsewhere. We see it happening here in Kenya under the management of one of the generals. These are the people we are celebrating today. When they have completed their service and are going home, we should have a system through which we can remember and recognise them. I am sure all of us have had a chance of travelling outside Kenya. The US have a day when they celebrate veterans because they know without the veterans America would not be what it is today. Every 11th of November, they suspend everything else—it is a national holiday—to appreciate and celebrate veterans who have served, protected and made their country great. The UK also has a day when they celebrate their veterans. For two minutes, the entire country comes to a standstill to appreciate what veterans have done for the good of the country. Sometimes we do not appreciate what veterans have done because we have not experienced, by God’s grace, war as other countries have. Until then, sometimes we take veterans for granted. Some of our soldiers have gone through war in Somalia and have come back maimed or disabled. They cannot provide for their families like they used to do. They need to be given special treatment and an opportunity to serve in different ways. They need to be recognised. The Americans and other developed countries - we need to benchmark with them - have given the low hanging fruits. When you are going to the parking or the airport, you are given priority. Veterans are given priority when boarding planes. This does not cost us anything other than give them a chance and say the veterans, if you are here on the queue, come and be served first. They appreciate that. It is a simple gesture but goes a long way into appreciating what they have done for the country."
}