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{
    "id": 1199942,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1199942/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Suzanne Kiamba",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "privileged. To the women in Makueni, feel that your voices have reached the national level. I assure you that your voices will be heard. Makueni Constituency is one of the biggest constituencies in this country with a population of 194,000 people. It goes far beyond the national figure of 70,000. I pray that we will be considered when the process for delineation of constituencies comes to this House because fair representation is part of reflection of equity. Makueni Constituency is one of the semi-arid constituencies in this country. As today’s Motion suggests, it faces quite a number of challenges related to drought. Some of the major challenges include inadequate water as a result of unreliable rainfall. I am happy to report that we are very happy as a constituency because the national Government has invested in one of the biggest dams in our constituency - Thwake Dam. The only challenge is that it has taken six years to complete. Each year, the budget goes down and it has to be reallocated. If this project was taken with the seriousness that it deserves, my people would not be facing the kind of challenges they are facing today. As the Motion implies, if you go to Makueni now, we have a school drop-out rate of about 30 per cent. Children cannot go to school because they are too hungry. If you look at the mothers, you do not have to be a scientist to know that they are emaciated because of the kind of strain they are going through. If the Government concentrated on such projects like Thwake Dam and they were fast-tracked to deliver the desired results, we would make a big difference in this country. The other major challenge we have in this constituency is poor infrastructure, especially electricity and the road network. My constituency has less than 40 kilometres of tarmacked road. That is why I was very happy when the President talked about wanting to dislodge ethnicity in his opening Speech. Dislodging ethnicity is not just a campaign slogan. It means we develop this country holistically. When we share resources equally and share projects as per the need, that is dislodging ethnicity. If dislodging ethnicity is only a slogan to be used during campaigns and elections, we will be far from addressing some of the emerging needs in our constituencies. The other major challenge as a result of the water issue, is food insecurity, which leads to low incomes. So, if we solve that problem of water, by the national…"
}