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{
    "id": 1200214,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1200214/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mosop, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Abraham Kirwa",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. First of all, allow me to thank you for the opportunity you have given me. I also want to thank God for this opportunity because I realise it was by His grace that I made it to this House. I ran against all odds, for example, having to come from diaspora to run for office. It was not easy. Hon. Gladys Boss, allow me to congratulate you as well for being elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. I also congratulate Hon. Wetangula for being elected Speaker of the National Assembly. Allow me to thank the people of Mosop for giving me this opportunity to represent them. We had nine aspirants but God gave me an opportunity to lead. I assure them that we will accomplish much together. There were several promises we made to the people of Mosop. I want to assure them that we will continue working together in order to achieve much. Mosop is an agricultural constituency and 80 per cent of its people depend on agriculture. I want to believe that in the next five years we will focus on sugarcane, maize, tea and coffee farming. This is because Mosop Constituency purely depends on agriculture. I thank the President for the fertiliser subsidy he introduced a few weeks ago. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to touch on an issue the President mentioned in his Speech about Kenyan citizens living in the diaspora. For a very long time, Kenyans in diaspora have been neglected. They contribute over Kshs285 billion to the economy of this country, but they are not represented. For sure, their rights have been neglected. I want to believe in the next five years, I will represent their interests in this House. We can consider having diaspora as a county or constituency so that they elect a person or be given a nomination slot. It is so that their interests can get represented here. There is an issue which has continuously been raised in the diaspora that they only send money but when it comes to embassies representing their interests, they do not. We have an embassy in Washington DC, but there are Kenyans living in different places who are unable to go to this embassy. For example, Kenyans living in Dallas and Georgia have to go all the way to Washington DC to, say, renew their passports and address their issues. It is very expensive for them to do that. We want to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider opening several consulates in various parts of foreign countries like in United States of America (USA), Australia, United Kingdom (UK) or any other country where Kenyans are living. I hope the Ministry will consider doing that. I thank the President because he came up with the Ministry of Diaspora even though it is not a Ministry by itself, but a docket. Probably, they might appoint a Principal Secretary (PS) to address issues of Kenyan citizens living in diaspora. There are many Kenyans struggling like those in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. This issue has been brought to this House many The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}