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{
    "id": 1200751,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1200751/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 154,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ibrahim Saney",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "that I should be back to represent them in the 13th Parliament. For that, I am grateful and I shall remain indebted to them. Fast-forward to the Presidential Speech, I am proud to have elected His Excellency the President. I come from an area that is majorly painted orange and red and it was not easy to win on a United Democratic Alliance ticket. It was not an easy battle to face seven Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance candidates against one from Kenya Kwanza. Luckily, I triumphed. The President’s Address was apt on the various issues facing the country. Of concern to me were issues of constitutionalism. His Excellency the President appointed the six judges who had gone through the due process in their recruitment, as was done by the Judicial Service Commission. The only role left for the then President, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, was to appoint the six judges. That was not done. However, I am happy that the newly elected Fifth President of Kenya has fidelity to the law and has appointed the six judges accordingly. I am also happy that in his Address, he affirmed that the Judiciary Fund shall be operationalised. This is a great move towards constitutionalism. He also emphasised the fact that the Judiciary shall cascade its services to the constituency level, taking justice to the people, so that they can handle the many cases by the locals at the grassroots, more so commercial and corruption cases. I was taken aback when a previous speaker mentioned that the President did not address corruption issues. Actually, the President made a bold undertaking that he would devolve the Judiciary to the constituency level to ensure that commercial and corruption cases are expedited accordingly. This is the first time this is happening in the history of this republic. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the President has brought hope to the rule of law by ensuring that the Inspector-General of Police is the accounting officer as espoused in the Constitution, and that this is fully implemented. That was a bold move that we expected from him and he did it in the first few days in office. The other issue that the President addressed is that he implored the House to review the Standing Orders so that we can have the Executive on the Floor of this House for us to interrogate them on matters policy and service delivery. That is welcome, but we should be a bit cautious on matters of separation of powers. Separation of powers is thin and it is well needed. We must not confuse different arms of Government, but it is important that this House’s previous position is restored to when the Question Time was the most interesting time of debate in Parliament. Further, the President talked about agriculture. He emphasised that it is important to handle maters of production than the easy approaches to levies and subsidies. I appreciate his move and I feel that it is the right way to go. He spoke about agriculture from an expert oriented position. On matters business environment, Kenya is the first, if not second, in Africa and the world, most unequal country. The GDP is in the hands of 8,300 people only, according to the latest statistics from Oxfam. About 8,300 own 99 per cent of the GDP of this country. The President emphasised and promised that he would improve on the business environment to make sure that the inequality gap is reduced accordingly. Further, he talked about the PPP in regard to access to water. He promised to increase access to water from 60 per cent to 80 per cent. That is a welcome move. Water is a basic need, more so in the rural communities and in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). In as much as I appreciate his approach, emphasis is given to either public or foreign investors who have the bigger muscle and what happens ordinarily is capital flight. I would urge the President to consider small-scale investors so that they can also go into the partnership to sell and deliver water to earn money. Otherwise, the approach with regard to the PPP is welcome and that brings me to the Bute Water Pan, which is a presidential flagship project he has been following for the last 10 years. I hope he will consider the Bute Water Pan in Wajir as part of the PPP that he promised 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."
}