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{
    "id": 1200787,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1200787/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bomet East, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Richard Yegon",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech as United Democratic Alliance Party Member of Parliament for Bomet East Constituency. I wish to take this earliest opportunity to congratulate you on being elected the Speaker of the National Assembly. I also congratulate the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Boss Shollei, and my colleagues who made it to the 13th Parliament. It has been a long and winding journey for me to be here having attempted twice to secure the party ticket for the final run in vain. In this year’s UDA party primaries and the subsequent general election, God and the voters were on my side. In what I take as payback for consistency and persistence to offer leadership to the great constituency, to my immediate and extended family members and friends who stood by me through a very difficult time, my campaign team that went an extra mile to deliver the win, I am forever indebted to you. Many thanks and respect go to the voters, the youth and the elderly, who woke up at dawn, braved the chill, the scorching sun and long queues to cast their votes. They waited for hours on end as the votes were counted, tallied by the IEBC clerks and results finally announced by the Returning Officer. The voters believed in my cause and ensured that we won. I will not let you down. To those who opposed my candidature and to my competitors, former area Member of Parliament, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) Secretary-General, Mr. Nick Salat, Dr. John Kalia of Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) Party, you were worthy competitors. We all engaged in issue-based politics devoid of tricks and character assassination. True to all tenets of multi-party democracy, the best candidate won. I wish to reiterate that it is time for us, the people, to tilt the coin in the way we operate in identification and implementation of development projects for the benefit of the residents. I am looking forward to working with the national and county governments, all stakeholders, donors and residents in finding a lasting solution to the socio-economic challenges facing the constituency. There is little footprint of development projects in Bomet East Constituency by the Jubilee administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta. The administration can only be remembered for the stalled upgrade to bitumen standard of the 75-kilometre Tenwek-Merigi- Tegat-Chemaner-Kimuchul-Matecha and the Chemaner-Kembu-Longisa-Kipreres-Kaparuso- Kembu-Koibeyon-Mulot roads. Hardly one kilometre was constructed before funding of the project was withdrawn a year ago for what is believed to have been a move by the then powers to punish the residents for their political affiliation. I am confident that the Kenya Kwanza Government, through the able leadership of President William Ruto, will prioritise completion of the projects which were starved of funds, including the Longisa-Kipreres-Sigor Road whose tender was awarded, but construction is yet to take off. Before being elected, it is on record that I was able to channel my own resources towards improving the 17-kilometre Tegat-Chemaner-Kembu Road in response to numerous appeals from residents. This was only a stop-gap measure. I am a firm believer in the saying by Woodrow Wilson that: “The ear of the leader must ring with the voice of the people”. Residents of the region are in the long-term looking forward to the upgrade of a number of roads to bitumen standard, including Kapkesiogo-Kiromwok- 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."
}