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{
    "id": 1211542,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211542/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 252,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitutu Masaba, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Clive Gisairo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you Hon.Speaker for allowing me to contribute to these proposals by the President. I will start with the most touching element, which is the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF). All Members who spoke today have spoken about the importance of the NG-CDF. I will continue to reiterate that this is not money for the Members of Parliament. We are here as representatives of constituencies. When we speak, we are speaking on behalf of our NG-CDF committees back in the constituencies. We are here to ensure that those committees and the fund managers have funds to provide services to the constituents. Having this in the Constitution is a priority.We thank the President for believing in the same. The NG-CDF committees need these monies in their accounts. The Government,through theTreasury, promised to be releasing Ksh2 billion weekly. That was in November. To date, only Ksh10 billion has been released. The financial year is coming to a close. We should stand firm as a House for the sake of our constituents. For the Senate oversight, we have been having the Constitution in force for the last 10 years. I would like to ask whether this is a new role or it has been there for the last 10 years, for us to decide on how to frame it. If we say it is an oversight role, the question will be if Senators have been overseeing the counties or not. The National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) goes without saying. It plays a key role. NG-CDF alone cannot touch everyone. There are some key elements that it leaves out, the vulnerable, the women and the young girls. We need to let matters that are close to our women be handled by the women. As we ensure the NG-CDF is in the Constitution, NGAAF cannot be left behind. Implementation of the two-thirds gender rule is a dicey one. We have daughters and we are husbands. We know the importance of having women in leadership and all positions to help shape this country. We need to be extremely careful to reach there. We need our girls to grow up knowing that they can also be competitive. I would like to look at it differently. On the women representative position, instead of saying we can nominate them, why not say the first 47 go through then we look at the difference in the House and the top countrywide fits in to balance the equation? That way, our girls will grow up knowing that it is not easy and they have to be competitive. Academically, girls are currently almost outshining boys in schools. Let us not make it any different out here. That is the only way we will have our daughters fit in this society without thinking they are getting handouts. On the position of the Leader of the Official Opposition, as many have said, we are a presidential system and we have to make our choices. It could be hybrid. Let those who are contesting for presidency contest for Parliament and the one who wins can then resign and the one who loses takes the official role as the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House. I have listened to the Leader of the Majority Party sometimes making jokes about this side. Meeting the people is part of our role. You cannot say you are in Government because you are sitting on that side. You are in Parliament. All legislators are here to play their representation, legislation and oversight roles. Our Leader of the Majority Party, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, should be our leader in ensuring that we play our oversight role to the Government. He does not have a responsibility to defend the Executive. He should ensure that the Executive delivers on its mandate. Actually, he should not be called the Leader of the Majority Party; he should be called the Leader of the House. The moment we start throwing rocks back, saying that we are meeting the people out there, we will say it is the way we would like it. We can meet people in markets or arrange prayer meetings. All are meetings. We are meeting the people and the agenda is the same. So, the Leader of the Official Opposition has no place in the current setup of the Constitution and there is no way we are going to sneak it in. As one Member said, it will be a tragedy if one day the President has a minority in the House and his Cabinet Secretaries have to come to the House. He will need a lot of oxygen to 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."
}