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{
    "id": 1357665,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1357665/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 214,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is with a lot of humility to get a chance to make a few comments on the President’s Address which is a requirement of him under Article 132 of our Constitution. I think this will be the second time that we, as a House, are reflecting on the President’s Address. We cannot reflect on this Address without recognizing the first Address was a promise speech. When the President was addressing the country in the second Address, it goes without saying that it was a scorecard on the things that the President promised, which I am glad that the Senator for Nandi has encapsulated as an issue of the manifesto. That manifesto had very specific milestones and an agenda that was sold to this nation, which was reiterated when the President gave his first Address to Parliament. I am glad to see that in line seven of his Address, the President started by attempting to give the nation an apology for not being able to meet those promises. In that line, the President gives a very clear excuse for why these issues have not been met. He says with his own mouth- “In our plan, we identified three primary challenges - external shocks, fiscal distress and structural imbalances that heavily strained our economy causing nationwide difficulty.” This becomes the mischief excuse. He should indicate to the country why we are experiencing an almost economic meltdown. It is not surprising that every speaker who has stood before this House, including some of the departmental heads stood and had got different reasons why the economy is not working. Sen. Cherarkey has also stood here and intimated some of them. Yesterday I saw here when the Chief Whip was moving this Motion, he said very well that the reason the Dollar has gone high is because the US citizens were given Dollars so that they could keep. As that was happening in this House, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor was appearing in the other House. He was asked the same question. They are working for the same Government. The CBK Governor said the reason why the Dollar is struggling is because there are no tourists coming to Kenya. So we have three different people in the same Government not understanding why, we, as a country, are having a problem with the Dollar. This kind of confusion in this regime that also reflected on the President’s Address is an important one to assess. In every promise that the President gave, there are different numbers and excuses that are not in line with what Kenyans are saying. Let me start with the issue of education. When the President was reaffirming his commitment to education, as we speak right now, our university students in nearly all the universities have not received their money from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB). Even if it was a grant, they have received it to the extent that children from Nandi are sleeping on veranda without even food. If you look at the issue of secondary school education---"
}