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{
    "id": 1358133,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1358133/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 333,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mandera South, UDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Abdul Haro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I remind us of a Speech by the late President Moi when he described what a good speech looks like. He said a good speech should be like a short skirt - short enough to generate interest and long enough to cover the subject. That is what the President's Speech was like. It was short. It was precise. It was inspiring. It was forward-looking and foundational. The President reminded us of the successes the Hustler Fund has made. The Fund has disbursed Ksh36.6 billion and that there are savings of about Ksh2.3 billion. He also reminded us of pension savings which had increased from Ksh1.4 billion to Ksh6.5 billion per month. The President also reminded us of the successes the fertiliser programme has had, especially towards contributing to food security and food production in maize-producing areas. The President also told us about the successes that we have achieved in the education sector, particularly the radical recommendations in the Report of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms. The President also reminded us that his regime has employed 56,750 teachers. He also mentioned that the health sector has been revolutionised, where the Afya Nyumbani Programme has employed 20,000 employees and 100,000 community health promoters in our counties. The only thing that the President left out, and which I wish he had talked about, is that while he elucidated the successes that we have enjoyed in agriculture and food production, he forgot to mention the successes that we have enjoyed in the livestock sector, which supports about a fifth of our country’s population. Arid and semi-arid (ASAL) counties in this country hold a population of 10 million Kenyans, which is a fifth of the population. They rely heavily on livestock, which contributes about 13 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). I wish the President had mentioned the successes that we have enjoyed in the livestock sector because they impact pastoralists, especially those in the north western and north eastern parts of the country. I also thought that the President would talk about the ravaging El Nino rains that have caused havoc, particularly in northern Kenya. We have been told that there have been 46 flood- related deaths that have been caused by El Nino rains as of Monday, but the President did not talk about them. I wish he had addressed that issue to make his Speech even sweeter and more inspiring. Finally, while the Hustler Fund has enjoyed many successes, where Ksh36.6 billion has been disbursed, and savings of Ksh2.3 billion have been made so far, it has locked out a huge section of the population of this country that professes Islam as a religion. Muslims cannot take loans from the Hustler Fund because of the interest rates that they attract. I hope that going forward, we will discuss how the Hustler Fund can accommodate all Kenyans. Financial inclusion should accommodate everybody, even those who are restricted because of cultural and religious factors. It should not benefit just one section of the population."
}