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{
    "id": 1438858,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1438858/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okello",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " I thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. Whereas you have closed that debate, I would like to take a tangent from what both the Leader of the Majority Party and the Leader of the Minority Party have talked about. We have lately seen discordant voices, especially emanating from the presidency which is composed of the President, the Deputy President, the Cabinet and others in that chain. Whereas I would be least concerned about what happens in the Kenya-Kwanza Coalition, when these matters have the potential to create disunity in our country, I would be concerned. In Bungoma, where you played a very good host to the most successful Madaraka Day ever in this country, I did realise that 40 minutes after the President had sat down, the Deputy President showed up. The President of the Republic of Kenya had to welcome his Deputy which is totally a break from tradition. On Sunday, during an event of the Akorino brothers in Nakuru, the Deputy President arrived one hour after the President had sat down. Next to the President was his seat which was being warmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation, my friend Mr Zachary Njeru. When he showed up, he started castigating the weather, his means of transportation and many other things. Yesterday, to my dismay, the Deputy President took a commercial flight to Mombasa and was holding his own bag getting into the aircraft. This House appropriates budgets for travels of the Deputy President. At no given time have we ever envisaged a situation where he takes a commercial flight. However, if he takes solace in commercial flights, it is incumbent upon this House to reduce his travels by 95 per cent. We know what is being charged by commercial flights and the rates charged by chartered flights. Hon. Speaker, whereas this Government is barely two years in office, we have listened to quite disdainful statements emanating from the office of the Deputy President. I want to ask you Hon. Speaker, that the Leader of the Majority Party should shed more light on these issues because they touch on us as the consumers of Government services. A lot has been spoken about regarding sugar and the loans that were offset by the Government, just yesterday in a Cabinet meeting. Six 6 billion shillings owed by coffee farmers was also cancelled by the Cabinet and there is no furry about it. When the same Government cancels debts owned by Government-owned sugar mills, it becomes a matter of concern by one particular governor of Nyeri, who has since abrogated himself the role of a spokesperson of somebody else. I have always believed that governors are too busy to indulge in holding briefs for others. These are fundamental, germane and salient issues that if left unchecked, have the potential to create bigger problems for this country that we all love. I implore my very good friend, Hon. Kimani Ichung'wah, the Member of Parliament for Kikuyu, to shed more light on these matters. Otherwise, if there is a real problem that the Deputy President is suffering from that as a House we can help solve, then this is the right platform. However, if he is creating disunity and playing victim so that a particular section of the Government will go a different way, we want to know and call him to order."
}