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{
    "id": 1443580,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1443580/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "There are many successful stories to tell from the Senate Mashinani . I know we have our critics. Immediately we left Turkana, the media people went and interacted with a few people in Turkana Town. They said that when we were there, we were driving in Prados and never even opened the windows for them to meet us. If you choose to focus on what did not work, you will never lack something for Kenyans to complain about. It is a standard Kenyan culture. I am sure if the journalist who covered that story had been more diligent and interacted with the residents of the sites that our various committees visited while we were there, they would have found alternative feedback. Be that as it may, that is our country. That is the culture we are used to, where when you portray leaders in bad light or complain and show how things have failed or not working, you are considered as being successful in exposing something. That level of pettiness can never take a country forward. I wish to challenge our journalists. I have quoted this example many times. Recently, before we went to Bunge Tower, there is a journalist who was accorded an exclusive view of the building. They were taken to the committee rooms, which were newly furnished, complete with witness stands and new audio-visual equipment. They were shown the kind of spaces that Members will now be conducting business from and making it more visible. I do not know how far that process is. As a result of the audio-visual technology in those committee rooms, it can allow members of the public to follow proceedings as they happen live and direct. I hope the Clerk of the Senate and the administration are watching. That programme should be rolled out in order for citizens to appreciate it. Committee sittings such as those of the CPAC draw a lot of public attention when they are being considered. That is part and parcel of installations in the new building. However, when the Kenyan journalist was allowed that opportunity, what did they go and focus on? They said these people have built a big kitchen and a gym on whatever floor, just trying to reduce the entire structure. Out of all the things that they saw, that is what captured their attention. At some point, we need to be serious with ourselves and ask how we should critique, become more reasonable, and raise standards of our arguments, so that the standing of our leaders and that of Parliament is not about largesse. There are people in this country who apart from knowing that there is tea and"
}