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"id": 1446100,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1446100/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
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"id": 13582,
"legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
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"content": "I am imagining a country that has 13 or 14 counties. That would mean we have regional blocks that make economic sense without the unnecessary duplication of 47 county assemblies, 47 governors and 47 Senators. This would go a long way into ensuring that we get a cohesive Government and country, and most importantly, promote cohesion among the regions. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I said, if you go to Rwanda and ask which ethnic group one belongs to, they will tell you, that belongs to the ancient times. How I wish that we will get a country that is not divided along tribal lines and where ethnicity is not a factor, and communities from different backgrounds will take their diversity as their strength without necessarily saying, “This is our man or that is my tribesman”. What has continued to dodge this country for the last 60 years is, we have been unable to outgrow tribal politics. It is my hope and prayer that, with the coming of the Generation Z who are tribeless whom we will be leaving this country to, we will be able to build a cohesive country, and that we will start looking into the regional politics where we will be integrating ourselves, not only in the East African Region and Great Lake Region, but the whole of Africa, where we will have the United States of Africa, devoid of political inclinations that are defined along tribal lines. As we sat in the Conference and held several discussions and forums with people from across the Commonwealth world, we realised that there is indeed a lot that we need to do. One of the major issues that came up is environmental degradation. This is something that we must do because global warming is one of the biggest challenges we have in the world today. African countries, specifically Kenya, in the last couple of years, have faced one of the most severe droughts that we have never faced in the last 40 years. This can directly be linked to the environmental and climatically changes that have occurred due to global warming. If we start engaging the Generation Z in a positive way, and involving them in the decision-making processes and mainstreaming and on boarding them in the business and infrastructure development that we are undertaking in this country, they will have a sense of belonging. I I have spoken to most of them, because I also have some living in my household, we realise that they lack the future perspective, because we have used all the resources without minding how sustainable they will become in the future. This can be addressed. The only way to address them is by formulating laws and implementing them, observing the Constitution as it is, and most importantly, showing them the political goodwill to engage them, not only in the businesses, but also in the political decision- making. That cannot be achieved if we do not ensure that we change the way we define our Political Parties Act and politics, so that the requirements that we have on election is not so demanding that it becomes preventive for the young generation to join the mainstream politics. As I sit down, I will be looking forward to future engagements in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), because it is a very unleashing forum. Most importantly, it gives us an opportunity to showcase what we are doing as a country, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}