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{
    "id": 146332,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/146332/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 284,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "God-forsaken country, I would like to tell him that God loves us. It is the Government that forsook this particular land. I will demonstrate even in closer quarters, in their own neighbourhood. In certain areas of Murang’a District, we are still talking about jiggers affecting our people. That means people in that area are living in crammed conditions. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance has given money to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and correctly so. However, the issue of IDPs needs to be resolved. It should not be another circus like the constitutional review process. It is not fair for us to continue making progress when IDPs are still in camps. Where they are not in camps, they are now being called “integrated displaced persons”. We want the IDPs to go to their homes. There must be sufficient funds put into the IDP settlement programme. I speak as a Member of the Amani Forum. Today, you acknowledged the presence of the Regional Assembly in town. I want to thank the Kenya National Assembly for according the regional parliamentarians every opportunity, recognition and support to be assembled in our city. However, the theme of the Amani Conference is what we need to do about IDPs, as part of the Great Lakes Region, which is associated with instability. The Government of Kenya is a signatory to the International Conference on Great Lakes Protocol on IDPs – a protocol that this Government has not even attempted to follow up. We expect that when the Government appends its signature to a certain protocol, it will ensure that it is implemented. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is, therefore, embarrassing for us, as a nation, to continue seeing those IDPs in their terrible situation. They were promised Kshs10,000 and Kshs25,000, but that money is not forthcoming. I have a lot of respect for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance that this time round, the money shall be delivered to the IDPs, so that we can settle them properly. There are other issues that we expect this Government to address, and which the Budget must address. The Minister has allocated a good amount of money to the Ministry of Energy. We appreciate that the Minister for Energy is doing a good job. This country is lighting up and it is going to be an industrialised country if the pace at which electrification is taking place is maintained. However, we are not going to light this country at the expense of the lives of the minorities. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have been made to believe that the Government of Kenya has contracted the Ethiopian Government to build a dam on River Omo, a dam that is going to dry up Lake Turkana, thus creating another ecological disaster for this country, that will affect about 300,000 livelihoods along the lake on both sides. In both Rift Valley and Eastern Province, people are already suffering from the inadequacies of provision of public service and utilities, but the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance never mentioned about it. For us, it is an affront to our territorial integrity. The only reason the Government is not taking it seriously is because they think we do not belong to this country. We are in this country by right; not by negotiated agreement. We deserve services and recognition like any other Kenyan. It is extremely important that the issue of River Omo is a government to government issue. It is between the Government of Kenya and the Republic of Ethiopia. It should not just be left to friends of Lake Turkana."
}