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{
    "id": 1499742,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1499742/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The question is: Is this the right way to respond to this problem that we are facing in the country? This is what I want to appeal to the Senate Majority Leader. It is not the right way to respond to this problem because he is trying to legislate bad behaviour. Madam Temporary Speaker, you cannot legislate politician’s bad behaviour of using the fundraising platform to control, rule, disrespect and take advantage of the people. This Bill is basically indicting the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). We established a constitutionally allowed institution to deal with the misbehaviours of public officers and state officers under EACC. This Bill basically tells us that the EACC has completely failed in doing its work. Instead of sponsoring this Bill, I want to encourage the Senate Majority Leader that, together we can work on rethinking the EACC in terms of the way it can deal with matters of Chapter 6 of the constitution, because that is where the rot is coming from. You cannot legislate fundraising in the country because Kenyans come from communities. From the family, to the community, tribe, county and to the nation, we know what fundraising goes to do. Madam Temporary Speaker, for the purpose of this conversation, I would like to enumerate them. We have four fundamental areas where our people find themselves in situations that they did not wish to find themselves in, where they are forced to fundraise for. The first one is education. There are schools in Nyatike Sub-County, Masangora in Kuria West Sub-County, Kuria East, there are schools in Rongo, where I come from, that children sit under the parents’ table to be learn and when they go to school, they sit under the tree to be educated. What is wrong when that community comes together as a community, in the event that the Government has not built a school there to build those schools? What is the problem with that? Are you telling me that if people do not come from well-to-do families, they cannot reach out to their neighbours who are well-off to help them build those schools? All the schools in this country have been built as a function of fundraising. We cannot kill that. Still on the issue of education, the other problem is that of school fee. I assure you that, that 70 per cent of the young people who have passed primary school, cannot afford to go to school despite the fact that we have NG-CDF to supplement their school fee. Madam Temporary Speaker, I take this time to share my story with you and I am not doing this for the sake of gimmicks. In the year 2005, having been adopted by a Kikuyu family in 2004 and lived with eight families, I was meant to join Friends School Kamusinga in 2006, since I did my exams in 2005. Since I could not afford school fees, remember, the former President, Hon. Kibaki, had tried to do what we are doing now, by Executive power. President Kibaki had put an Executive Order that banned public solicitation of funds in 2003 and 2004. When I passed to go to Friends School Kamusinga, I did not have money. However, the issue of fundraising had been banned by the Kibaki administration. It meant that I had to go to the District Commissioner (DC) to get a proforma to raise money. For three months, I could not get the DC to write for me a proforma to solicit funds. 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."
}