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{
    "id": 1502733,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1502733/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Okenyuri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "was very excited when Senators in this House supported my Bill on civic education. I believe an informed citizenry is able to make right decisions for themselves and the kind of leadership they want. The other issue I want to major on is agriculture now that we have the rains. There are several initiatives that the Government has done. We have subsidised fertiliser and these are opportunities farmers need to take advantage of. I know the Kenya Seed Company Limited has been doing piloting in certain counties. There are counties which have made a milestone and gone ahead to have collaboration with the Kenya Seed Company Limited to promote their farmers. I encourage other county chief officers to borrow these and implement in their own counties. It is one way of making citizens self- reliant. Kenyans have the energy to go to their farms and till land, make money for themselves, and also contribute to the national economy. The other issue is on the general population. You go to certain counties where the poverty rate is around 49 per cent, but when you look at their priorities towards addressing the poverty rate, you get saddened by the way they are thinking of the wrong things. As members of the political class and citizens, we need to seriously think about this. Why are we glorifying corruption? It is not for the county chiefs. The moment you receive a handout from someone who has taken a bigger portion from you, you are glorifying whatever they are doing. In civilised states, I see corrupt people being executed. However, in Kenya, we glorify those people seriously. Any attempt to speak negatively about such actions would make you very unpopular. I want Kenyans, especially the young people, to know that the future is not anticipating to come any other time soon. The future is now. Young people comprise majority of the numbers in this country. Women are most affected when tragedy strikes. There are children who we struggle daily to secure their future. These are some of the special interest groups we need to look at when we want to perpetuate actions that are always pushing them to the corner. In as much as there is clamour for more money to counties, I wish they would spend the money better. It is not just about getting more money, but spending this money better. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, finally, I mentioned that we already have current laws that Parliament has passed. Why do we not make use of such laws? We should not make laws to just exist on paper. We should enforce this law, so that any other time we are legislating, people can see change happening. This will ensure that every other Parliament that comes here shall not keep lamenting about the same issues. At least this time round the National Assembly did not want to arm-twist and show the normal rivalry that happens between the National Assembly and the Senate. That shows that we are at a time where people and leaders want to put their heads together, so that we solve the challenges we are facing as a country. With those remarks, I wish to support my colleagues who sat and actually crafted this. I also wish that this passes so that counties can get resources to continue with their activities. However, I want to warn the county chiefs against wasting such money, because when you waste such money, you are putting the lives of so many other people at risk. 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."
}