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{
"id": 1520214,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1520214/?format=api",
"text_counter": 205,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dadaab, WDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Farah Maalim",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I am reminded of something that happened in the 1960s. Most of you are very young people including my brilliant professor next to me here. During that time, there was a civil rights movement that was meant to address slavery and its effects, serious marginalisation and the oppression black people suffered in America for a long time. But the white crème de la crème decided the best way to water down the movement was to include all minorities. Who were the minorities? The women, who were also fighting for their rights at that time and the gay rights activists. So, they adulterated the genuine struggle of people who were enslaved for 500 years to ensure that they do not save the black man. This is because deep down in the core, they are still racists. Some whites pretended to be very good to these people and even brought in several other groups and branded them as minorities. Everybody became a minority including the Jews living in the USA at that time, who controlled the economy of the place. Basically, the idea was to water down the movement so that the genuine and legitimate people do not get the support they needed. Equally, to eliminate the possibility of developing Marsabit, Isiolo, Tseikuru, Tana River and Lamu which were starved of Government resources for all the colonial period and the subsequent Kenya Independent Governments, we said pockets of poverty are everywhere and decided to spread out the Equalisation Fund. This means that I will probably get an allocation of Ksh50 or Ksh100 million for my constituency. How will this amount equalise me in terms of infrastructure? Evenif it is given for 100 years, how will it bring me up to speed with the rest of the country? For a long time, this country has done research on tea, coffee and pyrethrum yet no research has been done on livestock in the marginalised areas. The people in those areas live in pre-colonial kind of conditions, which is wrong. I would like Hon. Naomi and other Members to listen to me very well. This Bill has to be amended to capture the spirit and objectives of the framers of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. Their intention was to bring the marginal Northern Frontier District (NFD), and other areas with ‘lesser Kenyans’, up to speed with the rest of the country. For example, how many years will it take me with Ksh50 million per annum in my constituency, those in Taita Taveta, Kitui, Isiolo, Marsabit and North Horr areas that have never seen Government development for the longest, to have the kind of roads in Kiambu County? How long will it take us to catch up with other places that have been well taken care of and well-endowed like Eldoret, Kitale and Kericho? It will take us forever. It completely defeats the purpose of this constitutional provision. I went to school in 1964 when my primary school did not have a Standard Seven. We gained Independence without a Standard Seven in the North Eastern Province, except for one school in Wajir and Marsabit. Period! The expanse of the North Horr Constituency is larger than Nyanza, Western and Central provinces put together - just one constituency. In the North Eastern Province, we have 22 constituencies. Where is development in Ganze and all those places that I pass through when I travel from Garissa? Tana River, just like the rest of North Horr, Marsabit, Moyale, Mandera, and others, has never seen Government investment. The white man came here to establish what was called extraction economy. He came to pick our wealth. There was nothing for him to extract in the areas we livedand so, he went to the highlands - hence it was called the ‘White Highlands’. Those were the only areas that were The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}