Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1571743,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1571743/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 249,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nairobi City County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Esther Passaris",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Bill on entrenching NG-CDF, NGAAF and create a Senate Oversight Fund as well. The first thing I have to say is that, I regret what happened in Nairobi City County and across the country yesterday. What was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration was not peaceful. Lots of people ended up losing their lives. So many others were injured and on top of it a lot of people lost property. Nairobi came to a standstill as did many other parts of the country. I appeal to the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and all those that have huge followings on social media that we have only one country. We need to respect that we have only one country and the situation that this country finds itself right now with heightened unemployment and limited budgets to fulfil the needs of the entire country. Just coming out, calling and thinking it is a beautiful selfie moment, undermine the National Police Service and expect them to serve us. Seeing a policewoman get brutally kicked by the public, and another policeman get attacked, I am not saying that what the police officer did in terms of not exercising restraint in shooting innocent participants in the demonstrations, is right. What I want to say is when you push the police to the limits that we are pushing them, knowing that there is one policeman for 500 people and when we threaten their own safety, then we are also asking for trouble. I believe that yesterday, everybody was culpable. It is not just the police officers that shot demonstrators. Those who called for these demonstrations, funded them and caused the mayhem that they did, because if it is peaceful demonstrations then no county would be on shutdown. But a lot of the country came on shutdown yesterday. When you say that you are having peaceful demonstrations for memorials and you end up saying that you want to occupy State House, that is where you are going, you are actually looking to overthrow a government and that cannot be allowed. We have to understand that we have one country and we have to work together. We are in a bad place in terms of the economy and the President is trying as much as possible to get us back on track as a country. But the opposition is taking advantage and trying to misuse poverty, to divide us on tribal lines and trying to cause mayhem. The lives that were lost is not blood on the police hands. It is blood on the politicians that funded this. It is blood on the civil society movements. I also want to talk to the Law Society Kenya (LSK). You know, you are the Law Society of Kenya not just for the civil society. You are the law society for the entire country. You are the law society for that woman who lost her shop. You are the law society for that mother who lost her child. You are the law society for the many policemen that were also injured. So, I really say that, this country needs to take a break and focus on allowing the government to do the job that it wants to do. It is like they want to undermine the government so that they can actually move in. But that is not the way to win an election. Tell the public what you are going to do for them. Show them by example what you are going to do for them. Before I became an elected a Member of Parliament, I was already a leader. I had already done the projects of adopt-a-light. I was already employing deaf people. What are you doing? You 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."
}