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{
"id": 180645,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/180645/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Odhiambo-Mabaona",
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"speaker": {
"id": 376,
"legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
"slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for protecting me. I want to start by thanking Mr. Ethuro for bringing this Motion that is absolutely November 5, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3289 timely for this country. In supporting this Motion, I want to note that last year, I was in the USA in North Carolina, where I was speaking at an international forum and I informed them that there was reinaissance coming from Africa. I did not know how much it would be! I was talking about the election of the Liberian President as the first woman President in Africa. This year, we can talk about the election of the Rwandan Parliament that has the majority as women. The list goes on and to top it, is the famous event today of Mr. Barrack Obama, who is the President-elect of the USA. That is something for us, as Africans, to be proud of and for Kenyans to be proud of. That takes me to the second point, which is the issue of sovereignty. I am proud to be a Kenyan, and Kenya is a sovereign state. As a student of International Law, I would like to say that the concept of sovereignty has, in recent years, received a bashing and, therefore, changed in the light of globalisation. One of the things that affected it is the migration that has seen a lot of people migrating from African countries to the West, and Barrack Obama is a product of that reality. If you go the USA now, we have many Americans who are called Irish Americans, Hispanic Americans and the list goes on. I want to proudly say that Mr. Barrack Obama falls in the category of the ones that are called Kenyan-Americans. That is in keeping with sovereignty and reality. Therefore, as a Kenyan living in Kenya, I support a Kenyan-American. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming to the Motion at hand, I want to support it because it actually enhances the concept of separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. This is an ill that has been in Kenya for a long time, where the Executive continues to wield power over the Legislature, even though it is meant to be independent. Therefore, if this Motion passes, it will give Parliament the autonomy that it needs, which is in consonant with the evolving democratic principles and international practice. I will not give examples due to lack of time. I also want to talk about the challenges that we are facing as a country. For example, at the beginning of the year we had problems but we did not fall. Barrack Obama has spoken about change that we can believe in. I want to encourage this country to embrace change that we can believe in. One of the changes that we need is what Mr. Wamalwa has said. We must make certain changes, even as we await the comprehensive Constitutional Review process. One of them is to enhance the number of women in this Parliament. Kenya is going to receive a lot of attention, but let it not be negative because we are the home of the President-elect of the USA. Let us receive attention for being pioneers and overtaking Rwanda and other countries that have promoted the issue of women rights. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}