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"id": 181607,
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"speaker_name": "Mrs. Noor",
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"legal_name": "Sophia Abdi Noor",
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. Forty years plus, after Independence, every part of this country is still crying. People are talking about injustices, unfairness and unequal distribution of resources. Everybody in this country is looking for those resources so that we can make a difference in our society. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Kenyans do not choose where they are born. However, they choose a Government which is sensitive, reasonable, and which can stand up for justice and fairness and can reach every part of this country without putting conditions and saying, \"there are parts of this country we cannot give services because they are hardship areas\". This is the answer I got from the Floor of this House that some parts of this country, because of their nature and conditions, cannot be given services by the Government. If the Government is not able to render services to some regions in this country, then they do not have business in asking for the mandate to serve this nation as a Government. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, at the end of the day, resource distribution will be a cancer to this nation. We all saw what happened early this year. There was violence and it was because of the development initiatives that we, as the Government, undertake. Government priorities and vision must be changed. Forty years after Independence, we still have the strategies that we used just after Independence. We have documents and data that do not change the status quo. If we look at the kind of development in Nairobi, the kind of traffic jams and problems we are facing, the population of Nairobi is growing and we are not changing the strategy of addressing issues in this country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, if we look categorically and critically into all sectors of development starting with education, this is what is causing problems to the Kenyan society. If we look at resource distribution at the national level, how many national schools do we have in each region? We only have two national schools out of Central Province. There is one in western Kenya and another one in Rift Valley. The rest of the regions, North Eastern Province, Coast Province, Eastern Province and others, do not have any national school. When we do not have schools, which are centres of excellence, where we can get human resource to serve this country, we get answers like, \"we do not have people who can serve in hardship areas\". We do not have 3092 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE October 29, 2008 centres of excellence at the regional level! We bring all our resources to the centre. This way, we have a problem and we will have outcries all over the country. I have mentioned education because I feel it is a key sector in the development of human resource. At the end, when we get the human resource, this is what can translate into meaningful development. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are talking of equal distribution of resources. About 50 per cent of the children in ASAL areas are not in school. They cannot access educational facilities even with the Free Primary Education Programme. The data is with us. What is the Government doing about it? We need to know what they are doing about the children who are out of school. We have systems and structures from the grassroots. We do need not to put our issues on papers. We need to translate them to action. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, when I talk of food security, we know the situation we are in currently. As I am speaking now, how many people cannot access food? For example, Turkana is a clear case. Women and children are starving. They are eating wild fruits. They are looking for wild fruits while we have a Government. We must look at our development priorities. A country like Namibia, today, has enough food for all its citizens. They even have surplus stock to export. They are even becoming a donor. I think we have more opportunities. We have a country that is more advanced than Namibia. Kenya is an advanced country and we can do better than what we are doing. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there is water problem in this country. About 50 per cent of Kenyans cannot access water. If we do not have basic needs like access to water, it becomes a problem. That is why we want to have a data bank and a resource bank where we can critically evaluate what we have, what are the gaps and how can we improve. This is what I am saying. We are Kenyans and we are here together. There is no Kenyan who has more rights than any other Kenyan in this country. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, our technocrats must be people who are educated, exposed and know the issues all over the country. These people must be given an exposure all over the country. I have in mind the planners and designers. When they do not understand the uniqueness of different parts of this country, they cannot plan for us and give us equal distribution of resources. They sit on their desks and give us information from there. They tell us that, \"Central Province has a big population and this is the money they will get\". They do not look at other problems. That is the reason why I am supporting this Motion. We must look at the poverty level, infrastructure development, educational levels and all development indicators in order to distribute the resources equally to every part of this country. Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker."
}