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"id": 182955,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/182955/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabando wa Kabando",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports",
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"legal_name": "Kabando wa Kabando",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion. It is, indeed, a very important Motion. It also represents, as a preamble, the aspirations that this country has for a new Constitution. They have aspirations towards devolution by ensuring that we go to the lowest unit of leadership to administrate our resources and manage those resources in a way that is acceptable. We should ensure that there is equity, fairness and equality. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we will accept new districts that are created, based on factors that are well considered. We should look at the constituencies, population and geographical locations. That will be fair to a lot of people. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as we speak about the new districts, we are looking at the whole arena of administration in this country. We are talking about democratic representation where, even Members of Parliament, are elected by the constituencies based on factors that are really democratic. Our representation should be propelled by the number of individuals that you represent. As well put by my colleague, Dr. Mwiria, we need to consider geographic factors. That is because there are some constituencies that cover huge areas. They are so wide! So, as you consider population, you need to consider issues to do with the area and its coverage, for it to be 2904 PARLIAMETARY DEBATES October 22, 2008 manageable. I support this Motion because it will create diversity that is acceptable to the people of this country. Districts that are based on constituencies are good. The Seconder to this Motion said that he has two districts in his constituency. Although it is a peculiar sort of a complaint, they are not very manageable. Therefore, the political engagement does not agree very well and the capability is, perhaps, challenged in terms of working. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, on the issue of resource allocation, that is the bottom- line. If we entrench that proposed legislation in the new Constitution, it would ensure that we exterminate the recurring complaints that come to this House and other political platforms where people are saying that their areas are marginalised. Perhaps, it is because of historic circumstances. It is also because we have been held hostage by the old type of politics. That is because of non- performance and failure to address the prevailing issues. We sit in this House and pass the Budget. We pass the Estimates based on district allocations. We have the opportunity, for and on behalf the people of the republic of Kenya, to scrutinise every detail in the district allocations. But a day after, we go to our constituencies and other platforms and complain that we are not allocated this or that. Therefore, in order to rationalise and standardise our politics, it is important that we have a logical and methodological way of ensuring that Government services are devolved, taken to the people and based on a system that is not benevolent of any political office, be it the Executive or any other scenario, that may intimidate the creation of a district or any other institution. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support this Motion because it will also institutionalise and provide an impetus for us, as legislators, to collectively support any endeavour that will be put before this House or any other forum, towards a new constitutional dispensation that will allow institutionalisation of our leadership from the top to the bottom; but starting from the bottom as a foundation. That would also enable this country to move from negative ethnicity that has brought so much suffering and suffocation of the potential of this great country. As we move towards the creation of the new districts, we should also consider issues to do with names and boundaries of those districts. We should remove the ethnic dispensation that is so dominant in the current districts to the extent that we have dominance of certain clans, families and groups in certain locations in this country. They seem to be owners or movers in certain districts. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I support this Motion whole heartedly and deservedly, I also appreciate that we, as leaders, have a responsibility beyond what the Government can do. In this country, we have locations and sub-locations which exist by law. We have chiefs and assistant chiefs across the country who are operating without Administration Policemen (APs), because of what happened to this country after the December, 2007 General Election. We have administration units, namely locations and sub-locations, where insecurity is rising every hour and day because the administrators are ill-equipped. We need to redress certain factors that are in place currently and certain situations that we have created. Therefore, in support of what Dr. Mwiria has said, the onus is on us, as Members of Parliament, to also stand on a platform of nationalism and stop the nonsense of spewing negative statements, either on the Floor of the House or outside the House, where we demonise communities and individuals when we retreat to our ethnic cocoons. We may make complaints on the Floor of the House or out of the House to excite some excitement in our constituents. A time has come for this country, lead by the Members of Parliament who are democratically elected, to be on a pedestal from which to entrench the Kenyan name and the Kenyan fame, as indeed, has been done by our sports people. This House was in unanimity when our young men and women did Kenya proud in Beijing. They have done it again in Basket Ball in Tunisia and Egypt. They have done it in other arenas. We should be at the forefront of ensuring that we entrench this. Therefore, I support this Motion with the full consciousness that it will provide an opportunity for us to do what is good, what is needed and, in fact, what is overdue. This runs in October 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2905 tandem with the campaign to have constituencies based on, more importantly, the demographic factors, and secondly, on the geographical factors. By and large, we need to appreciate that it is the demographic factors that should inform the decision in creating constituencies and districts. However, we should not be blind to the fact that there may be, and there are, special circumstances, like in North Horr and Samburu, that may require special attention when creating constituencies. In these areas communities may be nomadic, and we need to address the question of their expanse and mobility of residents. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this Motion also provides us with an opportunity to decolonise the provinces in this country. The eight provinces of this country are largely a demarcation of ethnic groups. So, a certain demographic consideration inhabits a certain part of the country. It is almost 100 per cent predicable that if you go to a certain province, you will find a particular group. In fact, we even need to rename provinces like the Rift Valley, so that it is not the Rift valley or \"Bonde la Ufa \". It should be a valley of peace. Renaming may appear simple, but it may have some meaning. It may create some reincarnation, and as hon. Chepchumba may say in her constituency and elsewhere, we need this. So, new provinces, districts, constituencies, a new Constitution, a national rebirth and a refreshing national leadership are what we need. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}