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"id": 194027,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabando wa Kabando",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to contribute to this very important Motion. The kind of Ministries we need in this country should be commensurate with Vision 2030 that we have set in order to propel Kenya as the first nation that is harvesting its potential, self-reliance and absolutely without the overdependence on the so-called donor support which essentially comprises of neo- colonialism. This is because a country without economic roots, cannot make its own decisions and cannot move the interests of its citizenry. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, the Cabinet that I see being contemplated by this Motion should not just talk about, as my colleagues have said, numbers. It should talk about leaning towards dynamics of the country. It needs to lean towards the intellectual capital that is existing in the nation. To date, Kenya leads, among other African countries as I have said before, in the number of students in tertiary colleges and reputable universities in the United States of America (USA). We have the critical mass of young professionals who need to be absorbed to contribute effectively and positively to the national development. Therefore, we should be leaning towards the 72 per cent of the population of Kenya that is below 30 years of age. To have a Cabinet dominated by 5 per cent of the population to marshall plans for 72 per cent that is below 30 years of age, is in itself a departure from the interests of the nation. It is, therefore, important that whatever rules and regulations that will be developed in order to conduct this Motion when it comes into law, should essentially lead towards getting the nation reflected in its national leadership. It should be a Cabinet that is leaning towards diversity. That will avert the sort of May 14, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1015 confusion that we are getting. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is interesting that we also in this House are at the forefront of complaining that our districts and sub-ethnic groups were not involved in this Cabinet. Yet, we are also saying that we need to be drivers and shapers of the nation that is the Republic of Kenya. At one stage, we want Kenya which is one family to be on the platform of the leadership of East African Community (EAC) and as it is today in the academia world. At the same time, we are reduced in press conferences to complainants talking about our petty, small and unfocussed issues. We, as Members of Parliament, need to embrace our role and ensure that our utterances within and out of the House actually do not excite the critical mass that is so frustrated and vulnerable for misuse or some other vices that easily come when people do not have economic engagements. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Cabinet that is being contemplated in this Motion should be \"clean\". However, the question of the day is: We have the Public Officer Ethics Act of 2003 for Members of Parliament and other public servants. The law is clear. It was established five years ago. Is it being implemented? Do we need to complain inside and outside the House that some unclean people who have cases pending in courts of law are dominating or being awarded posts because of voting patterns and ethnic arithmetics that are being considered in appointments? We have to boldly and courageously step forward and say that even laws that have been put just as this section of the Constitution says: \"Parliament may establish the offices of Ministries and, therefore, even the numbers of those Ministers.\" We have a law that talks about our integrity as Members of Parliament and also as Ministers. That law needs to be implemented without hesitation. We have the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) which needs to be clear and not just giving speeches and saying that they have audit reports, but it needs to cite publicly that if you are charged in a court of law for misappropriation of public resources, you do not need to be accorded a flag to intimidate the citizenry and be saluted wherever you go. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, it is in the spirit of nationhood that we need to endorse the dismantling of our ethnic cocoons and not rewarding, as I said, regions and groupings. Therefore, it may be necessary as was contemplated in deliberations at Bomas, although it may not have come about in the referendum, that we need to also outsource from outside. Companies in the corporate world are outsourcing. They are outsourcing skills. It may happen at one time that all the Members of Parliament are from one discipline. That can happen. We need to contemplate harvesting from external arena by getting eminent Kenyans who are professionally and intellectually qualified to also sit in the Cabinet. Those are issues that we need to bring forward, so that we, as a nation, can ensure that we get the diversity of skills that will enable us to move forward. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, very finally, there is the need for us to have a serious call that goes beyond this Motion, which I support very strongly because it is long overdue. We need to voice the concerns, interests and the duty that we, as Members of Parliament, do not see Ministerial appointments as belonging to certain districts and political parties. Since there are things that have been done that cannot be undone, those who have been given appointments, accepted them and have sworn to defend the Constitution and the Republic of Kenya, should deliver. There should not be doubt that those in those positions will not deliver. Whatever Ministries that some of us have been given, it is now the time for us to make a difference. A difference we are making. I beg to support."
}