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"id": 195000,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 159,
"legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think Mr. Ruto is now being disorderly! I am calling upon you to take action. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to take care that these crimes do not happen in this country. Some pills are bitter to swallow, but must this be accepted. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country almost came to destruction after the last general election. We just survived by the grace of God. This country would have become a failed state like many others. My argument is that we must take action. We must take measures that will prevent this from recurring. It will not happen, if there are some people who do not want to hear the truth. It will not happen! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we saw clearly that many people were displaced from their farms. We saw this and it does not need any clarification. In fact, what is happening is that the same people are being resettled. They have been taken back to their farms. Why are you avoiding May 7, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 923 this? We must say that some people were displaced. They were not displaced by aliens from the moon. They were displaced all over the country. That is a fact. We cannot avoid it. If we try to pretend, I think we will do disservice to this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is upon every Member of this House to encourage those who were displaced to go back to their places of work and farms. We must say it. We must also appeal to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to accept the Government offer to take them back to their farms. They should not fear. The Government will provide security. This will be done. It is important for people who are in those areas to also welcome the IDPs. This must be said. If we do not do that, then all what we are trying to do is to sweep things under the carpet. At the same time, we are creating conditions for genocide and war crimes. This country survived by the grace of God. We do not want to go back to those times. So, we must be prepared to accept the truth. Probably, some people know more than we do in this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the good things that the Ninth Parliament did was to pass the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act. This Act basically tells our current President and future Presidents: \"Please, rule us well. Do not commit any genocide and crimes against humanity. After you retire, we shall look after you well. Do not steal money from us Kenyans because when you retire we shall look after you well.\" I am proud that I was a Member of that Parliament. We have now assured our current President, and future Presidents, that they will be taken care of. So, they do not have to kill anybody for political purposes. It is not necessary because, after they retire, we shall take care of them. Again, we are telling them: \"Do not steal from the public coffers, because after you retire we shall take care of you well. We will give you a house in Nairobi and a motor vehicle in your rural area. We will give you a salary that will enable you live comfortably.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I said, my quarrel with the Rome Statute is that it waits for these things to happen. What happened after the Presidential results were announced could actually have been predicted. Why am I saying this? We used to receive, on our phones, short messages almost encouraging genocide. Anybody who says he or she did not receive any messages is not really being truthful. We must avoid that incitement. We must avoid inciting the people who vote for us. For the sake of getting a few votes, you make disparaging remarks against other tribes. We must avoid it. That is the solution if we are to avoid a recurrence of what happened in 2007. We must avoid certain generalisations of certain tribes. These are the cause of what happened in 2007. We will continue saying it, however uncomfortable some people are, so that we avoid it in future. There are enough safeguards in this Rome Statute, to avoid malicious, petty and frivolous prosecutions. Again, we must take steps to prevent genocide from happening. There is no need of waiting until it has happened before we take action. By the time happens, it will be too late and many people will have been killed. Look at what happened in Germany when the Jews were all taken to gas chambers. People just kept quiet! When they started with the disabled, people who were able said nothing. When they came to people who were insane, people said nothing. They said: \"We are not insane.\" When they turned to Catholics, people said nothing. When they came at long last to Jews, there was nobody to speak for them. We must say it loud and clear. Any Member of Parliament in this House who does not encourage IDPs to return to their farms, is doing a big disservice to this nation. We must say it, regardless of whether, somebody is uncomfortable! If you were involved in any of those heinous acts, I think you need to seek forgiveness from fellow Kenyans. No politics will remove you from what you have done. If you are feeling guilty that you may have been involved, you need to seek forgiveness from Kenyans. If you are looking at me with bad eyes because I have said so, you must come to us for forgiveness. We 924 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 7, 2008 shall forgive you because we want reconciliation. That is the purpose of what is happening. We do not want to see a repeat of what happened. We should not see those theatrics again in this House when somebody says the truth. We are here to tell Kenyans the truth. The truth must be said. Anybody who gives IDPs conditions is an enemy of this country. No conditions should be given. People should be allowed to go back to the places where they were farming. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in conclusion, we must take steps to prevent these crimes from happening. When somebody says measures must be taken to abolish and proscribe all the militia groups, that must be done; unless somebody is a commander of those militia groups and he does not want them to be abolished. This is the incitement that caused this country to go to the brink of war. We must say it, however uncomfortable somebody is! We must continue saying it and we will continue doing so! It was disheartening to see a fellow Kenyan taking a machete, because he was incited by somebody else, to kill his neighbour and take his cow. If you incited somebody, you must apologise and ask for forgiveness from Kenyans. If you know more than we do, you must tell us what happened. It is important to say so! If you do not say it and this happens again, you will be found guilty."
}