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"id": 196321,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196321/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
"speaker": {
"id": 190,
"legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
"slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
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"content": "We must have a committee that vets the kind of people that occupy senior positions in this country. If we ask drivers and messengers to present a letter of good conduct before they get employment, should we not ask that of Ministers and Permanent Secretaries who are presiding over billions of shillings? Just a letter of good conduct! So, vetting is critical. Unless we do this, we are not going to get very far because if we are going to base our appointments on politics, regional balance, religion, very good friend et cetera, we are not doing anything for this country if merit is not made the basis of this recruitment. Kenyans expected radical changes in 2002. A lot was made. Mengi yaliwezekana, but, of course, not everything that we would have liked to be done. However, a lot of that progress is threatened by the kind of concoction that we have come up with. We need to take care because we could be sitting on a powder keg thinking that because we have now come up with a Government of National Unity, we have solved all the problems. We are not going to solve problems by giving positions, privileges and only enlarging Government expenditure. We need to touch on the problem of the people of this country and that is about poverty and inequality. The Mungiki, all these militia and the ethnic clashes that we saw are much more about April 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 571 poverty than they are about politics. If leaders do not lead by example and make it very clear that corruption is something they do not want to be associated with and that we have to fight it very strongly, by ensuring that we implement such Reports, then the people of Kenya will lose faith in the possibility of change that will benefit them. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, finally, I want to say that it is really all about leadership at the top, that is, our President, the Prime Minister, the Vice-President, Ministers and Parliament in terms of ensuring that we remain the vanguard of the people of Kenya by ensuring that such Reports are implemented. I believe in the Government of National Unity. I also believe that it is good to accommodate as many Kenyans as possible. This is why I think the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission is useful. We need to get all the people that are guilty and are still playing a role in Government to repent and say sorry to Kenyans and promise never to repeat those mistakes again as a way of, maybe, getting out of this crisis. I will conclude by saying that we can talk, complain and Reports will be produced. Then as politicians, we will make the most noise. If, however, as Parliament, we do not play our role in terms of ensuring that we check the excesses of all wings of Government, then the good work of Mr. Ethuro and his Committee is going to come to nought. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}