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"id": 196983,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/196983/?format=api",
"text_counter": 190,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Rutto",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Chepalungu",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Today, I stand to contribute to the debate on the Presidential Address. From the outset, I want to indicate that I stand to support the spirit and the intentions of His Excellency the President. It was, indeed, an all-round Speech which encompassed what this House expected him to say at that stage. In his Speech, the President acknowledged the need for peace. He also acknowledged the need for constitutional and legal reforms. Issues of constitutional and legal reforms have continued to become difficult to achieve. Those issues have eluded this House for more than ten years. It is great that, as we speak, this year, we are committed to constitutional changes that will ensure that we maintain peace that will guide this country. A lot to do with this issue is now history since the two Bills which the President mentioned in his Speech have already been passed by this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to laud the President's concern that we have got to upgrade the slums. Indeed, slums are an eyesore. It is degrading to live in the slums. The people who live in the slums within the city lack proper sanitation and privacy. They also lack basic amenities which are required for a decent living. It is a right for every citizen to enjoy a good life. The people who live in the slums should feel the growth of the economy even in those areas. However, even as we talk about grand ideas and very good intentions, this country continues to have Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are not being taken care of. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is unfortunate that the Government seems to be going back to its bad habits. In the past week, certain arms of Government have gone ahead to create even more IDPs by destroying human dwellings purportedly with intention of protecting the environment. We all know that if we wish to conserve our environment, we must not incite people to hate the very essence of conservation. Around the vast conservation area of the Mau Forest, it is, indeed, true that no forest is under threat. The Mau Forest is not under threat from the locals. It has been under threat from the very Government which is supposed to protect it. Instead of the Government owning up to the mistakes it has committed in the past, it has gone ahead to punish very innocent people by evicting them from their homes. Eviction of people will mean destroying somebody's house. It means throwing people out into the cold. When you destroy people's houses, it will cause suffering. It is very difficult to understand how children, who are evicted, will feel when their only nest is destroyed. That way, those children and their parents are left in the cold without food, respect and everything else. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is shocking to see that certain arms of the Government evicting people from the Mau Forest. We have got enough IDPs. It is shocking that certain departments of Government choose to create even more IDPs. It is for this reason that I feel greatly embarrassed, and even As I support the Presidential Address and his very good intentions, our people are being harassed. These people have title deeds to those parcels of land. We have got no reason, as leaders, to protect anybody who lives in the forest. But somebody who lives on land which he has bought 380 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 25, 2008 from someone else and has a genuine title deed issued to him by the Kenyan Government is being evicted. It is very difficult to understand this matter. The courts have ruled that title deeds are sacrosanct and inviolable. The case relating to this matter was in court and the Government lost. They later appealed in the Court of Appeal. In the past two weeks, they have been at it again. This is bad manners. It is a bad habit and we want this to come to an end. It is for this reason that I ask whoever is responsible for this to stop it. It is unfortunate that the Government is still incomplete but whoever ordered this decision should rescind it. We, as the leaders from that region together with the local communities, are willing to identify the correct boundary. We do not want arbitrary decisions which are made by people who are seated on armchairs on the 16th-floor offices complete with air conditioning. Such decisions are callous. In 2005/2006, we saw these evictions. The Kenyan Government promised the United Nations that it would not go back to these evictions and that it would have an approach that is rights-based. It is possible to have human co-existence with our bio-diversity. It is, indeed, possible to conserve the environment. It is possible to do re-afforestation even in our own land. But for poor people to be chased away from their land, I think, even this House should condemn it. It is unfortunate that we will go on recess without addressing this issue. I do not want to anticipate debate as I would run counter to the rules. I wish this House could continue tomorrow so that we can discuss this particular issue, as a matter of national importance. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President also talked about security and the need for forgiveness. But it is shocking to see that even with all the good intentions we saw from his speeches and actions, certain arms of Government continue to harass people. When we talk about forgiveness, we do not understand why our people are being arrested at night on trumped up charges. Last weekend, we witnessed people who were arrested all over Nakuru and Sotik. The officers who arrested those people were not from the local police stations. They just arrived and rounded up people. We were told that the suspects were involved in acts of arson. What are these acts of arson which cannot be handled by the local police? There was even an attempt to recruit NYS graduates into police force. We want the police force to remain respected although it has a bad image at the moment. We want the police force to reclaim its lost glory like other forces in the country. We expect the recruitment into the police force to be done according to the procedures that are currently in force under the Police Act. We do not expect backdoor employment into the police force. Secondly, we do not expect certain communities to be purged from senior positions. We understand that there may have been some actions which were either deliberate or inadvertent that have led to the perception that officers from certain communities, at some stage, were not being seen to be amenable to the powers that be. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that this is our country, and we have to treat ourselves equally and fairly if we expect to have lasting peace. I expect that within the 12 months that we have committed ourselves to, this country will see the realisation of a parliamentary system of governance. This will ensure that at no other stage shall there be abuse of office. It will also ensure that patronage comes to an end. It will ensure that everything is dispensed according to the rightful dues to every citizen of this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I expect that by the end of the year, we shall have a devolved Government, and we will not have to operate according to the whims of mandarins, who operate on the 20th floor of various Government buildings. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we can distribute funds fairly and equitably, this country will truly develop. We have been given statistics, these past few years, about economic growth. However, growth is useless if it cannot be felt. We cannot be given only the issue of buildings, cement and tourism and then we are told that the economy is growing. This growth must be felt by the greatest number of citizens of this country. March 25, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 381 With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}