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"id": 197230,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197230/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wambugu",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Mathioya",
"speaker": {
"id": 149,
"legal_name": "Clement Muchiri Wambugu",
"slug": "clement-wambugu"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is my great pleasure to be in this august House. Let me first start by congratulating you for being elected the Deputy Speaker of this House. Let me also thank God for the historic peace in our country. My names are Mr. Clement Muchiri Wambugu, Member of Parliament for Mathioya Constituency. I stand to contribute and support the President's Speech. I also take this opportunity to thank the people of Mathioya Constituency who gave me the opportunity to come and serve them in this august House. Let me also take the opportunity to commend my predecessor, the hon. Member for Mathioya whom you all know, and who served in this House for a very long time. He made great contributions. I know that most of you know that any time he stood to speak, the whole House kept quiet and everybody listened. I also hope that I will make great contribution to this House and the whole country at large. Let me also take the opportunity to thank our President, Mr. Kibaki and Mr. Raila for signing the Peace Accord. It has given us the opportunity to sit in this House and discuss what is happening in our country. I will not forget to congratulate our mediation team from PNU and affiliates and even the ODM side, who took great courage in discussing and getting the solutions to the problems that were going on in this country. I also want to congratulate the Panel of Eminent Persons who came from all over the world to help us during the time of crisis. We also had Presidents of neighbouring countries, Messrs. Kikwete and Museveni, who came to our country to assist. We cannot forget the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and other bodies that contributed towards the peace that we are now enjoying. We also have other countries that came in; the United States of America and even Britain for participating in getting us through the violent times in this country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me also take this opportunity to condole the families of people who lost their lives during the violence that erupted after the December General Elections. Let me also pay tribute to hon. Members who lost their lives during the same time. They were not able to come and contribute in this august House. Lastly, I want to congratulate all of you for the good work that you did yesterday and the unity that you portrayed when you were passing the two very important Bills; the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill and the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill. Those Bills are based on the peace that we got after the Accord was signed by our two Principals. 236 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 As I contribute to the Presidential Speech, there are various points which I might not be able to touch on. But I will only touch on a few. I know that most of the points have been talked about and I do not want to repeat them. My message from the people of Mathioya was to come to this august House and talk the truth. That is because, as we know, the truth shall set us free. The next thing was that I should not talk a lot. I should talk just a few words because they want to see action and not words. So, I will be talking very few words because they are expecting action from this august House. They also told me to come and talk to the people of Kenya and tell them to forget things that we are talking about. We hear each and every day about marginalisation, tribalism and everything else. When we speak on those lines, we ignite the feelings of our people and even ours. They always think and talk the way we do. They always think about tribalism and being marginalised for nothing. They told me to come and tell you that we might be talking about marginalisation. There are communities that look as though they are doing very well, but they have been marginalised for many years. For example, the people of Central Province whom we always say are doing well--- Those are the people who have been living in concentration camps. They comprise of a big population and live in very small pieces of land while others in this country have thousands and thousands of acres. If it is equal opportunities or equal distribution of wealth, then we require everybody in this country to be given an equal chance of owning 1,000 acres in North Eastern Province, North Rift and other places. So, let us forget and stop talking about marginalisation. We have so many resources in this country which need to be shared by all. They are not only just for a few! Let us talk differently. Let us give our people hope, show them the way and not mislead them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad to comment about the Government and our President who, after signing the National Accord, established the National Humanitarian Assistance Fund where Kshs1 billion was set aside. It is for resettlement of the IDPs. But we would like that programme to be run as transparently as possible, so that everybody can benefit. There are some IDPs who feel that they cannot go back to their former homes because of the violence that still persists. We are requesting the Government to compensate those people, so that they can settle in areas of their choice. They should not be necessarily pushed back to the areas where they came from. Some of the IDPs are still in the camps and suffering. The rains are coming and we do not know what we are going to do. The Government should take action immediately, instead of sitting here talking. We need to go out and start assisting those people. I have heard one hon. Member say that we need to go for a retreat. Yes, it is good to go and be taught, especially the new hon. Members, about Standing Orders. But it would be my wish that, rather than spending that money on the retreat, we should go to the IDPs and see how we can assist them with it. We have children of school going age and some of them will be sitting for their exams very soon. Some of them are still living in IDPs camps. We request the Government to exempt those children from paying examination fees, so that they can sit for their exams. They do not have money to pay for their exams. If they do not pay for their exams, they will not be allowed to do them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me also take this opportunity to commend our Government for giving free primary and secondary education. It is a great move even during this time of problems and trouble. That move will ensure that all our children access education at various levels. Let us look into those areas. Some of us have said that those funds have not reached the schools. It is good for us to encourage our teachers and everybody else. We should tell them the process of accessing those funds. They should have their accounts in order! We know of some people in other areas, as was said at one time by the Minister for Education--- Some of the accounts that were given by the head teachers were fake. They did not belong to the schools. That is why the funds did not reach the various schools. March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 237 From the President's Speech, we learnt that we have got a few more Bills to pass. We were in a hurry to pass the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill and the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill. But we have two other Bills that are coming, especially the Truth and Reconciliation Bill. I felt that it should have been the first one so that, we are able to know the people who killed, funded and planned that violence. That way, they will be brought to book. When the Government will be appointing its Cabinet, the people who were involved in such acts should not be allowed to sit in any of those positions. The President, in his Speech, stated that the Government will come up with a Tourism Bill and others. That is good because tourism has been the backbone of our economy for a long time. It is very sad to see that even a sector like that one---"
}