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"id": 197233,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197233/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Abdirahman",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Wajir South",
"speaker": {
"id": 161,
"legal_name": "Abdirahman Ali Hassan",
"slug": "abdirahman-ali-hassan"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr, Deputy Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to the Debate on the Presidential Speech which was delivered during the State Opening of Parliament. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President's Speech touched on many important areas. I feel that these proposals will help Kenyans in many areas. But some areas which I would like to mention have been left out, which I passionately hold, myself, particularly the livestock sector. I would like to talk about this in a few more minutes. Quite a number of speakers, either in contributing to debate on the Bills we passed yesterday or the Presidential Speech, spoke so much about the post-election violence. As Kenyans, what we witnessed during the first two months of the year; January and February, was not very good. It is important that we reflect on this purposely to learn from it so that this does not happen in the future. Many people keep on pointing fingers at communities but the question is: Where did this begin? Is it the communities who are solely responsible for what had happened, or it is the political leadership? I personally feel, without any apology, that the political leadership is to blame for what had transpired in this good country of ours in the last two months which were not very good for everyone. I say so because, this country from the 2005 Constitutional Referendum was geared up towards moods that were pitting one tribe against another. It is unfortunate that the political leadership which forms the political parties--- I would like to quote the retired President who said in some of his very early barazas: \"Siasa mbaya ni maishambaya\" Politics is meant for the good. It is not meant for the bad all the time. I would want to say that the political leadership greatly contributed to the conflict. It was unfortunate to see a political leader who has been elected from a constituency unable to go back to ask his people to stop the violence and live together with other Kenyans. It was unfortunate because we are leaders because we were elected by our people. We have some morality, integrity and a good number of attributes which leadership must show. I would like to say that the lessons we learnt from this conflict should be enough to make sure that we do not pit one community against another in future. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to welcome the move by the President to establish the National Humanitarian Assistance Fund which was allocated about Kshs1 billion. Many times, the problem is not resources. The problem is our capacity to handle these resources. I anticipate that this Fund will be implemented through the Ministry of State for Special Programmes which does not have enough capacity to deal with this crisis. The President said that he will establish the Directorate for Resettlement, which is a new outfit. It is important to establish a permanent unit within the Office of the President which will have the capacity in terms of disaster preparedness and implementation. This unit should help us whenever emergencies such as conflict, drought and floods occur. I think Budalangi Constituency is now represented by my good friend, who is seated here. Emergencies that occur must be dealt with timely. There can be no meaningful development unless we plan properly for emergencies, including the conflict which we just witnessed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have quite a number of proposed legislation and policies which are expected to be dealt with by this Parliament. I was a Member of the Ninth Parliament. I have not actually thanked my people for re-electing me back to this House. God is great, he brought me back. Alhamdulilah! If we formulate policies and enact legislations that are not backed by resources, what the hell is that going to be for Kenyans? Legislative and policy frameworks 240 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 must be backed by resources. A number of people have spoken very strongly about equity in terms of sharing of resources. Some of us get surprised when our colleagues complain about inequity and marginalisation. Those of us from the arid areas of North Eastern Province feel that successive governments have seriously abandoned people of our region. It is about time that the large tribes did something. I would not want to use the word \"tribe\" because I am a Kenyan. I would talk about regions. Regions that have benefited so much in the past must now allow those in marginal areas to develop at par with them. It was unfortunate that I did not hear from the Presidential Speech anything on the livestock sector. I heard that the anticipated Bills include amendments to the Coffee Act and Sugar Act. In the subsequent months, I expect that the Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development will introduce amendments to the livestock subsector Act. There are quite a number of restrictive policies and legislative frameworks that are in place. This is particularly the Veterinary Act, which does not allow improvement of markets in our regions. Members of Parliament from this region should articulate these issues effectively. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we would want to very passionately talk about the youth all the time. This Parliament should have a number of strong youth. Youth have been used in this country very wrongly particularly for political gains for the interest of the political leadership particularly at the top. I think the youth deserve to be assisted to go into gainful employment whether it is going to be either in the formal or informal sector. This could be in the informal or formal sector. I would not want to say that jobs were not created in the last Government. Some jobs were created but that is not enough. We would want deliberate efforts made to enable the youth to be actively involved in the overall development in this country. In the past, we had said that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow but they are the leaders of today. We have imagined leadership. Some of us are already going past the youth stage, but we want them to be involved at every level. That way, we will have a holistic development of the youth in all the aspects. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was happy to note that the management of physical infrastructure featured in the Presidential Address. For us, management of infrastructure has not been a common thing in this country and other African countries. We develop roads, but do we maintain them? We develop water sources, but do we maintain them? If so, how do we effectively do that? In the place I come from, there are boreholes which have been developed through the USAID and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, but their management has been a core problem all over. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad that the Presidential Address had some element of harnessing water resources. It is a good thing to do, but I would want to say that the Ministry of Water and Irrigation must put a lot of effort in institutional strengthening. There are quite a number of institutions that have been put up as a policy change at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. I would like to thank the then Minister for Water and Irrigation and his Permanent Secretary for doing a lot at that Ministry. However, I would kindly as the Ministry to put a lot of effort in institutional strengthening. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue I would want to comment on is the fact that Parliamentarians will now be given an opportunity to get support through research and technical assistance. Hon. Members are very busy people, and I am sure it is going to help us get prepared effectively for parliamentary debates and bringing in legislative issues that will improve the life of Kenyans. Finally, I want to comment on constitution-making. A constitution is there for posterity and a number of people have, time and again, talked about positions being crafted for individuals. I think whatever we did yesterday was in the best interests of this country. We need to accommodate each other. However, whatever we will have in the 12 months in which we envisage to bring in a new Constitution, must bear in mind the needs of Kenyans, not tribes or regions. If we go into it March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 241 with our emotions, like what we saw at Bomas of Kenya in 2003, a walkout by the Government, a complete agitation by one camp that this must be the only thing which will appear--- Thank you Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir; I would want to see a very good Constitution for this country."
}