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"id": 197251,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197251/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Yinda",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Alego Usonga",
"speaker": {
"id": 154,
"legal_name": "Edwin Ochieng Yinda",
"slug": "edwin-yinda"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to address this House. First, I would like to thank the almighty God for giving me the chance to represent my Constituency. I would also like to thank the people of Alego Usonga for having overwhelmingly elected me to this House. I can assure them that I am not going to fail them. I would like to thank my party, ODM, for having given me the nomination. This is because without that nomination, once again, I would not be here. I would like to extend my congratulations to all my colleagues, Members of Parliament, who were elected to the Tenth Parliament. All of you will agree with me that the 2007 General Election was one of the hardest ever fought in this country and all the people who made it deserve a pat on the back. The 2007 General Election held on 27th December, was overwhelmingly supported by all Kenyans and the voter turnout was very high all over the country. That is a testimony that Kenyans were very determined to change those who represent them in this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, of course, we know what happened after that, but that is water under the bridge and I think we should not dwell too much on what has passed. We should dwell on the lessons we have learnt from what happened so that we can have the strength to move on. In the last three months, this country saw everything that we needed to see. We saw things that, at times, made some of us feel like we did not want to be associated with the country. There are things that happened that you would have never believed would happen in this country. My son, who is 18 years old, called me one time during the fights and demonstrations. Since he is out of the country, he was wondering what was happening at home. To them, it looked like the whole country was on fire. The children felt very insecure to the effect that at one stage 254 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 they felt sorry for themselves. I also felt sorry for myself. For the children who were out of the country, they were beginning to feel that everybody else was treating them like lepers because Kenya was no longer the glorious country it used to be. He would be asked: \"Now what is happening?\" \"Are you homeless?\" \"Will you be able to go home during the holidays?\" \"Can we house you in our home?\" So, the boy was very much afraid, but I assured him that something was going to happen. I believed that the leadership in this country was going to do something. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, probably, what should have been done was not done early enough because if it was, perhaps, some of the killings and damage that we experienced would have been avoided. Anyway, the saying goes; \"Better late than never.\" I believe that this country will never be the same again. We will never be the same again for good reasons. Sometimes God allows us opportunities. Sometimes he allows bad things to happen so that we learn from them. I think what happened in this country, to me, was good in a way because it was a wake up call. It made us search ourselves and look deeper in some of the inequalities and the bad things that we have been doing to each other. I am sure that from now onwards, we are going to make sure that Kenya does not go back to what it went through. It was a bad experience which we would not like to go back to. There are two very important Bills that we passed yesterday; the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill and the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill. Bills are written on pieces of paper and passed in the House. The two Bills were passed very quickly, but what is going to make sure that what we passed here stays and works so that this country can change, is goodwill, trust, selflessness and love for this country and one another. Otherwise, if it is just a question of passing Bills, we can pass so many of them, but if the goodwill is not there, nothing will come out of it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, all of us who are in the Tenth Parliament should be proud because history was in the making yesterday. We are going to end up in history as hon. Members of Parliament who made the important changes that are going to change this country for the good and forever. There is enough in this country for everybody. We have enough resources. It is just a question of distribution. It is just a question of being less greedy. What is bad is that some of us would like to have everything. However, the truth is that there is only so much you can acquire as a person. You can only sleep on one bed a night. You can only eat, at most, three meals a day, but you can survive on one meal. So, when individuals want to acquire so much land, sometimes I wonder what it is for! Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, yesterday, the hon. Member for Kisumu Rural educated us here that the only piece of land that we are going to inherit when we go up there - some of us will probably remain here - is three feet by six feet by four feet. That is it! So, that is the only land that we should be fighting to get. For the rest, you will have it and leave it here. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that if the resources in this country are distributed fairly, there will be no in-fighting at all. This House is charged with a lot of responsibility. It should ensure that the laws that are passed are implemented. There are many laws and Bills that are passed in this House. They are passed but nothing happens after that. I think we should go back to the archives and look at some of the Bills that have been passed before, and ensure that they are implemented. On the agricultural policy, there is a lot which has not been done. If you look at agriculture, all regions of this country have something they can contribute. The North Eastern region has cattle and goats. If we specialise in ensuring that enough cattle and goats that this country needs for consumption and export comes from North Eastern region, I think they will have enough resources to take care of that region. However, we do not do that! The policy on tea is not enough. This country produces one of the best teas in the world. Good tea still fetches a lot of money in the world. I agree with the hon. Member who talked about March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 255 value addition. I think this House should come up with a Bill that dictates the percentage of tea that should leave this country as value added tea, so that we can ensure that we maximise the resources that we earn from our tea. At the moment, a lot of tea, maybe up to 80 per cent of the tea, leaves here as an unfinished product. It goes out, it is packed and then it comes back and is sold to us at almost 200 or 300 per cent more than what we sell it for at the auction. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the same goes for fish. We should have a fish policy so that most of the fish that we produce is processed in the regions where it is caught. If that is done, those regions will have enough resources to take care of their development. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}