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"id": 197254,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197254/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Mathenge",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Nyeri Town",
"speaker": {
"id": 77,
"legal_name": "Esther Murugi Mathenge",
"slug": "esther-murugi"
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my name is Esther Murugi Mathenge, the Member for Nyeri Town. I wish to take this opportunity to, first of all, thank my Nyeri people for according me the honour to lead them for the next five years. In Nyeri, I can assure you, it is not a mean feat for a lady to be elected an MP. Therefore, I wish to thank them very much. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to support the Address given by His Excellency the President last week. But before I do that, I would wish to thank the two leaders, His Excellency the President and hon. Raila Odinga, for signing the peace accord. I can assure you that all Kenyans were waiting. They were waiting to see what would happen. As soon as they signed the Peace Accord, we all had a minute to reflect, ponder and ask ourselves why we did what we did. Was it necessary? Was the loss of lives necessary? Could we have done it in another way? I thank God that we saw sense. Our leaders signed the Peace Accord and yesterday, we passed the Bill. However, I would like us to forgive but not to forget. We have had the same incidents, although not of the same magnitude. One was in 1992, another in 1997, a minor one was in 2002 and the major one of 2007. Why do we always forget? Can we ensure that this time round we do not forget? Otherwise, it will happen again and it will haunt us forever. In the past, after such incidents occurred, we formed commissions. We formed the Akiwumi Commission. However, what did we do with it? We put it under the carpet. We also formed the Ndung'u Commission, and yet we are saying that what caused the problem was the issue of land. What did we do with the Ndung'u Commission Report? We also put it under the carpet. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are now going to form the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. My dear Members, let us not put it under the carpet. Let us not put it under the carpet because we will have a commission, people will go round the country, listen to those who were injured and collate their views. We will then table the Report here and probably put it under the carpet. If we do that, we will be guilty of any deaths that arise thereafter. I want to say that those who were Members of Parliament when the Akiwumi Commission and the Ndung'u Commission did their work and Reports written, are guilty of the 1,000 deaths. They are guilty of the internal displacement of people and we should hold them to account. They should be held to account and those who were mentioned should be brought to book. I heard someone say that we cannot talk about peace and talk about holding people to account. I think, if we want to talk about peace, we must hold people accountable for their past actions and their present actions so that they do not repeat the same actions in the future. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not want to dwell a lot on the issues that have been talked about. However, in his Speech, the President talked about the amendment of the Children Act so that it is easily implemented. He also talked about the beneficiaries of the fund that benefits children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. We were told, previously, that 12,500 families are beneficiaries. We will now have 30,000 beneficiaries. This is just a drop in the ocean. How many victims do we have who are orphaned by HIV/AIDS? I think they are close to 1 million people. Therefore, having 30,000 beneficiaries will not help us. We need to look at the issue more seriously and address it as per the need. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, while amending the Children Act, we also need to address the issues of HIV/AIDS in relation to schools. Some of these children have a very difficult time reaching Standard Eight and attaining the 250 points which form the average mark. We should give 260 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 them special places in special schools like the national schools so that they can have easier time getting to secondary schools. If we leave them as they are, I can assure you that even 50 per cent of them will not get to secondary schools. Even if there is the Free Primary Education (FPE) Programme, there are other things that a child needs in order to perform well in either primary or secondary school. I believe that is why that Fund was established, so that their daily needs can be taken care of. So, let us look at that as we look at this Act and increase the number of beneficiaries. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have also talked about the youth. As we talk today, I think the youth are a time-bomb. We saw just a speck of it in the last two months. Our youths are idle not just because they want to be idle, but we have not given them an environment where they can be used fruitfully. We need to address this issue. Yes, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund was provided. But that Fund is not accessible to most of the youth. We need to look at the Youth Enterprise Development Fund Act and amend it. We are asking a parent to give a title deed to a young man who has never done any business. No parent will agree to that! So, let us look for other ways in which those youths can access the Fund and, maybe, look for the Government or some other organization to be a guarantor. That is because the parents will not forfeit their titles for the youths to get the funds. That is something that defeats the purpose of that Fund. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my constituency, we have one of the biggest employer, that is Kiganjo Police Training College. I was at the passing-out parade yesterday and, I think, from my constituency, we must have had just five policemen in that parade. I think that if an institution is in a constituency, that constituency should be given a bigger quota than anybody else. That college is in the poorest ward in Nyeri Town. I hope that when I will bring that issue on the Floor, you, hon. Members, are going to support me. That is because we should get not less than 50 policemen every time there is a recruitment. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, some of our communities are not endowed with height, as you can see me here today."
}