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"id": 197287,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197287/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Koech",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Mosop",
"speaker": {
"id": 56,
"legal_name": "David Kibet Koech",
"slug": "david-koech"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to speak in this august House for the first time. My names are David Kibet Koech, Member of Parliament for Mosop Constituency. Allow me, at the outset, to thank, very sincerely, the people of Mosop for having confidence in me. I promise them that I will not let them down. Mr. Speaker, Sir, allow me also to congratulate you on your election as the Speaker of this House. I want to sincerely commend and thank hon. Members who have spoken before me. I would like to say that I am happy to be part of this Tenth Parliament. We have come here so that we can build the nation together. Before I comment on the President's Speech, allow me to sincerely thank those who have made it possible for us to share in this very cordial atmosphere. We walked in with a lot of enthusiasm as new hon. Members, but because of the happenings in the country in the past two months, some of us had started seeing the country in the dark. At this juncture, allow me to sincerely thank the negotiators, our friends from outside Kenya and outside Africa for a job well done. Let me sincerely thank His Excellency the President and His Excellency the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Raila, for rising above the many things and sacrifices that they made to ensure that our country lives again. Let me also sincerely thank the entire House. We have all come together so that we can share together and forge ahead in this very historic Tenth Parliament. I am happy to be part of this Parliament where we are going to make history. Yesterday, we started the making of history in this House. I am glad that I am part of it. Yesterday, we passed the two Bills. I want to say that I long for the time we shall deliver a new 274 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 Constitution to Kenya. I believe we shall be put in the history books of Kenya as having participated in ensuring that we have a just Kenya, a country for us, our children and a country for everybody where we can live and enjoy our stay. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have come from a very dark corner of this country; a time when we are remembering all our dear brothers and sisters whom we lost in the past two months. Over 1,000 Kenyans lost their lives. We are here to remember them. We are here to remember the many Kenyans who were injured and found themselves in hospitals and the many Kenyans who lost their property. At this juncture, I would like to tell all our colleagues that it is high time we forge ahead as one team. I would like to join my colleague and friend, Mr. Kiunjuri, to request for one thing. At some stage in the talks in this House, it has come out almost clearly that some hon. Members may not have really felt what happened in Kenya in the past two months. Some of us who come from those areas were at a point of shedding tears when some of our colleagues spoke as if Kenya was still the same. I request that this House is facilitated; so that all hon. Members could move to the grassroots level, visit the peasant farmers, the people suffering in the villages and IDP camps. We should talk, listen to them andget the feel of their pain so that, when we are here, we share knowing exactly what type of a country we were, almost likely, leaving behind. I believe we are capable and able to facilitate that kind of movement. We are at the point of reconciliation. I would like to know the real thing behind what happened. If necessary, we should dig deep and find out. I am happy that we shall have the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the process of healing that is going on in the country, I would like to say that there are so many Kenyans who are being arrested left, right and centre - very innocent Kenyans based on suspicions. It is good that the security personnel carry out proper investigations before they arrest people left, right and centre. We want to have proper and good reconciliation in our country. We would also like to request that, as leaders, we should stop populism. We should go for the real thing for this country. Let us stop being biased. Let us be committed to all that we pass in this House. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on the President's Speech, I would like to commend him for the comprehensive Address to this House. I am happy to note that the Government will be tabling Bills aimed at improving the agriculture sector which is the backbone of our economy. He also mentioned something to do with coffee, sugar and dairy sectors. However, in the process of improving these sub-sectors, there is need for us, as a country, to think of adding value to all our produce. It is not good enough for us to claim to be the major exporter of coffee and yet we import processed coffee. I come from an area where maize is the staple food. The peasant farmers rely entirely on maize. It pains me to note that after our farmers have delivered maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), it takes six to eight months for them to be paid. These peasant farmers depend on the same money to plough it back to their farms before they reap from the next harvest. There is need to look into the NCPB, so that they pay farmers on time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, many hon. Members have talked about the farm inputs. It is even scaring to talk about their prices. If I plough one acre with my layman's knowledge of farming, I will hardly get Kshs5,000 as profit at the end of the year. If you divide that by twelve months, we are almost saying farmers are only producing maize to be consumed by Kenyans and they get nothing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on infrastructure, I would like to commend the Minister for Roads and Public Works for the action he took the other day over some contractors who are very lazy. It will be necessary for us to know why some contractors were not blacklisted. The road from Nakuru to Timboroa, for example, was tendered five years ago. My constituency is a high potential one in terms of agricultural output, but unfortunately, March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 275 roads are in terrible states. However, not a single tarmac has been laid on them. We only have one \"Class C\" road in my constituency. It is the only road in Kenya today which is not tarmacked. We were told that it was tarmacked 20 years ago, but not a single tarmac was laid. This is the road from Chepterit, Kaiboi, all the way to Kipkaren. I request that the Ministry moves with speed to assist us to work on those roads. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have worked for 18 years in the Ministry of Education. I would like to commend the Government for the introduction of free primary and secondary education. However, the free secondary education has had some challenges which should be addressed with urgency. One of them is that it is not free to every child in Kenya. If the students are not more than 40 in a class, then they do not benefit from this free secondary education. Many children in the rural areas are day scholars and hardly are they 40 in a class. They are also suffering today because they cannot benefit from the free secondary education. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}