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"id": 197298,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ngugi",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Kinangop",
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"legal_name": "David Mwaniki Ngugi",
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, my names are David Ngugi. I represent a constituency called Kinangop, which is about 120 kilometres from here, just up on the Naivasha Road, and it borders the Aberdares Mountains. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to thank you for noticing me. I have stood up more than sixty times hoping to catch your eye but, luckily, you have noticed me now. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also want to thank you because you are a progressive man. You have said that you want our debates televised. I look forward to the time when debates will be televised so that my people in Kinangop can see that the Member of Parliament they elected really represents them and talks in Parliament. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also look forward to the day when our sisters will not leave their handbags outside there. That is because I have always known ladies to carry their handbags. It is part of their \"ribs\". I also want to thank the people of Kinangop for electing me despite millions of shillings having been poured in the constituency, and the fact that the Provincial Administration was forced to back a certain candidate. My constituents stood by me. It is for that reason that I am here today. Mr. Speaker, Sir, above all, I want to thank the Almighty God because it is His will that all of us are in this House. It is also His will that we are all in the Tenth Parliament to carry out the heavy responsibility of shaping the destiny of this country. I do not take my responsibility lightly. I look forward to the day I will speak when the Benches on both sides of the House will be fully packed. I want to thank Dr. Kofi Annan and his team for assisting Kenyans to have a Grand Coalition Government. I also want to thank the eight Members of Parliament who managed to successfully negotiate the deal on behalf of both sides of the House. More so, I want to thank His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister-designate. When time came for them to show statesmanship, they rose to the occasion. They reminded me of a chapter in the autography of Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom - where he says: \"A time comes when a leader must step forward and make decisions for his people because it is right for that leader to do so.\" I congratulate the President and the Prime Minister-designate for stepping forward and making decisions which are right for this country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we, as a country, are sitting on a gold mine. For almost two months, the European Union, the United States of America (USA), the African Union and the rest of the world focused on this country. We are important, but we do not realise it. During that strife, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Somalia suffered. Since we are that valuable, we should bargain with the world because we are an important country in the world. Whenever we bargain, we should be able to flex our muscle. The National Peace Accord that was agreed upon was the best thing for this country. To have one united Parliament with leaders sharing responsibilities, powers and whatever goes with it, to me is a good thing. If there could be a way of moving away from the system of winner-take-all, it would be good for this country. Our people should stop looking forward to see a President or a March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 283 Minister from their areas, so that they benefit. We need a system which will benefit all of us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to commend the President for his Address to this House. There were issues he brought out in it. One of the issues he talked about is water. He said that there will be equitable sharing of resources such as water. Sasumua Dam is located in Kinangop Constituency. It feeds Nairobi with water. It is a pity that people in that region do not have water. I urge the Minister for Water and Irrigation, Mr. Munyes, and Nairobi City Council to make sure that my people benefit from this dam. I come from an agricultural area. We grow potatoes, cabbages and carrots. We feed this city. It is sad that my people are poor. They will remain poor forever unless we encourage them realise that raw agricultural produce cannot develop a region or country. We need to process those cabbages, have them dehydrated, so that we export them to the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. We need to do value-addition to potatoes by having them processed. By so doing, our people will benefit. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have 10,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in my area. Out of this, 6,800 are primary school children and 480 secondary school students. Those people have stretched our resources. Even for the educational standards that we want to improve it is not possible to do so, because of the many children in classes. My prayer is that all of us will take seriously what happened to this country. Even if some of us came to Parliament by playing the tribal card, let us forget about it. We are already in this House. Let us look forward to a Kenya where everybody is equal to any other Kenyan. Before I came to this House, it pained me to see people suffering in the North Eastern Province and Turkana District. It also pained me to see children dying in Nyanza Province. As a top executive, I felt that it was not fair for me to have three meals a day when other Kenyans suffered. That was one of the things that motivated me to join politics. I look forward to the day when all of us will support Motions and Bills aimed at improving living standards of people in the North Eastern, Nyanza and Coast provinces. We must support all Kenyans. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President talked about roads. Roads are being built to very poor standards. When I studied economics, I learnt of something called economic waste. We build a road to very poor standards and pay millions of shillings, but within a few years, it is dilapidated. Time has come when we must be serious about standards and quality of our roads. Time has come when people must be held accountable for whatever they do. Unless this country minimises or eliminates corruption, we are headed nowhere. Corruption is the root cause of 90 per cent of our problems. Unless we enact laws which will squarely address corruption, we will not succeed. Lastly, I would like to support the hon. Members who suggested that councillors be paid from the Consolidated Fund. They should be paid reasonable salaries and allowances---"
}