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{
    "id": 197443,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197443/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 102,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Khalwale",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 170,
        "legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
        "slug": "bonny-khalwale"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not going to have peace in this country unless we address the issue March 18, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 199 of unemployment. Until we have a clear master plan for our youths--- We would like our graduate youths to know that upon qualification from our universities, as they await to be absorbed into the job market, they have something that can keep them doing what graduates used to do those days when we used to have jobs. They can be allowed to do tarmacking . Since we have got a very small proportion of diploma and degree holders in this country who are jobless, I do not see why the Government cannot roll out some welfare money, which can be given to these people on a monthly basis as they look for jobs. They can use it to polish their shoes as they go for interviews in offices, for bus fare and that kind of thing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not going to have peace in this country unless we deliberately make sure that we narrow the wide gap between the haves and the have-nots. If you do not do this, it is just a matter of time before the so-called ethnic wound, that is driving some of the forces, turns into a class wound where the have-nots will turn against the haves. Mr. Speaker, Sir, some of the youths who live in places like Mathare and Kibera slums are very highly educated. Just during the recent elections we saw boys who were riding bicycle taxis, popularly known in western Kenya as \" boda boda\", become chairmen of county councils and mayors. A case in point is a boda boda boy in Siaya who has become the mayor. A former football player, who drove a taxi for a while in Kakamega, also became the mayor. This simply teaches us that in the pool of the people who live in slums, we have highly trained people; therefore, the issue of slums must be addressed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, since many people want to speak on this, may I conclude by talking about ethnicity. I am glad that in the President's Address he mentioned that we shall have a Bill to specifically address that problem. For God's sake, let us not forget that we are black people. I strongly believe in culture. If we are going to criminalise ethnicity, then we are going to kill our culture. As we address the issue of ethnicity in this country, we should actually condemn, not ethnicity, but negative ethnicity. With those many remarks, I beg to support."
}