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"id": 197579,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197579/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Laikipia East",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
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"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, may I join my colleagues in supporting this Bill. At the same time, I want to express my sympathy to the Kenyans who really suffered after the general election that was held on 27th December, 2007. We have thanked the panel of eminent persons and our leaders, the hon. Mwai Kibaki, the President of Kenya, and Raila Odinga, for coming to a consensus and agreeing that the country must move forward. But we have forgotten that they could not have arrived at that decision if we did not have millions of Kenyans who voted and committed no offence, but suffered and some of them are still suffering. I am also hoping that the passage of these two Bills will not make us, as leaders, forget the genesis of the whole process, or where it came from. If you look at the Memorandum of Objects and Reasons in the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, which we have passed, it is indicated clearly that the negotiations committee was formed after a political crisis ensued following a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election held on 27th December, 2007. The political 216 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 18, 2008 crisis brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions. If we look at the Bill that we are discussing now; that is the National Accord and Reconciliation Bill, it clearly indicates--- If you look at the agreement of the Principals of the Coalition Government, it is clear that the crisis triggered by the 2007 disputed presidential elections has brought to the surface deep-seated and long-standing divisions within the Kenyan society. Unless we want to run away from the facts--- It is true that the issues were not just the disputed presidential elections. The truth of the matter is that there are deep-seated issues that must be addressed by this House. Even if we come here and pass as many Bills as possible, without realising that they will not take us anywhere, we shall have lost this game. We had laws which could have taken care of what happened in this country, but they were totally violated! To me, what could have been the most urgent thing - and I am not saying that what we have done today is not urgent--- It is important! That is because for us to move, we have to get the engine. But the engine itself cannot do the work of the trailer. What we are doing today is what my psychology teacher told me. That if you get a child crying, the first thing you do is to treat the child, and that is just conditioning. If we are not going to look at the actual problem as to why the child is crying, we will not solve the problem. We must know whether there is pain or the child has not eaten the whole day. That way, you will be able to solve the problem. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the nation is crying and all what we shall have done through these two Bills is just to condition the nation. Otherwise, we must enact the relevant laws that will solve the problems and reinforce this nation. We have only come out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There is no way you can tell a patient who is coming out of the ICU to go back home and actually have a meal of githeri. What we have done is to come out of the ICU. We are now in the High Dependency Unit. I am wishing that after the passage of these two Bills, we shall not be called anywhere to go and celebrate. That is because, at the end of the day, we have nothing to celebrate about. We cannot go to celebrate while Kenyans are still in the IDP camps. The only time that we shall be able to celebrate is when we enact Section 47(a) of the Constitution. That should be done in the next few days, so that we can have a new Constitution that will address those deep-seated problems that we have. The only time we can celebrate is when we shall ensure that there is nobody in the IDP camps; that everybody is settled in their original homes or alternative areas. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is no way we, as leaders, shall have given any justice to Kenyans when, after we get the Cabinet positions and sit in the offices of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, we forget those who suffered. Those are the people we should be concerned about. The first thing we should be doing now is to make sure that, tomorrow, a Committee of Members of Parliament should sit down and ask ourselves: What are we going to do to Kenyans who are in Eldoret, Naivasha, Ruiru and Nakuru because the short rains are coming? In the next one or two weeks, there will be short rains. What will be the consequences of the short rains?"
}