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"id": 197720,
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Ongoro",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Kasarani",
"speaker": {
"id": 125,
"legal_name": "Elizabeth Ongoro Masha",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election as the Speaker of the National Assembly. I want to introduce myself to those who do not know me. I am hon. Elizabeth Ongoro Masha, Member of Parliament for Kasarani Constituency. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Raila Amolo Odinga, on his elevation. He deserves it. I also want to congratulate all hon. Members present, both elected and nominated to the Tenth Parliament. I also want to take this opportunity to thank God first and the people of Kasarani for giving me the opportunity to represent them in this House for the next five years. I want to assure them that I am equal to the task. They will not be disappointed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to add my voice in support of the Motion before the House. I want to congratulate the hon. Members from both sides of the House who were involved in the negotiation process. More specifically, I would like to congratulate our two leaders for affording Kenyans the opportunity to heal and move on. It has been said here, and elsewhere, that we need truth, justice and reconciliation. However, this House has got a unique opportunity to build a firm foundation upon which we can then build the structure of truth, justice and reconciliation. In my opinion, there cannot be any truth, justice and reconciliation without an honest addressing of the historical injustices. I will not repeat what has already been said here with regard to land issues. I believe that there are certain injustices which have not been addressed, and which I would like the Tenth Parliament to address. Talking about injustices in the agricultural sector, in my opinion, certain farmers have been given more priority and privileges than others. I want to see this House pass policies and legislation that will give the farmers of this nation equal opportunity and access to funds; be they cashewnuts farmers from Coast Province or cotton farmers from Nyanza Province or farmers from Eastern Province, who produce a lot of mangoes. All of them should be given enough opportunity for growth. We should never again refer to some crops as lesser crops and others as main or major crops. Every crop in this nation, given equal opportunity and if farmers are given the right incentives, have unlimited space for growth. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on manufacturing, I would like to see this House concentrate on ensuring that those industries which use local raw materials, like the sugar industry and those industries involved in paper manufacturing, are given priority and incentives. By so doing, we can capture the East and Central African regional market. We can create more opportunities for our people. This should be done by restructuring our marketing strategies. We know that all our urban centres are overwhelmed due to rural-urban migration. We have witnessed numbers of youths migrating to urban centres to look for employment opportunities. I would like to see this House support decentralization of economic activities in this country. That can only happen if we open up regions which are closed, by ensuring that infrastructure and the right ITs are put in place. I want to see that happening in all areas, especially March 13, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 147 the northern part of this country which has not experienced economic growth. This will help us relieve the pressure that we are now experiencing in our major urban centres. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on health care, we have made some strides. However, this House should know that if we concentrate on promoting infancy health care, we will have a healthy adult population in a few years' time. We will spend very little as opposed to what we are spending now on their health care. I believe we have what it takes to do so. On water and sanitation, it is a pity that in this country, we still suffer floods and droughts perennially, year in, year out. We should put in place measures that will ensure harvesting of water for use during drought. We should make full use of the resource by constructing dams. The water of River Nzoia and the delta part of River Tana is still not properly being utilised. We also have other water resources which can be used, so that we do not experience droughts and floods any more. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to also take this opportunity to remind this House that the women of Kenya are watching. This is grand opportunity for this House to put in place restructuring policy frameworks to enable us mainstream gender at all levels. All the major political parties promised to ensure a 30 per cent women representation at all levels in the public sector. We are watching. Never again will the women of this country be taken for granted. We want to see that political parties honour the memorandum of understanding they entered into publicly with the women of this country. On the youth, I do not want to say much. Anybody who has eyes had the opportunity to see what the youth are capable of doing. Those who have ears heard what the youth were saying through their actions. It would be foolish of us to continue living in islands of success and leaving our youth behind. If we do not mainstream the youth at all levels of our activities and take appropriate measures to ensure that they are, not only globally competitive, but actively and positively engaged, all of us will be building castles which will take them only one day to bring down. So, I hope that this House will take the youth into consideration. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said about housing and slum upgrading, but very little has been done. The Ministry of Housing and whoever will be occupying that docket should have the full support of this House to ensure that we put in place affordable housing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want us to desist from using the phrase \"illegal settlements\" in reference to slum dwellers. For as long as the Government does not give its citizens housing, they will continue putting up any kind of structures. So, they should never be referred to as \"illegal settlers\" or \"illegal settlements.\" In fact, we should learn from them, and maybe give them incentives. I want to make specific reference to those who have been living in slum areas for over 50 years. They deserve to be given title deeds for portions of land, so that they are able to access some funding for the purposes of putting up some of kind of accommodation for themselves. Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to say that what we have experienced should be a lesson and should not be considered in the negative. At times, God presents us with opportunities in form of problems, but it depends on how you look at it. Sometimes I look at my problems as stepping stones for me to cross over to the other side. If we do that, we will realise that we have a unique opportunity. In this Parliament, we should into books of history. We should give Kenyans what they have been crying for; that is a new Constitution. We should give Kenyans what they want. All men and women of good will should stand to be counted. Kenyans are watching. The Chair promised us that we will have live coverage. We would like Kenyans to know the kind of contributions we make in the House, so that they are able to know who is supporting or opposing this or that. That is so, so that we do not double-speak while outside."
}