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"id": 197860,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197860/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Musyoka",
"speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 188,
"legal_name": "Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka",
"slug": "kalonzo-musyoka"
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"content": "On the other side, there were Moses--- Oh! Hon. Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi--- His son is called Moses. So, I am not really completely off record. They were together with my brother, hon. William Ruto as well as Dr. Sally Kosgey, with whom we have a fantastic history of having served together in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She contributed immensely with her diplomatic skills in getting everybody moving. I want to congratulate Dr. Sally Kosgey in a particular way and to welcome her to the 10th Parliament. You deserve to be here! I congratulate hon. Jimmy Orengo, my learned friend, because when he came in, he did quite a lot. Therefore, the eight of you have also done this country proud. We have before us a legislation that I am sure this House will be looking forward to enacting. In fact, Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President covered quite a number of issues. I want to pay tribute to him for pointing out matters that are important and the Bills that are urgent. That is because the negotiators went very quickly through agenda item number one on the need to bring to an end the violence that was crippling this beautiful country. Secondly, they were able to agree that there was need to address the humanitarian crisis that has been facing our people. The crisis is still there. About 500,000 of our own people are living as refugees in their own country! That is completely unacceptable! But, then, under agenda item number three, they had to retreat to Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge. When they came out of there, I think they had agreed that there was need to find a political solution to the crisis. That led to the famous signing ceremony. They are now dealing with agenda item number four and we wish them Godspeed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President indicated that this House will be called upon to very quickly put in place the necessary legislation in order to operationalize the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. I would like to urge all of us to truly look forward to that. That is because there will be need for Kenyans, in order to start the process of national healing, to ask ourselves the difficult question: Why did we allow our women to be raped? Why did we have to kill each other? Why did Kenyans, after turning out in such record numbers like never before since Independence and voted overwhelmingly for all of us to be here, why is it that they ended up killing each other? Those are difficult questions that can be tackled under the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is need to operationalize the other suggestion to have an 68 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 independent review in order to ascertain what went wrong during the 27th December, 2007 General Elections. I am told that, indeed, from 15th March, 2008, there will be, under the Commission of Inquiries Act, the necessary efforts to get to the bottom of that issue. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to pay tribute to the President. Although I know there were wide consultations within the Government and our partners who are soon coming on board on the contents of the Presidential Speech, the President highlighted what this country has actually achieved; a 7.7 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. We will be very fortunate if we can hit that benchmark this year, considering the fact that our tourism sector is literally on its knees. That is because 90 per cent of our tourist arrivals have actually been curtailed. The tourism sector is actually crying out loudly. I want to congratulate the team that went with us to Berlin - hon. Balala, hon. Loboso, hon. K. Kilonzo, hon. K. Mwiria and others. They were out there standing in solidarity with the tourism fraternity, trying to reclaim our number one spot as the most favourite tourist destination in our continent. We were there and we could see the painful faces of those tour operators. We wish the 37 companies that went to Berlin to participate success. I know that will happen because if we continue with this spirit and mood of reconciliation, we will recover even our tourism sector. Indeed, the President indicated that there was need to bring to this House the Tourism Bill and the Wildlife Bill in order to enhance that sector. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I particularly want to applaud the President on his thoughts on giving primacy of consideration to the need to devolve a culture of science in this country. The President actually proposed that there should be a culture and technology of innovation. We should have a science commission and not what is presently just a council. The President was able to look at the fight against HIV/AIDS. He gave a panoramic view of the problems that bedevil this country, including the need for us to fight poverty in all its forms. I know that the things that I referred to, including the problem of unemployment and poverty amongst our people, will require this Parliament to make a serious contribution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I heard all of us applaud when the President mentioned that it will be necessary, in future, to elect mayors and chairpersons of county councils directly. That was, of course, very clearly elaborated by the President in his Address. We all know what goes on when local government councillors go into hiding to canvass amongst themselves on who will be elected chairperson or mayors. I think that practice has been found to be faulty and undemocratic. That is when we end up with people spending money between themselves. So, wananchi would wish to be involved in direct election of mayors and chairpersons of county councils and other local authorities. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the need to improve our infrastructure cannot be gainsaid. That was clearly elaborated ably by His Excellency the President. I also want to congratulate and thank him for he saw the need to get graduates from the National Youth Service (NYS) to directly join the Armed Forces. This is tremendous because a lot of public money goes into training of our youths who go to the NYS training camps. Many of them are just like trained military officers. The fact that they can be directly absorbed into the Armed Forces, police force and other organisations is a boost to many of them. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President dwelt at length on the need to deal with the slum problem in this country. One of the famous slums in the world used to be Mathare. It is now Kibera slum. We, as a city, have that dubious distinction as being home and host to Africa's largest slum. Call them slums. They have been growing exponentially. I would like to thank the President because he wants us to tackle that problem head-on. It is about time we put this shame of our country behind us. We know that this has a direct relationship to the problems of unemployment and rural-urban migration. It is a matter we have to deal with. However, it cannot be tackled in an atmosphere of chaos. March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 69 What happened in the last few months can, perhaps, only happen in Kenya. I remember that it took us ten years to try and work out a comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan. But in Kenya, it has taken us less than two months. We should thank God for having put us in Kenya. Our brothers and sisters in Somalia are still wrestling with the problem of a failed African state. Of course, we want to encourage them along. I have mentioned them because they are our immediate neighbours. I remember that Somali nationals were quoted as saying: \"Where on earth are we going to? When there was trouble in Mogadishu and Kismayu, at least, we took flight to Nairobi. Now, there is trouble in Nairobi. Where shall we go to?\" Their prayers have been answered. For the duration they are still trying to find peace, they will get a safe haven in our country. I am sure they are welcome as neighbours, subject only to following the necessary procedures. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to conclude my remarks by urging that the spirit of reconciliation begins from this House and permeates down to the lowest level. We, as the Tenth Parliament, should not rest if every moment we know that we have woken up to the reality that some of our people are still living as refugees in their own country. Therefore, the need to urgently re-settle victims of the violence cannot be overstated. We cannot also be seen to encourage the culture of impunity. I recently visited Rwanda, and the Rwandese President was saying: \"We do not feel so much worried because you are the artery that feeds the Rwanda economy. However, the fact that you have been able to kill each other reminds us, as Rwandese, of the 1994 genocide.\" So, this matter brings to the fore some untenable thoughts. Let us say \"no\" to the culture of impunity to law. Let us say \"no\" to the culture of violence. Let us say \"yes\" to a united, peaceful and prosperous Kenya. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move."
}