HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 197866,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197866/?format=api",
"text_counter": 101,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Samoei",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Eldoret North",
"speaker": {
"id": 204,
"legal_name": "William Samoei Ruto",
"slug": "william-ruto"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I want to join my colleagues in endorsing and supporting the Speech made by His Excellency the President. I want to say that the Tenth Parliament occupies a very special place in the history of our country. In fact, we are at a historic moment in the history of our country. It is my belief that as the hon. Members of the Tenth Parliament, we will rise up to this historic moment and take up the challenge that has been brought before us. It is historic because for the very first time, we have a grand coalition Government in the history of our country. Our coming together because of what happened after the last General Election--- Unfortunate as it was that many Kenyans, upwards of 1,000 lost their lives, enormous property destroyed and so many other things that went on; were really unfortunate circumstances. But we are here to face a historic moment. We should not trivialise this moment and make it a moment about positions. It is not about positions! Fundamentally, this moment is about, in my opinion, three things. We should use the moments that we are going to sit together in the same Government and Parliament to put to a closure the things of the past. The mediation team proposed that we should have a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. We should seize the moment that the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission provides us to deal with the things that have clouded our national life for a long time. We should settle the past so that our focus on the future is not clouded by prejudice, injustices of the past and things that form our past as a nation. I believe that the people of Kenya and we, as leaders, are going to provide the wayforward as we make the difficult confessions in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Mr. Speaker, Sir, that will be the moment when we can settle the issues that make Kenyans fight every so often and seek every excuse to rise against each other. After 44 years since Independence, it is a shame that Kenyans can brutalise each other and carry machetes, pangas, axes, bows and arrows against their own brothers. It should concern us, as leaders, that those acts must be put to rest so that, at no other time should Kenyans rise against each other, irrespective of the conflict or argument. Mr. Speaker, Sir, that is the moment when we can bring the country together. It is an March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 73 admitted fact that this country is deeply divided along tribal and social lines; those who have and those who do not. Inequality is a very serious and fundamental problem in our country. This grand coalition, in my opinion, gives us the opportunity to bridge the divide that has become of our country. More fundamentally, we have an opportunity, as a nation, to lay a firm foundation for the future. Together, we can overcome many of the hurdles that we have not overcome in the past. Chief among them, as has been said by my colleagues, is to have a new democratic and fair constitutional dispensation. We have had many attempts to have a new Constitution, but we have not succeeded. I am sure that together, this time round, and with the resolve that I see in the people of Kenya and the leadership of this country, we will overcome that hurdle and lay a firm foundation under a new constitutional dispensation for our country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President pointed out some of the issues that we intend to tackle as a nation and as Parliament. Fundamental among the issues that the President raised concerns the young people. The youth in our country form a very significant part of our population. We have not said what we should do about 70 per cent of our population. I think this House will do this country a lot of favour in what we concern ourselves with, in terms of legislation, policy, creating more jobs and equity in our country, so that we can mainstream the participation of more people, both in the economy and the social well-being of our country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, while we talk about growing the economy at 7 per cent, we all know that it is possible to grow this economy in double digits. I believe it is possible with strategic investments in infrastructure. I believe that the Budget that is going to be read in this House this year will give us an indication of how we will want to drive and grow this economy at above 10 per cent in the shortest time possible. This way we can create more jobs and opportunities and spread them once we implement a new Constitution. This will ensure that we mainstream the participation of the many because for a long time we have been a country of the few. Mr. Speaker, Sir, tourism is a very important sector. We have been talking about 1.5 million tourists for a very long time. With the resources we have in this country and the wildebeest migration that was rated to be amongst the seven wonders of the world, our beaches in Mombasa and the warm people of Kenya, there is no reason why we cannot increase our tourist arrivals to 3 million and 5 million in the next 10 years. It is possible and we should do it. For example, France which is a less attractive destination gets 80 million tourists and yet they have very little to show. London which is just a block of buildings gets 20 million tourists every year. I want to agree with the President that we should address ourselves to the Tourism Bill in this Session of Parliament, so that we can begin to anticipate tourist arrivals in the region like other countries and be able to transform our economy to a First World economy as we should. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am also happy to note that the President has proposed a technical industrial vocation and entrepreneurial training authority. Majority of our youth who complete Form Four or some who drop out of Standard Eight, never get an opportunity to get skills that can help them navigate through life. Majority of those who miss university education do not get a fair opportunity because we do not have means to give them necessary skills. It is for that reason that I think we should support the proposal to have a technical industrial vocation entrepreneurial training, so that we can mainstream the participation of more young people in our economy. I beg to support."
}