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"speaker_name": "Mr. Khaniri",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Hamisi",
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"legal_name": "George Munyasa Khaniri",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. At the very outset, let me take this opportunity to thank the people of Hamisi Constituency for giving me a chance to serve them yet again for the forth time in this august House. I want to assure them that I will not let them down. Like wine, I want to tell them that I will get better with time. On the same breadth, let me take this opportunity to congratulate all my colleagues for winning the confidence of their various constituents by being elected here to serve the electorate. I want to wish them well in their service. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, turning to the Presidential Speech, let me start by saying that this was a very well-thought speech, which not only embraces the spirit of dialogue and reconciliation, but also stipulated clearly what agenda the coalition Government has for this country. This coalition Government has a momentous task to perform. We have the task of resettling the people who were displaced during the post-election violence. We have the momentous task of reconstructing our infrastructure. We have the task of restoring confidence with our development partners and tourists. Finally, we have the biggest task of delivering a new 76 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 Constitution to this country. This one has been very evasive. We tried in the Eighth and the Ninth parliaments, but it did not happen. I believe that with the spirit that I am seeing in this Parliament, in the leadership that has come up and in Kenyans, this time round, we will give Kenyans a new Constitution. For us to succeed, we require a lot of goodwill across the board. We require unity, trust for one another, faith and integrity, as His Excellency the President said in his Speech here. Outbursts like the ones we heard from the Head of the Public Service are totally undesirable and uncalled for. This is a very crucial time in the history of this country. The situation is still very fluid and delicate. As leaders of this country and Government officials, we must exercise a lot of restraint and be very careful with what we say in public. I want to echo the sentiments of hon. Mudavadi that if you are not qualified to comment on a matter, you should not have any business doing that. Let those who are qualified to do it do it. Otherwise, we risk the danger of taking this country back to where it was a few weeks ago. I am sure nobody wants that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am very happy to note that in his Speech, His Excellency the President talked about a Sessional Paper on Employment Policy. Unemployment has been a big problem in this country and as hon. Samoei has said, the youth of this country are an integral part of our population and they must be given a chance. We hope that this time round, in the next five years, the youth will be given a chance. We do not want to see what happened in the Ninth Parliament where retirees were recycled and given jobs that were meant for the youth of this country. The retirees should stay at home and enjoy their pensions and play with their grandchildren. That is the least that we expect. I am also happy that the President mentioned that our infrastructure is going to take a bigger share of our Budget in the years to come. In particular, our road network is in a very bad shape. I am talking about our major highways, for example, the Nairobi-Mombasa Road. A contractor has been on this road for close to four years and we can see very little progress. I want to urge the Minister for Roads and Public Works, hon. Michuki, to step in and ensure that the construction or the reconstruction of this particular road is completed. This is a very important road to the economy of this country. Similarly, the road from Nakuru to Eldoret, all the way to Malaba border, which is a very important link to the economy of this country, is in a deplorable condition. I would like to urge the Minister to ensure that the contractor completes the work on that road because he has been there for over five years. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I want to hail the idea of electing mayors directly by the universal suffrage. This will go a long way in improving service delivery at the local level. I want to encourage that this Bill should be brought to this House, so that we can pass it. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}