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"id": 197889,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197889/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Eseli",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Kimilili",
"speaker": {
"id": 141,
"legal_name": "David Eseli Simiyu",
"slug": "david-eseli"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I am Dr. David Eseli Simiyu representing Kimilili Constituency. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute and support the President's Address. First, I would like to thank the Kimilili Constituency people for electing me to represent them in this House for the next five years. Secondly, I would like to congratulate all the hon. Members here for having been elected to represent their respective constituencies. Thirdly, I would like to thank and also congratulate the two Principals, His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister designate, hon. Raila Odinga, for giving this country another chance because, indeed, the country appeared to be going to pieces. From a personal experience, as I travelled from my constituency in Western Province on 31st December, 2007, to Nairobi - that is on new year's eve - I almost lost my life between Langas and Eldoret Airport. In the process, I lost a motor vehicle. But, thank God, I arrived in Nairobi only to find out that the country was much worse than what I had seen in Eldoret. For a while, I was worried that, maybe, I might not get to see the convening of this Parliament. But by the grace of God, we convened. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what surprised me was the acrimony that was coming from both sides of the House and for a while, I was worried that even if we ended up convening, we might not be able to transact any business. But the two Principals, His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister designate, came together; forgot their personal and party interests and put the nation ahead of everything and actually put us together to convene this House and deliberate on the business before this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I support what the President told us in his Address, I would like to say that putting the endowment fund and giving relief to the displaced people to go back to their productive farming is good. That is because the food security in this country right now 86 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 is rather precarious. As we all know, we are being informed that we might not have any food by July this year. Apart from the displaced people, the farming activities of the undisplaced people are also at risk. If I might add to what hon. Wamalwa has said, if we want to have food security here, I think the Ministry of Special Programmes needs to come up with a rescue package to assist the farmers to have enough inputs. That is because the cost of a bag of DAP fertilizer is at Kshs4,000. So, preparing an acre is costing the farmer about Kshs10,000. That is just impossible! The farmer has been left at the mercy of the merchant and I fear for the food security of this country, especially in the coming one year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many hon. Members have talked about involving the youth in gainful employment so that they are not taken up in mischievous activities, like what happened after the last General Elections. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a country, I think we have fixated on land to the extent that we feel that land distribution is the core problem in the country. But I would like to say that so long as we stay fixated on land problems, in 50 years' time, we will still be chasing each other, chopping each other's heads off with machetes, and shooting people with projectiles like poisoned arrows over land. We need to relieve the pressure on land. The only way that can be done is to make a concerted effort to industrialize. Look at agro-industries, for example. I really do not understand why the people in Kimilili Constituency should struggle so much to grow maize and then sell it at a cheap price to come and mill it in Thika. They are exporting their jobs! We need to have industries spread around the country so that the youth could be gainfully employed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, talking of equitable distribution of resources, I also do not understand why sugar farmers in Mumias and Nzoia should actually be subsidizing the existence of Kisumu City when they have Bungoma and Webuye towns nearby. These two factories actually prop up the economy of Kisumu, and not the economy of Western Province. So, when we talk of equitable distribution of resources, we need to look at these things across the board and make sure that this principle is maintained everywhere. When we talk about equity, let us look at equity in terms of representation. For instance, I am here, representing over 90,000 registered voters of Kimilili, which is a rural constituency. Is that equity? So, we also need to look at equity in those terms. On the issue of ethnicity, which was well captured by the President in trying to bring the Ethnic Relations Commission of Kenya Bill; it still puzzles me that earlier on, I listened to hon. Members arguing back and forth between the divides, accusing each other of committing genocide and crimes against humanity and such things. It surprises me because we signed the Rome Statute on 11th August, 1999, which created the International Criminal Court and defined international crimes. On 15th May, 2005, we deposited our instruments as a state that is party to this convention. What happened in the intervening period? Where were the Attorney-General and the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs? They should have brought legislation to this House to be enacted to govern issues of genocide and crimes against humanity. We would not have to yell about taking each other to the Hague. Some people say that we are 42 tribes, but I think we are more than 42 tribes. While we encourage co-existence of communities in this country, we need to have a legislation in place to encourage that co-existence, so that people know that they can be punished if they breach the law. It should not be a question of taking them to the Hague. This House has a great opportunity to put a legislation in place to govern those kinds of crimes, so that we do not keep on accusing each other. We have not given the police enough powers to arrest people. Right now, if the police arrest anybody, they will have to charge him with arson or murder. In this case, it will be manslaughter. So, such persons end up very cheaply in getting off the hook. We, as a nation, we have failed to provide bedrock to protect our people from these kinds of crimes against them. March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 87 Finally, talking about power-sharing, I think we have misled Kenyans. We have made it look like power sharing is the panacea to our problems. Power-sharing, in my view, is just a small check and balance. The problem we have in this country is misuse of power. I dare say that many people who have held high office, both in this House and outside, have had occasion to misuse those powers, for either personal gain or gain of their clans or tribes. So, the problem we have here is misuse of power. By simply sharing out this power does not stop its misuse. So, when we get the opportunity to enact a new Constitution, we must make sure that we put in place adequate checks and balances on those powers. That is what will save this country. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. I support the President's Speech."
}