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"id": 197942,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197942/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Twaha",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Lamu West",
"speaker": {
"id": 145,
"legal_name": "Yasin Fahim Twaha",
"slug": "yasin-twaha"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to this Motion that the thanks of this House be recorded for the exposition of public policy contained in the Speech by His Excellency the President which was delivered on the 6th March, 2008. Mr. Speaker, Sir, many things have been said especially about recent events. I think most of the people have been talking about the symptoms rather than the actual cause of these problems. When we were students, 20 years ago, there were very serious efforts to control the population of Kenya. There were measures such as public policy, advocacy and all sorts of things. But our population is now growing too fast. Twenty years ago, we had a population of 18 million people. Today, we have a population of 38 million people. In seven years time, we will be 50 million people. We cannot expand the supply of land the way we are expanding political positions with the proposed creation of the Premier and Deputy Premier positions, but we can control demand for land by controlling the population. So, Mr. Speaker, Sir, when the HIV/AIDS came, it became unfashionable for people to talk about population control or birth control. There is now need for population control measures to be restored. This is because we cannot expand the supply of land but we can control the demand for it. The only way to do this is to control our population. I also agree with what Dr. Khalwale said that we should educate our people that land is not everything. There are other ways and means of creating wealth. Today, this tribe is telling their tribesmen that, that tribe is to blame. So, today, my tribe would be fighting your tribe. It is convenient to blame that other tribe but then the other tribe is not to blame. I confess I have done my bit in expanding Kenya's population in a very short March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 101 period. I have trippled my own family's population in a very short period of being married. Every tribe is guilty of contributing to the increased population when the nation's cake is very small. So, no tribe is to blame for the problem because every tribe is to blame for increasing the population too fast. It is a daunting task for any manager whatever his qualifications to manage an economy that is doubling the size of its population after every 18 years. These people want schools, jobs, housing and all sorts of things. It is too much and we have to do something about our population growth. If we are going to burry our heads in the sand and pretend that it is a taboo to discuss our population or whatever the things that hold us back from saying the truth--- We have to control this population and we cannot run away from this. We can sign all the accords we want but the conflicts will be there. This is because conflict arises when there is too much demand for scarce resource. I think this point is clear and hon. Members can expand on it when they have a quiet drink in the evening today. Another thing that we need is the national identity initiative Our generation is rotten to the core. This tribalism is now in our blood and brains. We are totally corrupt as far ethnicity is concerned but the national identity initiative is need by our children in schools, churches and mosques to remove this backward thinking. It is backward thinking that even today we are talking about this-and-that community. We have only one community that is called Kenya. If we are real leaders, and we took oath here to be truthful to Kenya; \"Nitaitumikia kwa moyo wangu woteJamhuri ya Kenya sio kabila langu! I would go back to English. So, let us all fight for the good of Kenya. If Kenya's condition improves, then the conditions of our communities will also improve. If you are a women leader today and you were brought to fight for affirmative action, you should fight for all Kenyans. Women are also Kenyans. You should fight for all Kenyans. My tribe is also Kenyan. That way, everybody would be in a good place. But this business of \"us\" versus \"them\" is just cheap politics. This is because political leaders do not have to say what they have done for their people. It is very easy to blame the other people for the problems affecting us. All communities have problems of poverty, disease and ignorance. But it is cheap politics to say it is another tribe's fault. That is cheap politics! We need our leaders to take initiative to fight for all Kenyans all the time. For anybody who embraces ethnicity, the rest of Kenyans should come down on him like a chain of bricks as the Americans say and isolate them. We should isolate these tribalists whatever their status is in society because they are the cause of the problem. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another thing is that we have a problem of mob justice. Every Kenyan who is aggrieved goes to these courts. All of us have to wait in line sometimes for five years before we get a hearing date. This is a witness that this House is to blame. This is because we are the ones who can pass the laws here to increase the number of judges. We have the capacity to raise the jurisdiction of the magistrates so that the judges are not overwhelmed by too many cases. But then whatever somebody's status in society, he should be subjected to the same laws that poor Kenyans are subjected to. Even if you are a presidential candidate and you have lost or you have a dispute, you have to go to those courts. Mob justice has no place in the civilised modern society. Today, what we call the National Accord is really just appeasement of people with tall egos to create jobs for them so that they can keep quiet. That will not be a solution to our problems. People have to respect institutions. We have to respect the Presidency, this Parliament and our courts of law. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}