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{
    "id": 197968,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197968/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 67,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ms. Mbarire",
    "speaker_title": "The Member for Runyenjes",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. May I, first of all, begin by congratulating you for being elected the Speaker of the Kenya National Assembly and for the able manner in which you steered the business of the House. 114 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 May I also congratulate all the hon. Members of Parliament who have been elected to serve in this Tenth Parliament and also those who have been re-elected. It was quite a challenge. I would, especially, like to congratulate the ladies who have made it to the Tenth Parliament. I am very proud of all you. Mr. Speaker, Sir, may I also congratulate the Prime Minister designate, Mr. Raila, who accepted to put the interest of the nation before his own and also the President, Mr. Kibaki for signing the National Accord. On the day that they did this, we were in New York in a conference for women. We witnessed the signing of the National Accord on CNN while seated at the Kenyan Embassy. We were many women from different communities. Until that news came on CNN, we did not know how much traumatised we all were. This is because we all broke into song and dance and started praying for our nation. It was interesting to see all of us hug each other all the way in New York. We saw a Luo hug a Kikuyu. We saw a Kalenjin hug a Kikuyu and we were very happy. However, I would like to tell hon. Members that, that National Accord will be nothing if we do not turn it into law. That Accord cannot keep peace in this country and reconcile Kenyans if we do not support it. Hon. Members, you are in the Tenth Parliament to make a difference. I was here, in the Ninth Parliament, as a nominated Member of Parliament and I am grateful to the people of Runyenjes for voting for me. However, I learnt many lessons in the Ninth Parliament. The lessons I learnt were as follows: First, I did not know that tribe was such an issue until I joined politics and came to this House. I did not know that before you mention your name, the next thing somebody wants to know is what community you belong to and then they can start to judge you by that community. Hon. Members, I did not know that a whole Member of Parliament elected by popular vote could come here and become a simple voting machine. I did not know that you can be elected to come here and forget the interest of your people and start thinking about you and you and you and nobody else. That is the reason we never got the new Constitution. It is because we were thinking of we and we and we and nobody else. Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members must realise that in this Tenth Parliament, we have got a sacred duty to make reforms that will help this nation. The reforms must rise above Mr. Raila and Mr. Kibaki. They must be reforms that will protect the children of our children. Those are the reforms the Tenth Parliament must provide to this nation. I do not know how many of the hon. Members will be ready to rise above their partisan and tribal interests in order to give Kenya a Constitution that will pass the test of time. I do not know. Because many of us here are new, please, do not let the virus catch up with you. Allow the reforms before it gets to you. Do what is right for the nation. Let us give the young people out there hope because they are living a hopeless life. Young people out there have no jobs. They are suffering from alcoholism and drug abuse. They have nowhere to live. They are all looking at us and that is why we saw them vent their anger using extreme measures because for them, it was like the world had come to an end. To them, there was no one to speak for them. Therefore, I hope that we can begin to think of how we can create more jobs for young people and how we can legislate laws that will enable young people get opportunities."
}