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"id": 197971,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197971/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kajembe",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Changamwe",
"speaker": {
"id": 163,
"legal_name": "Ramadhan Seif Kajembe",
"slug": "ramadhan-kajembe"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution on the President's Speech. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time since I came to this House, the President's Speech was very much welcomed by both sides of the House. Kenyans are very proud today because peace is prevailing. This is the beginning because we have a lot to do to bring Kenyans together. I am saying that because the Accord that was signed by His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Raila, has brought a new face to the Kenyan people. Today, I can see the attitude of hon. Members. They have been hugging each other and talking together. We have a very good working relationship. This is the beginning of change. We need change! The change I am talking about is to bring peace to this country. Our country has a foundation of tribal pillars. I think time has come for Kenyans to do away with tribal pillars in this country. There has been a tendency that whoever comes to power, then his tribe will also be in power, even those who are uneducated. People play with power and show it because their tribe is in power. I think we must change our attitude! Let us develop all parts of Kenya. We have experienced cases where a Minister in charge of roads has allocated millions of shillings to develop infrastructure and roads in his constituency, and forgot other constituencies. You will read in the Budget that a constituency has been allocated Kshs5 million yet the Minister's constituency has been allocated Kshs500 million. That is not the way of doing things! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there has been a tendency that whenever the President visits a district or a region, all the Ministers follow him there. What for? They have been appointed to do their jobs in the offices and not to follow the President. If every Minister is going to do his or her job in the office, I think we are going to develop. Some areas of this country have been denied development just because they have never had a president from their areas. If you go to areas like the Coast Province, Nyanza, Eastern and North Eastern, you will see that they have been denied development by the Government. The Government in place should develop the whole country 116 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 equally. Today, if you went to the North Eastern Province, you will not find any tarmacked roads. Maybe, if you to Garissa, you will see a two-kilometre tarmacked road. In the past, those who were in power went to areas and grabbed prime lands. A victim of such behaviour is the Coast Province. All the prime land and the nice beaches have been grabbed by people who are not from that area. If we ask why that is happening; why indigenous people have been made squatters, we are told that this is \"one Kenya\"! We want a country where resources are distributed equally. Due to the post-election violence that we have witnessed recently, infrastructure has been destroyed, lives have been lost and people have been displaced. It is now time for this Government to set aside funds to rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed for no reason. It is time for the Government to set aside some funds to be given to the displaced people. The unrest was there for only two months, but it has brought a great loss to this country. For example, the Port of Mombasa suffered a huge blow. That is because ships were not ready to dock at the harbour for fear that something might happen. Ships moved to the Port of Dar-es-Salaam. So, the Port of Mombasa lost billions of shillings as a result of what happened. It is very important to note that we have learnt a lesson and whatever happened during the post-election violence was nasty. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us thank God and, more so, congratulate His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Raila. They have saved this country! Otherwise, by today, I think some of those with a good amount of money would have left this country much earlier and leave the poor people here killing each other. Time has come for people to work together. Let us forget the old wounds! Let us co-operate! Before that Accord was signed, very senior people were saying that His Excellency Dr. Kufuor and His Excellency Dr. Annan had come to Nairobi for a cup of tea. When you listen to a conversation between two senior persons having a cup of tea, they talk about peace. Today, the concept of a cup of tea has changed into peace talk. It is only hon. Kibaki and hon Raila who brought that peace. It is true that some of the very senior people in the Government are not happy with this peace accord. Some of them cannot even talk about it. They just keep mum and co-operate because they have no choice. Some of them think that if there is a grand coalition that will lead to the formation of the new Cabinet, they might lose their ministerial positions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the President's Speech."
}