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"speaker_name": "Mr. Muthama",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Kangundo",
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"content": " Thank you very much Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to also express my sincere congratulations to His Excellency the President, hon. Raila Odinga and the team of negotiators from both sides. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said, and we will continue to say more. We are talking about issues that touch on peace and Kenyans. I want to refer to the few trips that I had an opportunity to make to the most affected areas with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). I want to confess to this House that what I saw was quite devastating. I saw innocent women, men and children sleeping in compounds. Children were being born in the open. We buried one body in Cherangany, whose head had been chopped off. The family was there and it was a very emotional occasion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we embark on discussing and touching on these issues, I want the Government to give the resettlement of the innocent affected Kenyans priority. They do not know what crime they committed. They find themselves in that very devastating situation, yet the crime they committed was to vote for us. We were voted for to lead Kenyans to peace and harmony. However, what Kenyans are receiving is completely different. The poor people do not know what it means to go to State House. They do not know what it means to become a Minister. All that they want is a peaceful night, a plate of ugali and sukuma wiki . Is it impossible for the Government to provide that? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these problems started in 1992 when we were about to go to the general election. In 1997, they were there. In 2002, they were there. In 2007, they happened. We know we have a Government which we pay taxes to maintain in order for it to provide security to Kenyans. We had a department known as the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS). However, it seems like something has gone wrong somewhere. How come that for the last 20 years the Government has been unable to establish where these problems come from? Are we waiting to have the same thing in 2012? What information has been given by the NSIS and the Government failed to act on it? It looks as if it is either a well organised kind of crime that is well known within the system, or the Government lacks the capacity to deal with that situation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that it is up to the Government to come out clearly and say to Kenyans--- This is not about Opposition or pro-Government Members of Parliament. It involves Kenyans. The Government should come out and say: \"This is the problem and it has been coming from this. It starts from here and the Government is able to deal with it\". Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are talking about one country. However, unless we are serious and sincere, we will just sit here, spend hours contributing in all sweet words, but when we get outside there what happens? It is tribal issues. I have never seen in any part of the world where someone works, sweats, saves his money, goes to a certain area where he or she buys a piece of land and he is seen as a foreigner, yet he belongs to the same country. March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 121 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I never made an application to be born where I was born. I would hate to imagine that I would be referred to as a member of a certain community. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we politicians have incited people and caused problems. For us to be famous, popular and then get elected, we start by telling people: \"Elect so and so because he comes from your tribe, and when he gets there, it will be your time to eat\". It is not a secret. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is time that we stopped instilling in the minds of our people that once one gets elected, that creates a means and ways for them to \"eat.\" This forms the backbone and the beginning of corruption. We want to improve the economy of this country. And I speak as a businessman now. There is no way we can empower farmers by reducing the cost of fertiliser. We will not be able to change the standard of living of the farmers. We have two classes of people in Kenya; one at the very top and the other below. We lack the middle class in this country. I learnt this in the United States because I have visited there and I trade with them. It is the middle class that commands the power and they are the driving force of the economy of any country. From the post of Permanent Secretaries, the rest of the class there, right up to teachers, earn peanuts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it would be important to harmonise the salaries of civil servants. Teachers, DOs and chiefs are the class of people who hire houseboys, maids and"
}