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"id": 197978,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Baiya",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Githunguri",
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"legal_name": "Peter Njoroge Baiya",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I also want to introduce myself. I am Baiya Njoroge Peter from Githunguri Constituency. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the people of Githunguri Constituency for affording me this opportunity. It is my wish that I will represent them and their interests. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to support the Motion before the House, which is touching on the Presidential Speech. The Speech by the President came quite well in terms of showing the direction that this country so badly needs at this time, after having gone through the crisis that occurred after the General Elections. This country, as it turned out, is divided along many divisions, including tribal divisions. It was apparent that even prior to the elections, this country and the leaders--- The way we sought the support of the Kenyan people actually ended up sowing those seeds of division. So, the politicians and the political class are, to a large extent, responsible for causing the division amongst the Kenyan people along tribal lines. We know that, that is a historically established practice in this country. It was started way back during the colonial times. It is well documented that even during the first election in this country, we had parties that were supported by our former colonial masters for purposes of pushing their own political agenda as far as this country is concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we think about strategies for peace and strategies for sustaining ourselves as a country, it is my opinion that we will be deluding ourselves as a country if we leave those practices uncurbed. There can never be any genuine rule of law if those who are bent on destabilizing the political system are left free during the elections. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenyans who are actually in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are, to a large extent, innocent. They merely voted as Kenyans, just like everybody else did. They exercised a democratic right, only to end up bearing the brunt of chaos and mayhem that befell the country after the elections. Those who actually caused the mayhem are themselves now enjoying the perks after they caused that mayhem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is also posing a challenge to our own effort as a country to establish democracy. Democracy cannot be sustained if attempts to bring about democracy actually afflict so much pain to so many people and cause so much destruction and death. That has happened in this country not only in this General Election, but also in the last four elections. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I also submit that the challenge to our country, and it has been addressed by the Presidential Speech--- One of the reasons why the population of this country is agreeing to be used by the politicians and any other persons who are out there to cause problems is because of the state of poverty in this country. I think the bottom line of our problems as a country is poverty. It is really a challenge even to our viability as a nation. It is also true that with the current poverty levels, we have many youths who feel that they have nothing to lose even if they engaged in violence; who feel that they can even gain by committing crime. I also submit that a big section of the population feels that it has been left out just because of poverty. So, the nation, the country and the leaders need to address our foremost problem; the question of poverty afflicting all sections of our society. We have the Vision 2030 that is being pursued by the Government. This Vision 2030 is a 124 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 very good strategy. However, it is a strategy which is bound to take quite some time to actually alleviate poverty in this country. It will, therefore, be very important for all leaders to work together to realise this vision. We all know that it cannot be achieved within a day. For the youths, waiting for Vision 2030 to deliver them from poverty does not look like a viable option. It is upon leaders to deliver this message to the youths. I, therefore, submit that if the leadership is divided, there is no way any one leader in this country can deliver any viable programme. I would also like to express my appreciation to His Excellency the President and Mr. Raila for actually recognising this fact and coming together to sign this accord. My trust is that each one of them and all those who actually support them appreciate the fact that President Kibaki or Mr. Raila alone cannot deliver any viable programme by himself. They require the support of each other and our support for us to be able to carry forward a sustainable programme that can deliver Kenyans from poverty in the long run. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another point I want to make in relation to this is that, on the basis of united leadership, we expect leaders to stop inflicting more pain to the people by talking about injustices and inequality, not realising that these virtues cannot be addressed until we overcome poverty. I also appreciate very much the reference made by the President to his Government's intention to bring to this House a policy paper on amendment to the Co-operative Act. I have a background of working with co-operative societies. I know that they are useful vehicles for helping ordinary Kenyans. They are socio-economic institutions which enhance their unity, and which help them to mobilise resources. We know that the policy behind the existing co-operative movement has actually certain challenges. I look forward to the Bill, so that we address some of the weaknesses in the existing legislation. I would like to conclude my contribution by urging hon. Members to view this development as an opportunity for us to institute constitutional and legal reforms, which will enable this House to address some of the long-standing bottlenecks and problems that have bedeviled this country. I believe that if we carry out those constitutional reforms, we will also have lifted our country above the level where we have had to depend on individuals rather than institutions. A time will come when all the individuals holding office will eventually not be there, but the institutions that this Parliament will help to establish will possibly help this country to anchor through situations like the one that triggered the crisis that has befallen this country. I submit that we should learn from history that institutions will help us more than individuals. Also, consistency is important. For instance, there is actually a case in point. One particular party, in 1997, when it was in power, supported the version of the constitution of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). They had the majority in the PAC. In doing so, they overlooked the fact that the PAC is meant to ensure that there are checks and balances in the management of public affairs by a Government. Five years later, they found themselves on the receiving end."
}