HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 197981,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197981/?format=api",
"text_counter": 80,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Muhoroni",
"speaker": {
"id": 122,
"legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
"slug": "patrick-olweny"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to the Motion. I would like, first of all, to thank the constituents of Muhoroni for showing their confidence in me by re-electing me to the Tenth Parliament. By now, I should have celebrated my re-election. There is an election that I have never celebrated, because of what happened in Kenya. Immediately after the elections, the country went on fire. In my constituency, we lost a lot after the last general elections. A lot of sugar-cane was torched. A number of houses were burnt down. Unfortunately, March 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 125 some of our friends with whom I was in my car, who had been campaigning with me for more than a month, had to run away just because they did not belong to the local community, because of post- election violence. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that tells us that we can lose a lot of what we have saved and acquired in this country since Independence if we mismanage this country. We have, of course, mismanaged the affairs of this country since Independence; be they cultural, political, economic or religious. That is what has led to all these problems. If only the founding fathers of this nation had done what the late President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania did for Tanzania--- Even though the world accused him, saying that Tanzania was not taking the right route of development, today we have seen that Tanzania had taken the right route. For us, in a matter of seconds, everything can be in pieces. In this country, things can fall apart within minutes. We have witnessed it happen. It affected us. It is something we should not wish repeated in this country. I wish to thank His Excellency Kofi Annan as well as the mediation teams from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the Party of National Unity (PNU). I give them my thanks for what they did for this country. Of course, I also thank the two gentlemen, namely, His Excellency the President, Mr. Mwai Kibaki, and Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Raila Odinga, for what they did for this country by signing the peace accord, which may put all those problems behind us. Ladies and gentlemen of this country, once we put all those problems behind us, let us try to put this country on the right track. Let us forget statements like \"we are not going to give it to so-and- so.\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us put Kenya before us. Let us give to Kenya whatever it is that we want to give to Kenya. Let us not say \"we are not going to give it to this or that tribe.\" Let us bear in mind the fact that whoever you are talking about is Kenyan. Let us put everything regarding tribes behind us. I did not ask God that I should be born a Luo. Other people did not ask God that they should be born into whatever tribes they belong. We want to make this country ours, because it belongs to us and we all belong here. Let us start talking like Kenyans and not like people who belong to different tribes. If anything happens, we shall all lose together. There is nobody in this country who will be happy. What is happening in Iraq? Which Iraqi is keeping the country? Everything is going down the drain. Across the border in Somalia here, who is happy? What happened in this country in January showed me that anybody given arms can cause mayhem. Some of those guys just used stones, pangas and other crude weapons, yet they caused a lot of mayhem. What if they had more sophisticated weapons? Can you imagine the kind of destruction that we would have been in this country? We would not even be having a Parliament. So, it is up to this Parliament to make sure that we have a country. What happened in this country at the end of last year, and the beginning of this year, was as a result of what the last Parliament did not do. If the last Parliament had done the constitutional reforms and put in place a good electoral commission, I do not think we would have ended up with that kind of problem. If the previous Government had cared about land reforms in this country, I do not think people would have been killed in Mt. Elgon, Laikipia and Kuresoi. Let the 10th Parliament mind about Kenya. Please, do not mind who you are giving a job or your tribe. If we do that, then I do not see the need of having a Parliament again. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President talked about the infrastructure in this country. Kenya to the west of Nakuru has no roads. The Ministry of Roads and Public Works needs to move into other parts of the country which have been ignored. The road from Nakuru to Busia is a nightmare. I like what the President said with regard to the road reserves; that they should be protected. In fact, one of the major problems that we are having with our roads is that the road reserves are never recognised. They are cultivated and kiosks are constructed on them. Those who 126 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 12, 2008 think their land is not enough for building on, or for cultivation, use the road reserves. That means that the engineers do not have enough space when they want to improve roads or do road maintenance. In my constituency, there is rice cultivation up to the road. So, when the road engineers want to do drainage along the road, they cannot do it because of water along the road. So, it will be a wonderful idea if road reserves are protected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I would like to talk about education. This year we have started the free secondary education. I do not like the idea of the Ministry coming up with a policy that certain secondary schools which have students below or above a certain number will not benefit from the free secondary education funds. Secondary education funds should be given to Kenyan students, even if a secondary school has ten students per class. Let all of them benefit because that money is meant to benefit Kenyans. Some of the schools that are new and do not have 40 students per class, but have at least have 25 students per class, which is the required limit for registration, should benefit from the secondary education money. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}