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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to second this Report on the Sixth Ordinary Session of the Pan African Parliament. First and foremost, I would like to thank Members who are our representatives in the Pan African Parliament, who are present here today, ready to contribute to this particular Report. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am sure that, as of now, most Members have gone through this Report and are ready to contribute because when we are there, we are told all the deliberations that we carry out at Pan African Parliament, we take them back home for further debate by member States. Today, the Leader of the Delegation has put the highlight of the Sixth Session as the launch of the Pan African Trust Fund, which I will also add, it was a great occasion for most of us, because the patron of the Trust Fund was none other than the great leader, His Excellency, retired President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. For those of us who had never had a close contact with him, I have read about him, heard about him, we really treasured the occasion, and in seeing him speak to us, we realised that it was important that we look forward to having Africa pull together for a common cause. The highlight of his speech focused on the problems that are bedeviling the Continent of Africa. He mentioned illiteracy, unemployment, lack of shelter, water and HIV/AIDS. He said that we, as Members of Parliament from the respective member States, should go back to our countries and find solutions, because without tackling these problems that have been there, for example in Kenya, these problems have been there since Independence, we are not going to make any progress in terms of our economic development. So, he challenged us, as Members, to go back to our respective Parliaments and come up with ways and policies through which we can, together, tackle these problems that still persist among our people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it was also important that we touch on a report that touched on our country, that is the report on the African Peer Review Mechanism, in which Kenya was among the first countries to be audited. Through the eyes of others, they came to Kenya to review it. That being the case, we were told to dwell on issues or to make the criticisms that were levelled against Kenya. As has been said, there is pervasive corruption and delay in constitution making. We may think that the constitutional process was a Kenyan affair. But it is known within the African Continent that Kenyans are still yearning for a new constitution. Through this particular peer review mechanism, they are urging Kenyans to move on and enact a new constitution. So, when we bring the deliberations by this particular review group, we want our June 12, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1709 Parliament to move, so that when we go back and Kenya is discussed, we will be seen to have brought it to the House and discussed the way forward on getting a new constitution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another one which I will not miss to touch on is the historical imbalances, and which we still believe is in the channelling and distribution of natural resources. Up to now, we want to believe this is our country and all the resources that are within our borders should be shared equally. But it has been found out that, historically, there have been continued imbalances in terms of the distribution of resources. So, we are being urged as a country to make sure that when we are distributing the wealth, the natural resources of this country, we do it equitably. That is what Africa is urging Kenya to do. So, it is upon us that, when we deliberate on the way forward, we make sure that what we do and how we share our resources, we do it equitably. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another one was the marginalisation of certain groups. This is also one area that was mentioned in the APRM Report. The Minister who came to represent the country then said that by January this year, a report should be ready. We hope when we go back, we will table that report and say Kenya is doing something about the Report that was tabled by the APRM group. Another one which is relevant to our country was the ethnic-based political parties. It is not only our problem, but is the problem of Africa, that we still have our parties which are ethnic- based. Africa is urging us whether we can have parties that are ideologically oriented, so that when we implement policies, we are not looking at who is who, but are looking at the nation at large. It is important that we do this when the Political Parties Bill is before this House, so that we can have parties that will drive this country without looking at who is from where and who is who. Mr. Speaker, Sir, another one which they mentioned was the lack of confidence in public institutions. We need to have Kenyans start having trust in our public institutions. It was found out by this particular group--- The APRM report states that in Kenya there is still a great lack of confidence and trust in our public institutions. Now, as Parliament, we need to enact laws so that Kenyans can start believing in institutions that should be rendering them services. The Pan African Parliament audits its own expenditure. We hope that soon, we will start auditing our Parliament, so that we are seen to be transparent in how we expend resources, and so that Kenyans can have trust in us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, is the high poverty level. I am a believer that the insecurity in this country has something to do with the poverty levels. We may claim that our economy has grown by 6.1 per cent. But does it translate down to the common man? We want it to go down to that common man, so that when we are talking about a certain percentage, 6.1 per cent, the mwananchi at home knows exactly what it means to have an improved economy. That is the only way we can start tackling insecurity. It is one way in which we can make the youth of this country start believing that they can also access the good life that some people are enjoying in this country. We have the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. But the conditions to access the funds do not help the youth down there to access the funds. So, the only alternative for them is probably to rob. So, I urge that in order to reduce insecurity and keep the youth busy, doing some constructive, positive and tangible things for the country, we need to make sure that we implement policies. When we say we are forming the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, we make it also accessible to not only the urbanised youth but also to those in the villages. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to say that we have a chance to look at the Report and, therefore, most hon. Members should have a contribution to make because it is important. It is hoped that by 2030, the Pan African Parliament will be autonomous, where we will have Members elected from every corner of the continent to represent Africa. The way we deliberate here, we will one day want to deliberate about Africa and issues that are touching on Africa. I would like to talk about immigration. We need to have Africans accessing countries in Africa much easier than it is the case today. It is easier for me to go to Europe than to South Africa or just to a neighbouring country because our immigration laws are still so colonial. My suggestion is that we should move forward in integrating Africa by the proposed year 2030. We should start making it easier for 1710 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 12, 2007 Africans to integrate. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}