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"id": 219483,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/219483/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 226,
"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
"slug": "wangari-maathai"
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"content": "In the old days, children were protected by our cultures and customs. For example, in my Kikuyu community, young people were never allowed to take alcohol until they were young married men. Yet, today, in Central Province region, every shopping centre has bars. Many of the customers are young adults. Some of those customs are no longer effective. But the Government must step in and ensure that children are protected from people who will easily exploit them. We need to raise our awareness and consciousness. I do not know what to call it. We need to raise the awareness to the point that, if we live in a society where our children are put in such a difficult situation, we are rebuffed and feel bad. We find it completely unacceptable that children are put in those situations. When one drives at night and sees children by fire-sides, at roundabouts, half drunk and filthy, one wonders: \"Where did these children come from? How can we, as a people, allow our society to degenerate to that level? How can we tolerate this kind of exposure and neglect of children? Is it not possible to get these children and follow them until we nab their parents and hold them responsible?\" Nobody should bring children into this world, if he or she cannot take care of them. It is amazing how we allow people to abandon their children. In many countries, if you leave a child alone at home, or if you leave a child outside the shopping centre, you are arrested. In may countries, if you do not have anybody to leave at home to take care of the children, you do not go to work. That is because your first primary responsibility to the state is to take care of those children. Some countries have even gone so far! Children have been give an opportunity to call the police if they feel they are threatened even by parents or guardians. That is the extent that some countries will go to protect their children. But in this country, we seem like we can literary walk by and abandon children in a dump site. Children sleep in the same places as dogs! Children sleep in dump sites and eat from those dump sites. It is completely unacceptable! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the things that I find in my constituency when I go to around and talk to people--- The biggest problem that I find is, sometimes, people want to take care of their children. But the poverty there is such that, even when you look at the parents, they look hungry and haggard. You can see that they can hardly take care of themselves, leave alone their children. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to address the issue of poverty in our country. One way of addressing that issue is equitable distribution of resources. I was at a meeting this morning and I heard His Excellency the President speaking. He actually addressed the issue of equitable distribution of resources. I was very happy to hear those words coming out of his speech. He said that we should ensure there is equitable distribution of resources. As we have seen, if we do not take care of our children--- They are okay when they are young, small and when they sleep on those dump sites. But when they become men and women, they become a threat to our security. That is the time when we think the best way to deal with them is to shoot them dead. That will not end the problem that we have. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even as we deal with the current problem of insecurity that is mostly coming from young people, I am sure many of them were abandoned when they were young, orphaned and vulnerable. Even as we deal with that issue, we must address the issue of the May 24, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1639 young children who, at the moment, are not being taken care of. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to mention the issue of dependency syndrome. One of the disadvantages of aid in Africa is the encouragement of the dependency syndrome. One of the leaders who fought vigorously against dependency syndrome was Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. He literally taught his people to be self reliant. We all remember the ujamaa time and how the then President of Tanzania tried to tell his people to rely on themselves. I think that is a value that we ought to cultivate, especially here in Africa and our country. The dependency syndrome sometimes gets to a point where people think that somebody else must take care of you and your children. It is like you do not have any responsibility. The State, your Member of Parliament, somebody else, an aid agency or a donor must come and take care of you. That is a syndrome that is so destructive to the society. It discourages people from taking care of themselves and being responsible. That way, they cannot have self-dignity and self-respect. That is really something that, I think, has contributed a lot to the neglect of children because parents are saying that is the work of the State, Government, donors and Members of Parliament. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion is extremely important. I agree that the Government must do everything possible to ensure that the future generation is taken care of. It would be useless for us to work so hard and leave this country to people who cannot take care of themselves. We will leave this country to a society that is so ridden with crime and carnage that comes from children that we abandoned when they were young and vulnerable. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}