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"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to make a contribution. I will only say a few words about this Bill. First of all, I would like to congratulate the Minister for bringing to the House all these different Bills on labour. As he has already indicated, they are, indeed, very inter-related. It would, probably, have been easier for all of us if they were brought as one Bill. But I hope that in the course of time, they will find ways of merging them together, so that we can deal with one document. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to introduce one issue that I think is very important. That is the issue of the culture of hard work. It is very nice to have institutions. We often think of institutions that can protect workers and employers. They should also ensure that there is harmony in our labour industry. But I would like to say that in this country, probably because we come from a situation--- Sometimes to I try to understand and go back to the times when our people used to go to look for work, in order to be employed. If you go back to that time, you find that we used to have some phrases like \"kuandikwa kazi.\" It must have been quite a new May 17, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1461 phenomenon in our country to have people going to have their names just put on a register, to indicate that now they were employed; au wameandikwa kazi. There is some culture that has evolved in our country, which has a relationship with that concept of \"kuandikwa kazi.\" It does not carry with it a responsibility to that person who has employed you, au ambaye amekuandika kazi. In our culture of work, we need, through this Ministry--- I hope that the Minister will introduce a way of entrenching a culture of hard work in our people; a culture of feeling responsible to those who have employed you. You have no other responsibilities, you just wait for the salary. This is a very big problem in this country, and I think that, as a people, a society, a Government and leaders, we need to address it. That is partly why we have developed a stereotype in this country of \"African workers\", where we are perceived and stereotyped as people who are lazy; people who are not honest; people who are willing to cut corners as soon as the boss is out of sight. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I remember that the President said, for example, that we ought to be a working nation. Now, you cannot be a working nation if you do not have a culture of hard work and honesty. We talk about responsibility and accountability; this is where it starts. You have to have a culture where you feel responsible to the person who is going to give you money or a reward for what you have done. In many countries which have developed, and I would like to look at South East Asian countries, because if there are a people who present a challenge to us, it is the people of South East Asia. Those people were colonised just like us, and often by the same colonial powers like us. But, somehow, they have developed within the period of--- May be, it was there before. May be, it is post-colonial, but those people have developed a culture of hard work where they actually feel responsible to the person who is going to give a reward. They feel that they should not be paid for doing nothing; because they will be paid at the end of the month, they have to provide work. If we did that, we would not only be a working nation, but we would also be a people who have a value for hard work; people who can be respected for doing what is expected of us. Not people who have been stereotyped. Even as senior people who are willing to put a jacket; a very beautiful coat on a chair, literally walk out and go and do your business. But because your chair is there, you assume that people will psychologically think that you cannot be very far because your jacket is there. But, sometimes, you are miles away from where you are expected to be by your employer. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is, to me, a very serious issue which the Ministry should address. I do not know how exactly the Minister will do it, but I really think that if we are serious about moving forward and pre-emptying a lot of the disputes that we encounter, then we need to develop values about hard work, honesty--- I know that, Mr. Minister, you want me to finish. We should have values about being responsible to the person who has employed us. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}