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"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
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"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I want to congratulate the delegates who represented us April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 581 in Barbados and to thank them for an excellent Report. I want to emphasise on the issue of governance and say that as much as we may not want to critique ourselves, I think we must continue to challenge ourselves, to provide ourselves with good governance. When we critique ourselves, we are not criticising a third party. We are criticising ourselves and challenging ourselves so that we can improve governance. We all know that we cannot perform properly if we do not have good governance and respect the rule of law and human rights of others. I want to commend our leaders, especially, at the regional level. I have been very impressed and encouraged by the type of governance that African leadership has been giving, especially within the African Union (AU). As you know, the AU has created a very important organ called the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in order to encourage and institutionalise good governance and create institutions that can help us govern ourselves better in this part of the world. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other organ that the AU has also created as a way of improving governance is the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSC). This organ is intended to bring the African people to the table so that as African leaders discuss on how best to govern Africa, that the African voice can be present and heard. This is very much in contrast to what we had before when we had the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), for example, when we had an organisation which was essentially a club of the Heads of States of Africa. The AU is emphasising the need to bring in the African people. As we all know, you cannot have good governance even at the national or regional level unless you have the involvement of the people as we call them, the civil society. The civil society in any country is extremely important because it is what supports the institutions of governance. It is the civil society that ensures that the Legislature, the Executive and even the Judiciary does not run away with the mandate that they are given; that they are checked and held accountable for what they do. For this reason, I think this is a very important organ of governance. I would like to say that it is also the civil society that eventually helps the governments. The Government is not just the people in State House, the Ministers, hon. Members and other organs. The Government is the people. It is very important that we educate our people to play their role as good citizens and demand good governance. However, at the same time, they should play their part as citizens who are willing to obey and respect the law and who are not encouraged to take the law into their own hands. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Si, it is in that connection that I want to mention an issue that is of concern to all of us. The fact that in this country, I know the Minister of State for Administration and National Security the other day said and he has repeated twice that he has never said: \"Shoot to kill!\" I want to accept that he never said that. Nevertheless, we still see people being shot when they are innocent. We have an example of one young boy who is lying in Nyeri literally maimed and was shot by mistake. There is absolutely no reason why anybody should be shot by mistake. If we want to arrest somebody we suspect is breaking the law, a person should be arrested, taken to court and charged accordingly. We must try to encourage a culture of respect for the rule of law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is one thing that really bothers me on television. Whenever people are killed, they are labelled thugs and gangsters, even though they have never been taken to a court of law to be so judged. They are portrayed or their bodies are displayed on television. Sometimes, we see those bodies being displayed in front of children. I was viewing television the other night about the topic known as, \"making of a gangster\". I thought: That is how we make gangsters when you reduce death to nothing serious; when you cannot respect even the dead. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}