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"content": "establishment of representative democracy. The IPU has over the years served to provide a backdrop for parliamentary diplomacy and, on numerous occasions, when relations between the executive branches of governments have reached a stalemate, parliamentarians have managed to negotiate a way out of the impasse. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in accordance with Article 11, Sub-Paragraph 2 of the Statutes and the Rules of the IPU, ACP-EU, on behalf of the executive committee of Kenya National Assembly Group, we nominated the following members to represent our Parliament during the IPU 115th Assembly: As is the tradition, these hon. Members were drawn from various political parties represented in the National Assembly. The nomination was 50 per cent for both genders. The delegation comprised of: Mr. Speaker, who is also on the Executive Committee of the IPU; The hon. Andrew Ligale, Leader of the Delegation; The hon. Beth Mugo; The hon. Linah Jebii Kilimo; The hon. Kiruki M'Mukindia; The hon. Phillip Rotino, and The hon. N. Ndung'u. We also had members of staff who were able to service the delegation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the Speaker for according us the opportunity to represent our National Assembly at this important meeting. I wish also to proudly report that while attending the IPU Conference, the hon. Members who were present did, indeed, praise Kenya for the manner in which it had hosted the previous conference. This is was the 114th IPU Conference which we hosted here in Nairobi. We debated its report and adopted it yesterday. Among those who praised the Kenya delegation were the President of the Union, Dr. Kasilu, the Secretary-General, Mr. Anders Johnson and various government and parliamentary representatives. The delegates, particularly praised Kenya for the hospitality accorded to them during their sojourn in Nairobi and were very impressed by the arrangements that we had put to their disposal here in Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there were three main topics that were covered during the 115th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly held in Geneva, as well as one emergency item that was discussed and resolutions passed. Some of the items that were discussed involved the following: One, the role of Parliament in overseeing the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular, with regard to the problem of debt and eradication of poverty and corruption, especially in developing countries. Secondly, we had a report on missing persons. Three, co-operation between parliaments and United Nations (UN) in promoting world peace, particularly, from the perspective of the fight against terrorism and the achievements of greater energy security. Four, the emergency item following the announcement of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in other words, North Korea, of its nuclear weapons test and the strengthening of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. Members did express their concerns that we must try and bring to a halt this proliferation of nuclear weapons in our midst. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Assembly discussed and passed numerous resolutions during the committee discussions. For the interest of the hon. Members, most of the deliberations in the IPU are best done in the committees. For instance, the Committee on Peace and International Security discussed issues on co-operation between parliaments and the UN in promoting world peace, particularly, in fighting terrorism and achieving greater energy security. The issue elicited a lot of debate in the committee stage as well as the plenary. It was evident that 442 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 5, 2007 parliaments, being representative institutions in the world in each state, have an eminent role to play in anti-terrorism efforts. This was an important topic to Kenya, considering that we import a lot of our energy from countries that, sometimes, are subject to terrorism and where our supplies could easily be cut off. There was also a discussion on sustainable development, finance and trade, which centred on the role of parliaments in overseeing the achievement of the MDGs, in particular, with regard to the problem of debts, eradication of poverty and corruption. The topic was important and it was discussed at length, bearing in mind the problem of debt issues that do plague, particularly, developing countries. One glaring issue which came out of the debate was that in most negotiations between national governments and international financial institutions, parliaments have tended to be kept out of those agreements. It was emphasized that before any agreements are signed by governments and these financial institutions, parliaments must be brought in. They must be apprised and give their direction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as part of the IPU's work is to invigorate and defend the representative institutions, its Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians, discussed the issue of missing persons. I want to apprise hon. Members that in a number of countries, particularly, Burma, which I think became notorious in 1980s and 1990s, a number of politicians got abducted by the executive, and they disappeared. Sometimes, because in those countries we do not have representative governments and parliaments that can probe the executive, these missing persons may never be traced. Nobody may ever get to know what happened to them. So, we had a report tabled by a committee that had been investigating this issue of missing persons, and a number of recommendations were made. In some cases, it was decided that the governments be put to task to explain the circumstances under which those people have disappeared and what has happened to them. In other cases, enough explanations had to be given and, therefore, those cases were closed by the IPU. Altogether, we dealt with 57 cases of missing persons. The most glaring ones on the African Continent relate to Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, the problem in Zimbabwe is still with us, and is still very much topical. It is a matter that, perhaps, we, as a Parliament, may want to take a stand on at some point. With regard to the issue of the emergency item relating to North Korea and its announcement that it was going to test its nuclear weapons, hon. Members did express their views very strongly. I believe, partly, as a result of this and a further meeting in New York the following month, which I had the pleasure of attending together with our Deputy Speaker, I think enough pressure has been brought to bear on North Korea. I believe they are beginning to see sense and discuss with the international community; that they should go slow on their testing of nuclear weapons. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Report is here for hon. Members to peruse through and apprise themselves. I very much hope that they will be able to adopt it. But before they do so, I hope that they will, indeed, be able to follow some of the recommendations and ensure that this Parliament takes its rightful place in the international arena, in apprising our people and making them understand that we do belong to the global village and anything happening out there does affect us and other people. We are part and parcel of this international community. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to move."
}