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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion and congratulate our delegation for representing our Parliament so effectively at the 115th IPU Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland. April 5, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 443 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is an extremely important forum of parliamentarians, in particular, in the role that they have taken to promote the globalization of democracy. I am very impressed by the continued awareness by parliamentarians, that in order for us to improve the quality of the life of our people, we need to cultivate a culture of democracy. That culture includes respect for the rule of law and human rights. I am also very impressed that the forum also looked at the issue of sustainable development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to mention something that I have mentioned here before, because I think it is very relevant to this particular issue of sustainable development. That is the issue of climate change. At the moment, the whole world is focusing on the issue of climate change. Parliamentarians need to look at this issue. Sometimes, it looks like it is a very distant issue, but it is an issue that is very close to us, especially here in Africa. For a very long time, scientists have been discussing the issue of global warming and have been warning us that some activities that we are carrying out are increasing the temperatures on the planet. In particular, they have talked about the fact that we are using too much of fossil fuels, especially petroleum and gas. For a long time, there were many people who suggested that this was not happening, and that if it was happening, it was not so much due to human activities. But just recently, almost 90 per cent of scientists confirmed that it is certain that global warming is happening and that the temperature on the planet is rising. They also confirmed that a lot of issues that we are facing at the moment are due to climate change. One of those issues is drought. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this morning as I was listening to news, I saw that in Australia, they are experiencing one of the longest drought periods in that part of the world. Only last year here in the East African Region, we experienced a very serious drought, especially in the north eastern parts of our country. With climate change, these issues are going to become even more adverse and prolonged. Therefore, we ought to be concerned about this issue, especially here in Africa because we have a very serious issue as we have the Sahara Desert in the North and the Kalahari Desert in the South. We can very easily be swallowed up by the impact of desertification. But we are lucky in the sense that we have one huge forest: The Congo Forest ecosystem. This forest, along with many other forests, are extremely important if Africa is going to mitigate the impact of climate change. It is for this reason that I want to thank the British Government which recently announced that it was contributing 50 million Pounds Sterling to a fund to protect the Congo Forest ecosystem. I am hoping that many other Governments will follow suit and that, together with the Central African region which has about ten countries, we shall be able to create a fund to protect the Congo Forest ecosystem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even as we protect the Congo Forest, it is very important that we also protect national forests. In East Africa, many of our forests are threatened, not only in Kenya, but also in Uganda. We, especially as parliamentarians, need to look at these issues because when our people starve, it is mostly our Presidents or Ministers who have to go out asking for help. This is the time to take action, especially to protect the forests. I am, therefore, very happy that during the recent Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) forum, they discussed the issue of sustainable development. It is virtually impossible to have sustainable development if we do not have a stable environment. I know that in many of our countries, we do not yet prioritize the environment. I wish we could really appreciate that we can go nowhere without taking care of our environment. As I have repeated many times in many fora, taking care of the environment, practising democracy, respect for the rule of law and human rights are a pre-requisite for peace. These are issues that the hon. Member has presented as some of the issues that we discussed in Geneva. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that the issue of human rights with respect to 444 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 5, 2007 shooting people who threaten the lives of policemen is a sensitive issue. I recognize the fact that the Minister of State for Administration and National Security is here. But I want to be on record by saying that, it is extremely important for us, as a people and as a Government, to respect human rights and the rule of law. Unless a man is holding a gun and is going to shoot you--- But if a man has surrendered and is not ready to shoot you, even if he is a thief, he does not deserve to be shot to death. I know that it is not popular, but sometimes it is important to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves."
}