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{
    "id": 227958,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/227958/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 335,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 190,
        "legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
        "slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute in support of the very fact that we all support security, and echo those who have said that it would not be in the interests of any Government to support a situation of insecurity, and that if we use politics in this way, it does not help us in any way to resolve this and other issues. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a national problem in that we have been with these clashes from the 1990s. In fact, in the 1990s, there was much more intensity of these clashes. I hope that some of us who are talking so strongly now spoke as strongly in the 1990s, when the problem was much more than what we are experiencing. It is in this regard that if we make these issue a matter of political opportunism, like one hon. Member has said, we will not get anywhere in terms of getting to the root cause of the problem. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to say that this is a national matter in another way. We experienced this in Marsabit. We talked about political opportunism. We have April 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 363 experienced this in the Rift Valley Province and in Laikipia. If you look at the bottom of it, you will find that politicians, not necessarily the sitting hon. Members, and I must say a lot of those who are aspiring to be Members of Parliament in 2007, are being involved in one way or the other in fermenting these crisis. Secondly, I would like to say that this is a national matter because it is also a matter of gross inequalities. It is a matter of gross inequalities in the way we have allocated our land in this country. It is unfortunate that 7,000 people are fighting over a few acres of land when there are people in this country who own provinces, districts and whole constituencies. It is really a pity. It is the same when you come to the Mau, the Rift Valley Province and other places. It has got a lot to do with unequal distribution of resources, which is so pronounced. Unfortunately, a lot of these people who own these masses of land are no more less than primitive accumulators, in the sense that if you ask what they are doing with this land, so that they can benefit a majority of the people who have not had access to this land, it is not clear. If you have a whole province, district or constituency and you use it productively by having factories and big farms where you can employ people and pay them well, it makes a big difference in terms of how many other people benefit from that."
}