HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 228242,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228242/?format=api",
"text_counter": 249,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Odoyo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 340,
"legal_name": "Peter Ochieng Odoyo",
"slug": "peter-odoyo"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me now talk about food insecurity. It was discussed that no Government can go on without proper food security. The IPU meeting noted that people in dry land areas of Kenya fight for resources. When there is drought, the Pokot, Marakwet, Elgeyo and also Tugen, et cetera, fight. The same applies to Nairobi. Today, we have gangs of young boys aged between 18 to 25 years who are terrorising this city. It can only mean that, indeed, their access to resources and to participating in the economy is being diminished day by day, despite all the assurance we are receiving that the economy is growing. This economy may be growing but poverty and, therefore, insecurity and food security is declining. It is time for us to ask this Government: \"Is this a Government for the rich? Is this a Government for the wealthy? Is this a Government for the \"haves\"? How about the majority of our people, the \"have-nots\" who are suffering? These are the taxpayers\". It is time for us to say: \"Yes, we do not mind if our economy grew at 3 per cent, but the poverty index should also decline by 3 per cent\". Indeed, our economy is growing by 6 per cent and the poverty index is increasing by between 5 to 10 per cent. Something is not right! It can only show that the \"haves\" are becoming too of the \"super-haves\" and the \"have-nots\" are becoming the terribly downtrodden \"have-nots\". This situation is a threat to everybody and is causing insecurity in this country. Insecurity will explode! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Mungiki are no longer the \"have-nots\". They are young men coming from middle class families with fairly good, decent backgrounds. So, we must take responsibility for groups like Mungiki . What is happening to our society? We must put the question forward that, this Government must address the issue of Mungiki, not necessarily by making arrests and detentions and what-have-you. The Government must address social problems which give rise to Mungiki, and art of this is because we are not bringing young men to participate in this Government. Young men must begin to start feeling that they own this country and Government! We can do that by having more young men in key positions in this Government. We should not have everybody who is in their 70s or 80s having positions in this Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg and request all hon. Members to learn from the April 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 399 Kenyatta regime. When Kenyatta came into power, he was well into his 70s, and everybody he appointed was below 35 years old. When he came to power, virtually everybody in the Government was below 35 years old. All the Permanent Secretaries (PSs) were below 35 years old. All the key Ministers were below 35 years. The late Tom Mboya, the late Kiano and Messrs Mwai Kibaki and Njonjo were all dynamic young men, and we did not have Mungiki then. Until we bring young men into the Government's mainstream, the likes of Kamjeshi, Mungiki and similar gangs comprising of young people will continue sprouting across the country. Therefore, I request that, for sustainable governance to take place, which was a theme discussed at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference, we must address the plight of the young men in this country. We must bring them on board, so that they can participate in managing the affairs of this country, and feel part and parcel of the economic growth we have registered. I request that at the next IPU conference, we put in place a system that can assist young men in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, sir, I would like to repeat what I said earlier. How do we address the rural economy in Kenya? Let us learn from the American Economic Depression of the 1930s and China's economic depression of the 1980s and 1990s. What did they do to address the issue of rural economy? They, simply, started building roads. The Americans built roads manually from New York to Los Angeles. In certain cases, some people dug holes and others went and filled up those holes. But they were being paid. The idea of giving hand outs to people through the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the Women Enterprise Development Fund is not good. Wananchi do not want handouts. They want to feel that they have worked for their money. One would want to go to work in the morning and go back to his wife in the evening, feeling tired but having been paid, say, Kshs300. The next day, he will want to wake up again and go to work. Then he will make proper choices on what to buy. That will only happen once our rural economy starts sprouting. That is what happened in China, where storey highways were constructed. In that country, you can see four or five storey highways, running straight for 200-300 kilometres. All those highways, except those which required stone cutting machines, were built by hand. We have to revive the rural economy in this country. It is the rural economy that will create demand for investment, so that factories in the urban areas can produce, say, more cooking oil, sugar, shoes, toothpaste, soap, et cetera, because the commodities are in demand. As factories increase their production capacities, they will employ more people unlike in the current situation, where the Nairobi Stock Market (NSE), mobile telephone networks, banks, among other institutions, are the only ones making money. These institutions do not employ. They mint billions upon billions of shillings as wananchi starve to death. So, although the economy is growing, the poverty index is increasing. Therefore, the time is ripe for us to fully address those issues which were discussed at the IPU conference, particularly those touching on sustainable development. On the issues of democracy and human rights, there is human rights violation going on in Mount Elgon. I will not repeat what was discussed by this House this"
}