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"id": 228468,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M'Mukindia",
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"id": 271,
"legal_name": "Kirugi Joseph Laiboni M'Mukindia",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. The other area of importance that was outlined by the President was the setting up of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy. Kenya cannot afford to remain behind as far as ICT is concerned. Indeed, I was asking the Minister, a few minutes ago, what exactly he is doing to ensure that ICT is actually on the ground in the rural areas. I would like to see more money being spent in ensuring that the ICT Policy is rolled out to the rural areas. There are other issues which the President talked about in his Speech, like the security of the country, introduction of capital punishment, improvement of the Judiciary and, more importantly, improvement of infrastructure. The fact that the aim now is to have the best infrastructure in East Africa, this will not be possible unless funding is found for this purpose. There are instruments, if we are all aware, that can be used to ensure that we can improve our infrastructure. My hope is that this will be done very quickly. I think we need to think about this matter so that we and the country can benefit from improved infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to thank the Government for creating new districts. I support that policy very strongly. I am a beneficiary of that policy and, indeed, I can see the results immediately. The fact that district commissioners are nearer to the people means they are more sensitive to the problems the people are faced with. Indeed, they are helping to solve a lot of these problems. There are other issues that the President talked about in his Speech, for example, the Political Parties Bill, governance and Vision 2030. As we all know, Vision 2030 is long overdue. April 3, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 299 Without a vision or an objective, we will never be able to achieve anything. It is like somebody walking in the dark. For many years now, it is more than 15 years, hon. Members have been asking the Government and many Governments in succession, to set out a vision for this country; a vision devoid of political interference and interests. The only interest should be to ensure that no Kenyan dies of hunger, that no Kenyan suffers from poverty and that every Kenyan is educated and is proud to be a Kenyan. I would like to urge my colleagues, whoever comes in either tomorrow or the day after, to ensure that we secure this vision for the people of Kenya. If we need to improve on it, so be it, because nothing is really perfect. However, let us ensure that we isolate or insulate it from political interference by various interested parties who have a very short-term vision or no vision at all. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I agree with the Minister for Trade and Industry, that Kenya is the main beneficiary of the East African integration. I belong to the Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, and the Committee is dismayed by the fact that we do not believe that our Government puts sufficient efforts in ensuring that neighbouring countries, such as Uganda and Tanzania are closer to us. Most often, Kenyans are complaining. We are just bickering. The recent events that occurred in Arusha are pointing in that direction; that we are becoming extremely selfish. If the Tanzanian and Ugandan markets were cut off, this country will starve and grind to a halt. Just look at our side of the equation; Uganda has discovered a huge amount of oil and gas while Tanzania has discovered huge amounts of gas. They are endowed with minerals, good land and they have everything. As of today, in Kenya we have nothing!"
}