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"speaker_name": "Mr. Chepkitony",
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"legal_name": "Lucas Kipkosgei Chepkitony",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute on the Presidential Address during the official State Opening of Parliament. The President highlighted what the Government has done. It is true that the Government has done well in certain areas, particularly on the economic front. I agree that the President has tried to revive agricultural bodies such as the Kenya Co-operative Creameries (KCC), the Kenya Meat Commission (KCC) and to some extent, the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC). However, there is still a lot to be done. I want to mention something about agriculture. Agriculture is still the mainstay of our economy and the largest employer in this country. Therefore, various issues in this sector need to be addressed. We have revived some of the agricultural institutions, but they are not properly functioning. Those institutions need to be given full support for them to operate fully. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I did not hear the President mention anything about the AFC advancing credit to farmers. There is still a shortage of funds to enable the AFC to advance loans to farmers, so that they can enhance their production. I would like the Government to support this corporation, so that all the farmers can access credit. While we have seen some improvement in the various institutions, the Kenya Farmers Association (KFA) is still not operating. In the past, the Government promised to revamp the KFA. Up to now, no funds have been given to the KFA. When Uchumi Supermarkets closed shop, the Government quickly put in some funds. The KFA has been requesting the Government to give it some working capital, so that it can start operating. This is a body with a countrywide network and it has the capacity to supply farm inputs at a reduced cost. It has enough storage facilities. I do not see why the KFA cannot be supported by the Government so that the cost of inputs, which has really sky-rocketed, can come down. This is making agricultural production very expensive. I would like to ask the Government, and in particular the Ministry of Agriculture, to revive the KFA. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to mention something on security. Security is very important. The President said that he would like to see the country have a 24-hour economy. This is not possible because at the moment, insecurity is still a big threat and foreign governments are still issuing advisory information to their citizens on their visits to Kenya. This is still a big impediment to business and tourism. This issue should be addressed very seriously. The Minister of State for Administration and National Security should address this issue. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have insecurity in Mount Elgon District, while the Minister of State for Administration and National Security has not even visited the district to see for himself what is happening. He has sent there some security personnel who have not brought the situation under control. They have gone there to contribute towards the killing of innocent wananchi . The security 258 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2007 officers have not performed as required. Recently, there was a case in Eldoret where some police officers arrested another policeman who was on duty and who was accompanied by a Government employee, and instead of finding out who they were, they tortured the two and killed them. So, security officers are also a threat to our security because their conduct is not right. Instead of securing our citizens, they torture and kill them. I am sure many people have been killed on the order of \"shoot to kill\" in an effort to reduce insecurity. That should not be the way. When this Government took over power, it promised to retrain all the security personnel, but that has not happened. I would also like to commend the President for coming up with new initiatives, for example, the Women Enterprise Development Fund. This is in the right direction and it is going to support the various women groups that we have all over the country. It will assist them to invest in income generating activities. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this country is still having serious unemployment problems. Unemployment has not been addressed adequately. This Government promised to create 500,000 jobs per year, which have not been created. Poverty is still a big issue in our country. The poverty level is still very high. More than 50 per cent of our citizens are poor. This is not a joke. If you are poor, you cannot support your family; feed and educate your children, access medical services and other essential requirements in life. The issue of poverty needs to be addressed. Poverty goes hand in hand with unemployment. We need to address the issue of poverty by enhancing support to our people. First, we need to give bursaries to our people. Because of poverty, many parents cannot take their children to secondary schools. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support the many hon. Members who have called for free secondary school education. At the moment, there are very many children who are supposed to be in secondary schools, but they are unable because their parents cannot afford to pay fees. I would like to call upon the Government, particularly the Ministry of Education, to increase the amount of bursaries that is given to the constituencies to support poor students in secondary schools. In the long term, the solution would be to provide free secondary education. The President mentioned that the Government was looking into the issue of making secondary education affordable. This should be done very fast in order to assist our poor parents. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to mention something about the fight against the HIV/AIDS scourge. At the moment, no funds have been given to the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) in the various constituencies. For the last three years, this fight has not been going on. This issue needs to be addressed. The HIV/AIDS is still a scourge and a killer. It is spreading in many areas. The NACC should be supported if we are to succeed in this fight, which was declared a national disaster by the President. The Margaryan brothers saga came about as a result of corruption in high places. So, we still have corruption in both high and lower offices. We need to eradicate grand and petty corruption. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I fully support the increase in the number of judges in our High Court and Court of Appeal. There is huge backlog of cases in our courts which need to be cleared. The sooner we increase the number of our judges, the better. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}