HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 228693,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228693/?format=api",
"text_counter": 163,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Oparanya",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 201,
"legal_name": "Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya",
"slug": "wycliffe-oparanya"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. I also take this opportunity to thank you for listing the names of hon. Members who are interested in contributing to this Motion. Occasionally, some hon. Members just walk in and they are given a chance while others, who have been in the House the whole day, are left out. I hope you will continue with that exercise. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I stand to support the Motion. However, there are quite a number of issues that were raised in His Excellency the President's Speech that I need to highlight. One of the most important issues concerns the Constitution of this country. We have been talking about a new Constitution for the last 20 years. We have spent a lot of money in the constitution-making process. In fact, I was in a different forum where somebody said that the Kenyan Constitution is the most talked-about in the world. It is important that we have a proper Constitution. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was surprised when one hon. Member stood up in this House and said that the rule of 50 per cent plus one for presidential candidates is unfair. He said it should be applied to hon. Members of Parliament and councillors. For heaven's sake, how do you compare the Head of State, who is unifying the whole nation, to a councillor who is head of a village? It is important that, that rule is applied to the letter, if we want to have someone who will represent this country. This rule is being applied in most countries of Africa. It is applied in Nigeria, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Why is Kenya exceptional? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have complained of unfair distribution of resources in this country. We must, therefore, have a Constitution that takes care of this. That is why I am saying that we must have a devolved system of Government; where resources are distributed to all regions of this country equitably. I and my constituents support the majimbo system of Government. If we had the majimbo system of Government, Butere would be having a tarmacked road. It is a shame that 44 years after Independence, Butere has no tarmacked road. If we had a devolved system of Government, resources would have been taken to Western Province. We would be talking about tarmacked roads instead of depending on decisions to be made by the Executive in Nairobi some of whose members do not know where Butere is. 270 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the next issue I want to comment on is insecurity. We have a problem, as legislators, especially those of us who represent rural constituencies whereby there is a lot of insecurity since our people keep on losing livestock to rustlers. We have been talking about this issue for a long time and there is no solution to it. It is important that we integrate the security system with the private sector. Policemen are trained to take care of the security of this country. However, you will find a police officer, who has been trained for one year, standing at a gate guarding a building. This is work that can be done by a watchman. Why can we not release police officers from such work, so that they do their core business? It is happening in other countries. We should leave the guarding of buildings to watchmen and not to armed police officers unless they are guarding a bank. Police officers waste time in the rural areas chasing after people who are brewing and drinking their chang'aa peacefully and leaving the criminals. It is important that security is beefed up, especially in the rural areas. I urge the Government to recruit more police officers. I thank the Government because most of our police stations have vehicles. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would be doing injustice to myself if I do not mention sugar-cane growing in my constituency since most of my constituents grow sugar-cane. I am happy the President mentioned that the Sugar Bill will come to this House. I know it came here and we could not deliberate on it. Although payments to sugar-cane farmers has improved as one hon. Member said, but it is unfortunate that the restructuring that has taken place in other sectors of agriculture has not taken place in the sugar industry. Our farmers are more poorer than they were when the industry was introduced in western Kenya in 1976. So, it is important that the Government does something to revitalise the sugar industry. This is because the Government owns most of these sugar companies except Mumias Sugar and West Kenya Sugar companies which have been privatised. These sugar companies that are owned by the Government owe sugar-cane farmers Kshs50 billion through the Sugar Development Levy (SDL). Since the Government has written off debts in the coffee industry, it is important that the Kshs50 billion is returned to the farmers so that it is used for the development of the sugar industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have complained about taxes within the sugar industry. There are so many taxes. It is very difficult for that industry to compete and the fact that we will have this safeguard measure expire at the end of February next year, I do not see how our sugar industry will compete with the others. We also have to look at the pricing of inputs. It is important that we have a system like that of Seychelles and Mauritius where farmers have access to credit, so that they will be able to negotiate the prices of inputs themselves. The inputs are given to the farmers at ease and so they have no say on the prices. However, if they are given as credit, they will have a say and they will be able to negotiate themselves, so that they get value for money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other issue that has to be streamlined in the sugar industry is provision of licences to jaggeries. We had jaggeries which were offering employment to our people, but they have been arbitrarily closed. I request that the licences of these jaggeries should be streamlined because they were offering employment to our people. They have been closed because they are saying that they do not have outgrowers to plant sugar-cane for them. However, if they are streamlined and given conditions which they are able to meet, then they will become operational instead of arbitrarily closing them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would want to mention something on rural electrification programme. I want to thank the Government for starting three electrification projects in my constituency. However, it is saddening that we find that---"
}