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"id": 228714,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kembi-Gitura",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
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"legal_name": "James Kembi Gitura",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to make my comments in support of the Presidential Address that was delivered to this House on 20th March, 2007. It is an Address that has elicited a lot of interest from hon. Members, as you have noticed, and it is because it contains several issues that need to be discussed for the benefit of this nation. A lot has been said about the constitutional review process. That is an area I would like to dwell on for a few minutes. We went to the Bomas of Kenya to seek a new Constitution for this country, and we came very close to finding one. The fact that we went into a referendum, and that the Draft Constitution was rejected at the referendum, was an indication of what the political minds of Kenyans were, and continue to be even to this moment. I was a very staunch supporter of the Bomas Draft Constitution and the subsequent Draft that was created in Kilifi, which came to be known as the \"Wako Draft\". Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in my view, the defeat of the Draft Constitution during the referendum had nothing to do with whether or not it was a good document. The defeat 276 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2007 was due to a political decision that was pushed down the throats of Kenyans. So, the Draft Constitution was rejected. This was unfortunate because, as all of us know, we then started discussing what were called \"the contentious issues\" or the issues that had not been agreed upon. They were very few. Everybody, even those who were against the Draft Constitution, agreed that they did not constitute more than 25 per cent of the totality of the Draft Constitution. Nevertheless, the Draft Constitution was rejected because of the politics of the day. It is those contentious issues that were not agreed upon that we are now being asked to deal with at the level of the minimum reform process, together with those others that may be brought on board on the Floor of the House. So, we are not afraid of having minimum constitutional reforms. In fact, we welcome the fact that we are now able to deal with those few issues, and that we are coming closer and closer to finally having a new Constitution for the nation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, the question that is begged by all these is: Are the proponents of minimum reforms genuine? Are they sincere? Do they want to have a new Constitution or is it another political gimmick? Those are the questions that we must answer if we are thinking about Kenya as a nation that has a future, and if we are committed to producing a new Constitution for this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President has been blamed by the hon. Members of this House and the members of the civil society, that he was not able to give a new Constitution as he had promised as part of his election promises. He has been blamed that he was not interested in the issue of minimum reforms. All of us know that the President did everything to facilitate the Bomas talks, so that we could come out with a new Constitution. Kenyans, rightly or wrongly, rejected it. I do not believe that we can blame the President for that loss. It is a loss that we must live with because it is a loss that we occasioned ourselves. We have talked about minimum reforms and, in His Speech, the President said that we should negotiate and come up with minimum reforms. I have heard people say that there may not be genuineness in that statement. We must, ourselves, take the bull by the horns and test the genuineness of that statement. Again, we will have to answer the same questions that were begging during the Bomas Draft and the referendum. Are the people who have been proponents of minimum reforms serious or are they making political statements and gimmicks for their own ends? Are they postulating with a view to spreading propaganda or what is it that they want? Now the ball is in their court. The gauntlet has been let and we must see whether or not people are serious. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government of National Unity has indicated clearly its position and set it out and has then asked the other side to come, so that they can reason together and negotiate. Are they willing? In the last few days, conditions have been flying right, left and centre. You cannot go to a negotiating table if you give conditions. You must go to the negotiating table first of all and then see the reasonableness or otherwise of the matters that have been laid on the table, and then discuss them. If we continue to chest-thump; if all of us take positions that are rigid, then there is no point even in appointing the hon. Members of the Committee that is going to discuss these issues. We must accept that we must first of all find a meeting ground, and we can only do that if we agree to sit down and reason together. There are several issues that have been raised. I have heard people say that they cannot negotiate if the issue of the President getting 50 per cent plus one votes, in every Province is not going to be addressed. They have said that they are not going to come to the table. These people need to be told that, if that is the position they will take, then we can as well forget the issue, but Kenyans will see for themselves what kind of people we are having who take positions that they are not willing to take responsibility for. Every duty has a responsibility and every obligation has a duty. We must all of us agree on what it is that we want to March 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 277 do. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, like some hon. Members have said, it is not just going to be about the issues that have been raised. We are going to raise amendments on the Floor of the House. I can promise, as I stand here this afternoon, that I shall be bringing an amendment, consonant with the Bomas Draft, that if you want to be a Presidential candidate, then you must do so without running in a constituency. That way, we shall see how many people will still want to continue running for the Presidential position. We know that some people who have said that they want to run for the Presidency are taking those positions so that they can render themselves relevant where they have been irrelevant in their constituencies. I can assure this House that we shall be bringing that amendment. The issue of the recall of the hon. Members was also there. This is an issue that the people of this country are still talking about. This is a position that we might want to take to see whether, indeed, the recall clause is something that should be re-thought and maybe brought to the House also, so that we can have an all-encompassing Constitution. Indeed, we shall be bringing amendments to include almost every facet of the contentious issues so that, in due course, we can have a totality of a Constitution for this country, which is what we envisaged in the first place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I listened to the debate that has been going on in the last few days, I was very saddened by the venom and vitriol that I heard from the hon. Members on issues of tribalism. The hatred I have watched in the eyes of the hon. Members as they talk about certain communities of this country, as if every member of any community in this country does not have a right like any other member, saddened and astonished me. You heard some hon. Members say that our foreign policy is not working properly. I have stood on this Floor and said that if you want to criticise, whether you are criticising the Government or the Opposition, let it be constructive criticism. You should not criticise for the sake of it because, as hon. Members, we are leaders. We are supposed to lead from the front. We are supposed to show the people the right way to follow. If we continue preaching tribalism the way I have heard it being preached in the last few days in this Chamber, it is embarrassing. It shamed me to hear some hon. Members, who call themselves reverends in this Chamber, preach tribalism. I said to myself that I would hate to sit in a Church or belong to a denomination that is led by somebody who preaches tribalism. That is something that we must take with a lot of care if we are going to go on as a nation and if we are going to be able to lead our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his Speech, the President talked about the Women Enterprise Development Fund, which is something that all of us should welcome. However, I heard some people say that the President was politicking and campaigning. The question that is begged by those kinds of statements is: Is the Women Enterprise Development Fund going to benefit women from all the corners of this country? If it is, even if the President was campaigning, is it positive or negative? If the answer is, yes, then we must support that position. We must not politick for the sake of politicking. We have only one nation called Kenya and we must always think about it, even as we lead. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}