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"id": 228862,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228862/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kamama",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Lands",
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"id": 165,
"legal_name": "Asman Abongutum Kamama",
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for granting me the opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. First, I want to really thank His Excellency the President for an excellent exposition of public policy, as contained in his Speech. Before I go into the details of that Speech, I want to thank our athletes who actually did us proud in Mombasa during the world cross country championships. We all know that our athletes came out the best in the entire world. We need to congratulate them. However, the women athletes need to be given more support, because we actually saw a few weaknesses in them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President's Speech was excellent. If the people of this country are serious, I think that Speech will earn His Excellency the President a second term in office. In the United States of America (USA), there is what we call the State of the Union Address, during which the President expounds the policies for the country. From the President's Speech, everybody will realise that the state of our economy is on the upward trend and it is doing extremely well. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our President is taking us the direction of the Asian Tigers. I am very confident that if this economic growth is sustained for the next three or more years, the people of this country will enjoy the fruits of Independence. The multiplier and trickle- down effect will be felt by most Kenyans. Some hon. Members have been complaining that there is nothing being felt on the ground. However, there is a lot, and I can count. When I disburse Kshs6 million as bursary, it can actually be saved and used otherwise. The growth of our economy is being felt by the people of Kenya through so many projects that have been initiated by this Government. I want to point out, as an example, the Rural Electrification Programme. Recently, I had the privilege of visiting Nyanza and those sides of Migori, and I saw Rural Electrification Programme being initiated in that district. I was amazed! This Government is lighting those rural villages. Every constituency has a Rural Electrification Programme. This has never been seen since Independence. It is unprecedented! So, for this achievement alone, I think the President deserves another term in office because of the Rural Electrification Programme. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, President Obasanjo actually gave our President what I call a good recommendation because of what he is doing in this country. He was wondering why his economy cannot actually sustain itself, because they have oil and everything else. He was surprised that our economy can actually finance itself using domestic resources to the tune of 93 per cent. I am sure, and I want to say this without the fear of contradiction that, in the next two years, the economy of this country will balance and in another two years, we will have a 174 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 28, 2007 surplus budget. A surplus budget has only been experienced in Botswana. South Africa has actually experienced it for the first time this year. Libya also has a surplus budget. This is wonderful! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our friends on the other side will have nothing to tell Kenyans during this year's General Elections because we have done almost everything that the President promised Kenyans. Okay, we have something to do with the Constitution, but I will talk about that later. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. The youth of this country are very happy. I also want to talk about the introduction of the Women Enterprise Development Fund. I think we should give women some good money so that they can do their own micro-business programmes. I want to suggest that we should not give them Kshs1 billion only; we should give them Kshs3 billion or more so that women can really do business in this country. When we visit some of the places where they do business, we have seen that women have done an exemplary job. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the security situation in this country is okay, but we need to improve on certain areas. I was surprised recently when the people of the new East Pokot District got a visitor in the person of hon. Raila in his Hummer vehicle. It was the first time that particular vehicle was seen in that district. I am also happy that the Temporary Deputy Speaker got a new district, the North Pokot District. I think that the economy of this country is doing so well, because if people can afford a Hummer vehicle worth Kshs56 million; if people are driving jaguars in this country, it is a good sign that the economy is doing extremely well. But I would like to advise leaders, especially those millionaires who have those kind of vehicles, to look into the plight of people in Kibera. The people in Kibera deserve many toilets because they have \"flying\" toilets!"
}