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"id": 229689,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Rotino",
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"legal_name": "Phillip Ruto Rotino",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to what my colleagues have said about the Presidential Address. First of all, I want to thank the President for having given us some direction and told us some of the things that have been done. The Address he gave, at least, elaborates what his Government has done. What we are doing is that we are comparing the performance of the previous Government with that of the current Government. That is why we are getting the difference. However, if we have another government, which might be better than the current one, we shall also compare its performance with the performance of the current Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, so, in his Address to this House, the President just elaborated what his Government has done, and nothing more. It was good for him to have done so, because he needs some votes. He needs to convince us that he has done something good. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, I would like to touch on a few things. The first one is about the creation of the new districts. I do not think those who are opposed to the creation of the new districts know what they are talking about. When the old districts were created, the population of this country was between 15 million and 18 million people. Our population has now doubled. The facilities that existed are not enough. So, we have to create more districts, because of the population increase. I want to thank the President so much for having given us Pokot North District, which covers Kacheliba Constituency. Considering the insecurity situation in that constituency, once that district is created, it will help in fighting insecurity from the neighbouring district. We will have an Officer Commanding Police Division in that constituency. Also, more infrastructure will be put in place because more funds will be allocated to that district. That will help us deal with the insecurity that we have always been having. That area has been having security problems because of infiltration by the Karamojong and other communities from Uganda. They come into Kenya through that constituency. Now that we have a district in that area, we will have a lot of peace in that area. The effects of peace will flow to other neighbouring areas. Therefore, the Government should, quickly, bring to this House the Bill that is intended to legalise the creation of the new districts, so that we can pass it and enable those districts to be allocated money in the next Budget. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I now want to talk about corruption. As much as we talk about corruption in the previous Government, we should note that this Government is even more corrupt. Corruption is very expensive. When we were on recess, we talked to many people. Many people, including truck drivers, came and complained to us. For example, we were told by truck drivers that they pay Kshs4,000 for each truck that passes through the weighbridge at Mlolongo. At Naivasha, they pay Kshs3,000. At Mai Mahiu, they pay Kshs3,000. So, all the trucks on our roads are overloaded. The money they pay is mandatory. A truck driver would tell his employer: \"I am carrying 20 tonnes. If you want me to ferry this load from Mombasa to Kapenguria, you should give me 44 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 21, 2007 Kshs4,000 for Mariakani, Kshs4,000 for Mlolongo, Kshs3,000 for Mai Mahiu, Kshs3,000 for Naivasha and Kshs3,000 for Eldoret weighbridges\". The employer will have to part with that money. The driver assures his employer that if that money is made available, the truck will pass through all those weighbridges. Some of us have seen this happen. So, corruption is very expensive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will now turn to the proposal to introduce capital punishment for people who will be found in possession of unlicensed arms. As much as we, and any other person with a right mind, would not accept guns to flow into the country in the manner they are doing now, talking of introducing capital punishment for that offence is giving enough bribery to the police. The police will be bribed. If I know that my person has been caught with a gun, and I know that he will be sentenced to hang, I will opt to pay Kshs50,000 to the police to save him. That is what will happen. We will only end up punishing the people who will be found with guns. The guns will not even be taken away from them. They will bribe their way out with amounts ranging between Kshs50,000 and Kshs100,000, because the stiffer you make the punishment, the bigger the bribe becomes. So, as much as we do not want guns in the wrong hands, I am personally against the introduction of capital punishment for this crime. We should sit down, amend the law and provide for enough security. Ask yourself why people buy guns, especially those in remote areas. They buy guns because the Government has not provided security. We want all the guns in the possession of individuals to be retrieved. Nobody wants a gun. However, if you take away guns from a certain community and leave the other communities with guns, what are you saying? What are you telling some of the people living in districts that border other countries? The disarmed community will have no security. They will have no home guards. We tell the Government what to do, but the Government does not want to do it. So, we should be able to be lenient enough. If we introduce capital punishment for possessing unlicensed guns, we will end up increasing corruption. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I now want to talk about the Free Primary Education Programme. I want to join my colleagues in saying that free primary education is good. We have put up facilities, but there are no teachers. As I speak, West Pokot District is short of 896 teachers. All the primary schools in that district have no teachers. We have been given money through the Constituencies Development Fund to build more classrooms and equip them with desks, but there are no teachers. The Government should be able to facilitate implementation of this programme by giving us enough teachers. The rate of dropout from primary schools is high. Of course, we want to applaud the Government by saying that by giving us free primary education, we have increased the enrolment of both girls and boys. However, compare the number of the pupils who sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination and those who proceed to join Form One. Ask yourself: \"Where is the difference? Where do the other pupils go?\" Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, even if polytechnics are there to absorb 2 per cent or 5 per cent, where do the others go? You have educated somebody, but you have not given him enough education. You have not left him illiterate. So, what are you doing? Those are the criminals that we have. They become criminals because, when they go home, they are told: \"We have sold all the animals. There are no animals at home\". So, they leave their rural homes and go to urban centres in search of employment. They end up roaming the streets of our towns and becoming the criminals that the police have to deal with. So, as much as the Government supports free primary education, it should be able to support polytechnics. The Government should ensure that every location has a village polytechnic, so that these people can go there for vocational training. Once they finish training, they will be March 21, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 45 artisans. They will help communities to build classrooms and do many other things. Our system of education does not give self-employment ability to school leavers. You just go to school for formal education. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in order to enable our children to be self-employed, we must impart work knowledge into them, otherwise, we are creating a society of persons who will not be employed, and who will become rogues and disturb us all over. Therefore, as much as we talk about insecurity, we should appreciate that the situation is being worsened by people we have not provided with employment, and for whom we have not created a conducive atmosphere for work. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about insecurity, particularly with regard to Mount Elgon area. Mount Elgon is part of this country. From the time security problem started there up to now, more than 150 people have died. Those people have died in the hands of Government security agents comprising of regular police and Administration Police officers. There is nobody who has gone there to see what is going on. Even Mr. Kiai of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has not gone there to see what is going on, but when something happens in other parts the country, people rush there. The Government must be able to have a meeting and address the problem. The problem can be addressed. There is nobody else who can solve that problem apart from the Government and the people of Mount Elgon. People are dying every day. We listen, hear and see people die. Even children are dying. If you watched television yesterday, you should have seen how pathetic the situation is. It is pathetic to see people in our own country suffering in the hands of police officers. The police cannot even allow anybody to go there and give the people food. Their granaries have been burnt down by Government security agents, and they cannot allow us to go there and give them the things that we have collected. There are many people who have collected food. They are in Kitale, but they cannot be allowed to take food to those people in Mount Elgon. The Government does not want to listen to the people. This is a concern to some of us who are neighbours to those people. We have relatives and friends there. They are really suffering, but they cannot cry to anybody. So, I urge the Government to treat this matter very seriously and go to Mount Elgon and try to solve the problem. If it cannot solve the problem, it should do something that will help those people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will now talk about pyrethrum. In my constituency, we grow pyrethrum. Since we started delivering pyrethrum to the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya, there is a year when the Board never paid us. The Pyrethrum Board of Kenya owes my people about Kshs28 million. In fact, the Board has not paid them for two or three years. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not know if the Government will be able to pay us Kshs1 billion. If the Government could write off the debt that was owed by coffee farmers to the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, why can it not set aside Kshs1 billion to pay those poor farmers? Many people have suffered. Some farmers are owed up to Kshs2 million by the Kenya Pyrethrum Board. When you make an inquiry to the Board, you are told that it is the Government that is delaying the payments. I am pleading with the Government to pay these farmers urgently. Just last week, all the directors of the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya were sacked. By sacking all of them, you are not solving any problem. Some people within the Board are the problem. The Government should identify those people and sack them. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}