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"id": 229690,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229690/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Bifwoli",
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"speaker": {
"id": 208,
"legal_name": "Sylvester Wakoli Bifwoli",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President's Speech was very good. This is a clear indication that this is a working President. Let me talk about the Women Enterprise Development Fund. When the President said that money is going to be set aside to be advanced to women to do business, I realised that I am not the 46 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 21, 2007 only man who went to school because his mother went everywhere doing business. We are many and I am sure the President is one of us. That is why he is thinking about women. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should not criticise certain things just because we do not like the persons behind them. Even if the devil has done something good, it is always good to say, \"thank you\". The President has really initiated something nice for this country. Some of us have ladies in our constituencies whose husbands have abandoned them or have died and they have no means of living. They cannot be given loans by any institution and they cannot do anything at all for themselves. We keep on saying that we are gender sensitive and yet we have failed to empower women to do business. On that issue, I think the President scored highly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another thing which I think the Government has done very well, and the President brought it out very clearly, is on the issue of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. I know that this Fund will not create jobs for the youth. We should have entrepreneur seminars for the youth. Our youth have no experience and they do not know money can be a dangerous weapon. They might take the money and go and look after their welfare. The idea is good, but I would like to ask the Government to employ entrepreneurs as youth officers in the various districts. All the youth officers should have the basic training in entrepreneurship, so that they can train the youth. Now that women will come on board, the officers should train them on how to start and run small businesses. I would like to applaud the President for reviving the Kenya Co-operative Creameries and the Kenya Meat Commission. However, there are certain challenges in the cotton industry. We visited the Minister for Trade and Industry with the Members of Parliament for Amagoro, Sirisia, Kanduyi and Nambale constituencies and asked him to get an investor to start the Malaba-Malakisi Ginnery. This ginnery will cater for people of western Province. There are very many cotton farmers in Kenya, but honestly, I do not understand some of the gentlemen that His Excellency appointed as Ministers. They do not do anything for us. The Minister for Trade and Industry has not done anything for us. It is unfortunate that this Minister comes from Western Province and he has done nothing for the people of western Province. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the people of Western Kenya still remember the Government of the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. During this time, the Minister was a Kikuyu and he initiated projects such as Mumias Sugar Factory, Nzoia Sugar Factory and Panpaper Mills. Today, we have one of our own as a Minister, who has initiated nothing for us except going round Western Province marketing a factory called \"NARC(K)\". It is a shame that we have one of our own, who cannot think about our village. We cannot blame him because he has done nothing for this country. He has never brought in an investor to invest in the agricultural sector. We were told that they were going to start village cottage industries. Where are these industries? Such Ministers are actually failing the President. It is time we stopped referring to people as our own and failing to point out their mistakes. Some Ministers have not performed and we should say this in broad day light. The President has said good things, but he cannot go round and work when he has appointed Ministers to work. The blame should go to the particular Ministers. I would like to challenge the Minister for Agriculture to revive the cotton industry in this country. He should support the cotton farmers. When the Minister says that he has set aside Kshs8 million for the cotton industry, surely, where is this money? They have said that they are working on some modern seedlings to be provided to the farmers. We do not need seedlings. The Government only needs to show us where to sell our cotton and we shall plant more cotton. Our African cotton is resistant to all the diseases. This Government has performed, but there are certain challenges that need to be addressed. It is good for us to tell the Government what the challenges are. March 21, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 47 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the free primary education has been a success. The rich people have nobody to look after their animals and that is why they are bitter with the Free Primary Education Programme, because all the children from the poor families have gone to school. The only challenge is that there are no teachers in primary schools. The other day, I heard the Minister for Education saying that he is thinking about employing more teachers. I would like to urge the Minister for Finance to allocate money to the Ministry of Education to employ more teachers, so that we can have a fair distribution of teachers in this country. We will have quality primary school education if that is done. Once we have quality primary school education, there will be clear signs that under the Kibaki administration, free secondary education can be achieved. I would like to recommend to the Government to introduce free secondary education in Forms I and II. We should start in day secondary schools. We should sponsor students in day secondary schools in Forms I and II, so that only those parents who are able to afford to take their children to national and provincial secondary schools can pay school fees. This is possible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing is corruption. Corruption is a disease. If we have to declare wealth, then we have to tell the world where we got the money from, even if we inherited stolen money from our parents like some of us have. How can you have a lot of money and yet you have never worked in life? If you have inherited billions of shillings, 100 acres of land or a whole district, where did your father get all that money? If we have to make sense, we should go down in history. In the African culture, if your father was a wizard, you would be punished for his sins. Why can we not also punish the sons of the thieves of this country, so that we can repossess the money that their parents acquired wrongly? We will not allow a situation where certain families become gods, just because they inherited and looted a lot of wealth. This is not fair inheritance. If somebody allocated himself 1,000 acres of land and today the son is the one who is shouting the loudest saying that this Government is corrupt, we should find out how that land was acquired. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should also thank the President for being categorical and telling us that we need some minimum constitutional reforms. I do not understand why some people think that we are against certain persons when we talk about minimum reforms. We are not against an individual. We simply want to make a fair political play ground. There are people who are political nomads. I am told there are people in this House who are calling themselves NARC(K), when they came into this House through NARC, which was a combination of LDP, FORD(K) and DP. Today, you have crossed over! We need a law so that those who cross over should go home and cross over with the constituents. This Government has done very well. But to be fair in appointment of people to senior positions, we need a vetting committee. The committee should vet who should be appointed an ambassador or a director in this country. There are enough committees of the House to do that work. The Departmental Committee on the Administration of Justice and Legal Affairs can vet the judges. The Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology can vet the appointment of Teachers Service Commission commissioners. The Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Land and Natural Resources can vet the directors in various agricultural institutions. The Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade can vet those who are appointed in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, unless we introduce those measures, Ministers will appoint their brothers to those positions. Some Ministers have their brothers appointed as ambassadors. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}