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"id": 230098,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kosgey",
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"speaker": {
"id": 177,
"legal_name": "Henry Kiprono Kosgey",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me 4298 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 7, 2006 this opportunity. At the outset, I must state categorically that I oppose this Motion. Quite often, we have been accused of doing very little in making laws for this nation. While some of us are asking for more time, so that we can continue to make laws, the Government wants us to proceed on leave, so that the Bills that are pending can continue to pend. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the very important Bills that need to be passed by this House is the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, which we deferred this afternoon. The Bill has been pending in this House for quite a long time. When we were in the House Business Committee, we were told that the Bill would be passed before we proceed on recess. I was very surprised this afternoon to hear the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs say that the Government was not ready to initiate debate on the Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government knows that the Bill contains very important miscellaneous amendments we wanted to pass, one of them being providing for an increase in the number of judges. As we all know, justice in this country has been permanently delayed for many years. One of the reasons for this is shortage of judicial staff. This provision is intended to rectify that situation. So, for the Government to say that we should proceed on recess and come back in March and, therefore, stay for another four months without sorting out the problem that is being faced by our judicial system is, really, denying justice to Kenyans. There are many other Bills that we need to pass but, because of lack of time, we have been unable to do so. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me state categorically here that the Government has failed in its primary duty of protecting the lives of Kenyans and their property. The security situation in this country continues to deteriorate on a daily basis. I will give the example of a small town called Kapsabet, where I come from. This year alone, there have been 42 incidents of robbery with violence. A lot of people have lost their lives but the Government has done absolutely nothing. Whenever we go there, we are told that no stone will be left unturned until the culprits are apprehended. Even when wananchi report that they suspect certain persons for committing certain crimes, nothing is done. So, we are left to believe that there is a conspiracy by Government security agents to condone acts of lawlessness. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me talk about agriculture. There is a myth or fallacy that the income of farmers has increased. Farmers are earning less than what they were earning a few years back because of increase in the cost of production, fuel and transport, increased prices of fertilizer and so forth. Although the Government is paying maize farmers Kshs1,300 per bag of maize; and that money is yet to be released, the net income for farmers is almost nil. Quite a number of us here are farmers, and we do not get any money from farming. The same situation applies for milk, tea and all agricultural produce in this country simply because the cost of farming has gone up. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we heard about the Youth Enterprise Fund. We recommended that the criteria for the disbursement of the funds should be brought to the House for adoption, but we have been asked to go home and tell wananchi about the Fund. What are we going to tell them when the criteria has not been laid on the Table? Is that money available or not? The Government should stop playing politics. We heard about Vision 2030, but we are yet to see it laid on the Table. The democratic space has been eroded and actually, we are now back to the year 1992, where we started. We are back to the days of single-party rule. We are multiparty in name only. What happened two days ago is a shame and it was a sad day for this country! With these few remarks, I beg to oppose!"
}