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"id": 234553,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234553/?format=api",
"text_counter": 148,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 158,
"legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
"slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. As I was saying yesterday, this particular Bill will give a legal framework in which the refugees are protected but also give emphasis on the protection of the host community. I think this House needs to appreciate the problems that refugees go through. We need to appreciate the genesis of the refugee problem in the whole world. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was about to appeal to the hon. Members of this House in particular and the Kenyan public in general to check our utterances. I also want to say that some of the ways in which we do things that do not take into consideration principles of fairness and justice will only create an environment in which the refugees become a big problem in this world. Mr. Temporary Deputy Chairman, Sir, I think we should use this opportunity as a country to learn lessons of hosting refugees who are running from their countries because of political instability and poor governance. We do not have to go the same way in order to appreciate these kinds of problems because at least we have seen them. We have been able to contribute to them. This Bill and especially the situation of refugees in our own country should be a permanent reminder to all of us that we should never allow Kenya to go the same route. This is my honest and sincere appeal to fellow hon. Members of this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you look at the state of insecurity especially in this country; that is both internal insecurity and external aggression from Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and from the Somalia border being revisited on our people, you will realise that there are many other people who are bona fide citizens of this Republic who live similar lives to that of refugees. Due to the politically-instigated clashes in the early 1990s, we have had over 300,000 internally displaced persons in the Republic. We owe it to posterity to create a country that each one of us resident in the Republic will feel extremely comfortable and not to engage in acts that can result into what we have seen the refugees go through. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to ensure that the refugee situation does not become the new phenomenon in the world especially in Africa. We need to put a stop to utterances that will incite our various populations. Let us not assume that because Kenya is an island of peace relatively. We are sitting on a powder keg can that can explode any time if we do not check our political statements. We should make Kenya, first and foremost, the country that wants to remain united. We should watch each and every step. We should watch each and every action that we take, in order to protect this country for all of us so that we can boast that this country can actually entertain refugees from other countries that are insecure. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, refugees from other countries can play a major role in the development of this nation. However, we need a proper framework within which they can interact with Kenyan nationals. We need a framework that will bar them from competing with Kenyan nationals. We do not mind them investing in Kenya. We should not have a problem with the money they bring into this country. However, we should not allow any refugee who has committed an act of terrorism, or any act against humanity, to stay in Kenya. This country must November 15, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3701 cleanse itself of such persons. We get very bad publicity when it is said that we are hosting certain refugees who are wanted by international tribunals. It is important that we ask the Government security agencies to ensure that such individuals are flushed out of this country. We have enough problems trying to make our economy grow faster, so that Kenyans can become richer. We are trying to implement our economic blue print for wealth creation and poverty reduction. We do not need more problems that we have nothing to do with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to remain as a country that is respected internationally, as a centre of peace in this region. Such attribute has an enormous economic potential for this country. It happens every other day that we host an international conference in Nairobi. We are now hosting the UN conference on the global climatic change at Gigiri. Several international conferences have been held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). Come January, we will be hosting the World Youth Summit. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country needs to attract peace dividends that can be translated into tangible economic returns that will bring prosperity to this country and enable us to align ourselves with the Asian Tigers. So, we need to invest in our local peace promoting structure. The areas where pastoralists live are in a permanent state of turmoil. People there are afflicted by insecurity. They are Kenyans who, most of the time, live as if they are refugees. We need to invest in peace promoting structures and good governance. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should appreciate the fact that good governance is the most critical aspect of ensuring that Kenyans live in peace. Our court system should operate fairly and the police only arrest someone because he has committed a crime, not because they imagine that he has committed a crime. This is actually an invitation to the Government to look at the whole paraphernalia of the instruments and institutions that we have created to promote peaceful co-existence among Kenyans. We need to closely examine the instruments that will make us feel comfortable that, indeed, we have an apparatus of governance that will help us in governing and ensure that social justice is realised in this country. With the help of such instruments, we can eradicate poverty. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}