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{
    "id": 238484,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238484/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 195,
        "legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
        "slug": "raila-odinga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I rise to support the Motion very strongly. I want to thank the Mover for bringing it to the House at this moment in time. I want to join my colleague, Mr. Muite, for giving very elaborate views on this particular Motion. Kenyans have struggled for a very long time in order to have freedom of expression, association and free access to information. These are fundamental human rights. We can go back and look at the dark days when Kenyans were sometimes incarcerated because of trying to access information or trying to disseminate information to other people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, hon. Members will remember that Ngugi wa Thiong'o was sent to detention merely for staging a play at Kamirithu entitled \" Ngahika Ndenda .\" For doing that, Ngugi wa Thiong'o had to go to detention and, eventually, into exile. Before then, Mr. Washington Okumu, who was an employee of the Kenya Railways Corporation had revealed that there were some improprieties in awarding tenders by the corporation. Mr. Okumu found himself in detention for making that revelation. The late Mr. Anyona, was detained in similar circumstances. He came to substantiate in this House the fact that there had been some improprieties in the awarding of tenders for procurement of locomotives for the Kenya Railways Corporation. For doing that, the late Anyona ended up in detention. There are others like Paul Amina, who was released with me in 1988 because he was covering the Mwakenya trials. There is Bedan Mbugua, who during the mlolongo elections, was the Editor of Beyond magazine who also ended up in prison. Other victims include Tony Gachoka and George Githii. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have come a long way to where we are. Today, we talk about the global village. Why do we talk about the global village? The world has become so small because of the speed at which information can now travel. If North Korea conducts a nuclear test in that country, that information is aired by the CNN and the people can see it. We can now watch UN proceedings live on the internet. It is possible today for a doctor in Nairobi to perform a joint operation with another doctor in California through the internet. All this information is now being given freely. You can now access information that is in Stanford or Cornell universities while seated in the library. In the past, it was impossible for people to access a lot of information. For instance, at one time, I intended to do research on explosive foaming of metals at the University of Nairobi. At that time, it was a requirement that you had to get permission from the Office of the President to do any kind of research. Being who I am, I never got that clearance. 2992 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006"
}