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"speaker_name": "Prof. Oniang'o",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I would like to support the Motion whole heartedly. I would like to commend my colleague, Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o, for bringing it to the House, although it is a bit late. The Motion is long overdue. Information, like he said, is the right to know. When people do not know, they result to rumour mongering. Rumour mongering can be very dangerous. It can render people victims of situations which they have absolutely nothing to do with. Information should be factual. It should not be ambiguous. Sometimes, information is used as propaganda, especially by the Government. When a station like the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) is being used by the Government for propaganda, it is not right. Many democratic nations have stations which are just confined to informing the public about what the Government is doing and what services are being provided by the Government. These stations should not be mutilated, abused and the workers should not be victimised or intimidated just because they are relaying the truth to the public. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have many different media houses here. Over 90 per cent of Kenyans listen to the radio which is their only source of factual information. It is the only source that informs them about what is happening in the national and the international arenas. Therefore, we must make sure that we safeguard what is being relayed. Information needs to be free. We live in a world of transparency, but at the same time, information can also be misused. We have heard cases of information being abused in our neighbouring countries, for example, in Rwanda. We have mushrooming tribal stations in this country. I visited one of them and I found out that they are doing well. We can now talk to our people and inform them about what is going on in the country. We have individuals, including patriotic Ministers, who misuse these stations. You wonder what kind of a Government this is which is driving people to begin to commit crime or behave unlawfully. 2994 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006 We need to safeguard our stations, so that they are not free for all. Even in America, which is the democracy of democracies, they are now beginning to track what is being relayed in through the internet. You can be trapped in terms of the information that you are relaying. This should not just be free for all. When this Bill is brought to the House, then we shall have what provisions should be put in it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when we ask Questions here, we are seeking information for the electorate. So, when Ministers are not here to answer Questions and convey information, like last Wednesday, you wonder what their responsibilities are. What are they being paid for? I would like to believe that in both sides of this House, there are people who are better placed to serve the Government even better. We want to make sure that Ministers understand their responsibilities. We are even beginning to wonder whether the answers that they give us here are correct. I believe that most of these answers are just \"cooked up\". Ministers come here and say: \"I just saw the Question today\". How can a Minister see the Question the same day he is answering it when it was sent to his Ministry three months ago? This is the height of irresponsibility. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are still operating on archaic laws which were enacted during the colonial days. The Britons have already discarded these laws. Kenya, as a British colony, is still using British laws which the Britons have already discarded. Why are we not moving on? Something must be very wrong. We need to reform our laws to update them. One of my colleagues has made reference to the Budget. Sometimes when the Budget is being read here, I feel like I am wasting my time. It is brought to the House when it is already set. We cannot change anything. We do not even know whether the Government tells us the truth. What are we doing here as hon. Members if we cannot change even the Standing Orders? Since we make laws, we should be able to change them. We have laws that many Kenyans, including hon. Members, do not know anything about. Recently, I went to a college and the management was asking me to get the college to be autonomous. I asked them to give me the statute that they use and they gave me a 1999 statute which gives them autonomy. They have a 1999 statute which was accented to and signed by the then President, which made the college autonomous. They did not know that. If the people who are learned and have gone to school do not even know this, how about the rest of the Kenyans? There is a lot of ignorance out there and we hope that we shall actually make sure that information is now truly available using modes that people can understand. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you come to the internet, we are averse to it and we fear it. Kenya is behind Tanzania and Uganda! We even force our media people to reveal their source of information. What are we doing when we do that? We are rendering them vulnerable to attacks. We are unnecessarily exposing whoever gave them the information to attacks and, maybe, even death threats. So, we must make sure that we protect the source of information. We also have to make sure that it comes out in the open and that it is used properly. If you have that information and you do not use it, then it is of no use to anybody. So, I believe that, today, we shall give leave so that a Bill can be drafted so that we can look at it in a comprehensive manner. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}