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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to join my other colleagues in congratulating the Minister for Finance on his Budget. This Budget, and for a long time we have not had a Budget like this, is about the Kenyan people. When I say the Kenyan people, I am talking about 72 per cent of the population who are 1714 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 28, 2006 Kenyans under the age of 40, who are the youth. After the Budget Speech, I have spoken to many of my colleagues outside the House and many young people. Today, I held discussions with people in the University of Nairobi. For once, they feel ownership of this Budget. They are now asking questions about how the Budget is going to be implemented. They are very excited about the funds that have gone to the Ministry of Youth Affairs. Investing in young people is very important because they have different ideas from those of us who are older. They also have other things that they need to do with the resources that we give them. I can already see the young people who are planning the different self-employment job opportunities, recreational activities, programmes on drug rehabilitation and HIV/AIDS. We are talking about leadership building. As I congratulate the Minister for this very good initiative of giving this amount of resources to young people, we will be watching to see how this money is going to be managed and implemented. It will be a pity if these resources do not reach the majority of Kenyans, who are the young people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to thank the Minister for having the mind of a young person. Today, we have many young working families. Both mothers and fathers are going to work. They have full day hours and they are still trying to juggle parenthood. The issue of zero-rating duty on diapers is a winner. I have spoken to young parents and they are very excited because they are now to spend more time--- In fact, one of them told me the other day that at this rate, they may be able to afford another baby because of the savings that they are going to make. When many people think about diapers they think about women and how they are going to save. However, even in the same way we addressed the zero-rating of duty on sanitary towels last year, every father is also going to feel that their pocket has been uplifted because duty on diapers has been zero-rated. The other vulnerable group that is going to reap benefits from the zero-rating of duty on diapers is our older generation. Nowadays, many of our parents and persons in the older generation face problems because they are living longer. Many old people in this continent depend on diapers. I think this is going to help old people and improve services at our nursing homes. Families can also provide them to their parents. Our grandfathers or grandmothers who would need to be changed into nappies every so often can now be provided with diapers cheaply. This will also preserve their dignity. I also want to congratulate the Minister for recognising a big percentage of our population. These are the women of this country, who make up 52 per cent of our population. I want to thank this Government for finally considering women in its Budget. For a long time, I was outside Parliament and worked in the civil society. We used to lobby the members of the last Government to include gender and women issues in its Budget. You cannot have a Budget that does not reflect the interests of 52 per cent of the population. Until this Government came into power, women were generally invisible. Now, we are beginning to be visible and recognized. The Minister has also allocated funds to women through the allocation to agriculture and this is laudable. Women may not own land, but have access to it and are in charge of production. I would like to appeal to the Minister to do something about banks in this country that discriminate against women. Women cannot apply for loans without their husbands' approval. Banks must be told to stop this practice. Women are good people to lend money to. They normally pay back loans given to them. We also need to take into consideration the fact that there are many single women who are farming and doing small businesses. They need to access loan facilities. I hope that the funds allocated for use by women will be accessed without application of these funny rules. Women are human beings of the same values as their fathers, brothers or husbands. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to congratulate the Minister for thinking about squatters and internally displaced people in this country. These people have suffered a lot. Between 1991 and 1997, I visited very many squatters. They were people who were displaced by June 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1715 tribal clashes and lived like animals. It was the most terrible thing to see. It was through the efforts of the civil society that the Government eventually acknowledged the problems of these people and helped them. So, let me congratulate the Minister for singling them out. I think that his assurance that they will be resettled will be turned into reality as soon as possible. As we move forward this year, we need to look into the changes we should make to our Constitution. It is true that we need to increase our constituencies. It is also true that we should make this Parliament more representative. So, as we move forward, as a Parliament, we need to negotiate on the changes we would like to have. We need to make sure that we increase the representation of women and youth in this House. We should not use cost as an excuse. After all, democracy is an expensive process. I would like to say that I support the Minister's proposal that hon. Members should be taxed. I think leadership can only be by example. I think that as we continue to educate our people on CDF, it is only fair that we also accept to be taxed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to make sure - I hope the Minister has taken care of this - that we invest seriously in Parliament in terms of building its capacity so that hon. Members can be allowed to bring more Private Members Bills. We really need to invest more in the legislative agenda. Looking at the Standing Orders, I hope that we shall increase our working hours in this House. However, we need to increase the capacity of hon. Members to be able to bring forth more legislations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, we passed the Sexual Offences Bill and I wish to thank hon. Members for doing so. However, the financial implications of the Bill is something that we need to discuss. It was not a financial Bill and I took care to make sure that it is not one. However, for that Bill to be implemented, the policy framework which spans over five Ministries needs to be taken seriously. Therefore, the Minister for Finance must ensure that the Ministries in charge of Internal Security, Health, Education, Social Services and Prisons contain sufficient funds to provide people with services in order to make this Bill a reality. You cannot stop sexual violence unless the Government itself puts services on the ground. For example, the Government needs to educate people, give them health services, and train our police officers and judicial officers. As we wait for the Presidential assent to the Sexual Offences Bill, I hope that the Minister for Finance will take into account this issue so that in the next year's Budget this matter is taken into full consideration. I wish to say that I am very proud to be a Kenyan. I am happy and pleased with this Budget because it is a reflection of our democracy. I am pleased to see that money from donors has not been factored in this Budget. Indeed, it is high time we got the economic independence that countries like Malayasia have so that we are not insulted by anybody on our own soil. I think that is the way to go. We are a great example to the rest of Africa and I am truly proud to be a Kenyan. With those remarks, I would like to congratulate the Minister once again."
}