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"id": 246908,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Angwenyi",
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"legal_name": "Jimmy Nuru Ondieki Angwenyi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. First, I want to thank hon. Oloo-Aringo, because he has been very useful to this House. He brings Motions and Bills which are not of benefit to himself, but to Kenyans, and this is one of them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a country cannot develop unless it has got properly organized financial infrastructure. We can have roads, waterways and airports, but unless and until we have proper and accessible financial infrastructure, you cannot develop. I was shocked to hear the Minister say that he wanted to oppose this Motion. This is amongst very few Motions which have been brought to this House that are of benefit to Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, why did the Minister not oppose liberalization which took away from Kenyans to give to foreigners? For example, the Barclays Bank rakes in billions of shillings in profits each year and at the same time withdraws or pulls out from the rural areas and relocates to the main trading centres of this country. It also retrenches poor Kenyan workers who are working for them. This Minister has not brought a Bill here to make sure that the more profit you make, the more people you employ so that we can provide jobs for this country. Until he does that, we cannot achieve much. This is the only way we can encourage our people to create jobs in the rural areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my poor mother cannot walk to the Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank or even the Kenya Commercial Bank and borrow Kshs10,000 she needs to buy two goats or a dairy cow which she can milk for her grandchildren. If we had loan facility out there at Kegogi or Marani, where there is a Kenya Post Office Savings Bank (KPOSB), she can walk there because they know her, they can see her farm and the cows she will buy using their loan, and she can pay back the loan by selling part of the milk from the cows after she has fed her grandchildren. June 14, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1352 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, how many times has this House been asked to bail out the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) to the tune of billions of shillings? We have been asked to write off billions of shillings to bail out the NBK. Why can we not devote those resources to the bank which is envisaged in this Motion? Like Prof. Anyang-Nyong'o had said earlier, we have been voting money here for development and none of that amount ever gets to our constituencies, the rural and the grassroots areas. The CDF, which was opposed by some Ministers who had a similar mindset like this Minister, has helped to develop our rural areas. The CDF has helped to develop facilities for education, health care and even roads. We do not have to do Harambees to take away money from the poor old women and men because now, the Government provides those facilities. So, everything that has been done here is good. If you see the Minister for Finance opposing something, that is something good for the people of Kenya. The people cannot reach and compromise him. Some of these big banks are co-owned by some of these Ministers. I may not have evidence to prove my allegations, but why would one want to oppose such a Motion which wants to help Kenyans? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, just like my friend said earlier, agriculture and livestock are the backbone of our economy. But who produces the agricultural and livestock products? It is that old woman, old man or a youth out there in the rural areas. It is that mzee in Mandera who was taking care of his livestock before they were destroyed by drought."
}