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"id": 247125,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise in support of this Motion. I have been looking at what the objective or the mandate of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) is. It is clear that, among other things, its role is to facilitate the effective implementation of the policies and objectives of the African Union (AU), AEC and ultimately, the African Union. It is also there to promote the issues of human rights and democracy in Africa, encourage good governance, transparency and accountability in member States. It is also supposed to promote peace, security and stability, facilitate co-operation and development in Africa and strengthen continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the people of Africa. This is the first Pan African Parliament and its term is coming to an end. So, these are the pioneer hon. Members of this Assembly. It is expected that once African nations nominate their hon. Members to this Assembly, it is for the hon. Members to develop the Assembly to become effective in its duties. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have listened to my colleague who was just contributing and I appreciate the frustrations that some of us may feel because we are not moving fast enough. The duty is not with the member States, but with us as Parliaments, especially our nominees who sit in the PAP. Therefore, they should take the collective thinking of the House. We must be asking ourselves whether we have set adequate mechanisms where the hon. Members who represent this National Assembly can get the collective thinking of this Assembly to input into the PAP. If it is on the issues of peace-keeping, have we input our thoughts into the minds of the hon. Members who represent us, so that the idea of having a Pan African peace-keeping force becomes an agenda in the PAP? The responsibility of steering the unity and mutual support of African States rests with the National Assemblies of Africa because they are the ones who nominate hon. Members to the PAP. So, let us think of ways and means of enriching their debates by ensuring that we have forums where we can liaise with our hon. Members, not necessarily by waiting for the reports, but also by interacting with them before they go to debate to ensure that they reflect collective thinking of the people. I would urge the hon. Members who are representing us in the PAP to get the entire HANSARD of this debate, because it is going to represent the collective thinking of the Membership of this House, so that the good contributions from all the hon. Members can act as their guide when they go to that Parliament. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we share a common destiny and similar problems. When you look at the issues that PAP has deliberated on, you will find that they all affect us as Africans in one way or the other. Issues of insecurity in Africa are shared across the board. If the neighbouring State has a problem of insecurity, it affects the neighbouring State. We cannot speak about the situation in Somalia without speaking about the insecurity in our borders with Somalia. We cannot talk about the situation in any country that is our neighbour without seeing the ripple effects into the next State. It is, therefore, in our common interest that we seriously look into the issues of security and the issues of having a peace-keeping force, but bearing in mind also that as developing countries, we may have problems of sustaining budgetary provisions for such a peace-keeping force. We need 1388 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 14, 2006 to be asking ourselves how much each country loses every year due to insecurity. If we evaluate that cost, we would realise that we should each be devoting some amount of money to issues of peace-keeping to enable development to take place in our countries and in our continent. I can see that PAP debated the issue of how Africa can achieve the Millennium Development Goals. First on the agenda was a very relevant issue, namely, the imbalance in power-sharing. I am sure this did not relate to Africa. It is the imbalance in power-sharing in the world because that influences the pace at which we develop. They cited the lack of consensus among the great powers with regard to crucial issues. Even in the United Nations, it emerges that most countries are paying lip service to most issues. Even though the developed countries committed themselves to helping the developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, there is no sufficient support coming from those quarters. I know that most of our nations, Kenya included, are struggling to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The best way for us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals is not by stretching the begging bowl to the developed nations, but through fair trade, so that our commodities can receive their fair value and then we can develop using our own resources. If there was a fair trade for our agricultural products like tea, coffee, flowers and other horticultural products and we did not encourage cartels that rip-off the farmers and transfer the benefits of farming to the developed nations instead of transferring them to the developing nations, we would not require aid. I, therefore, think that it is the duty of Parliamentarians who are representing us in the PAP to address these issues squarely, so that Africa can negotiate as a block when we attend the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings. When we go to those meetings, we should be approaching the issues as a block and then we can benefit as a continent. I have seen that the issue of natural resources is one of the issues that PAP discussed. They talked of having a common policy on the natural resources. The abundance of natural resources in Africa has proved to be a source of insecurity. Foreign powers promote internal civil wars which facilitate the looting of natural resources through conglomerates. That is what is happening in the Horn of Africa. One has to just look around and see who is supporting which fight and fuelling civil wars in Africa. We need to approach these issues and have a common policy about exploitation of our natural resources. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, some African countries that are so rich in natural resources are classified as some of the poorest countries in the world. This is a paradox! Africa is still supporting the development of the Western world at its own expense through lack of proper policies in relation to the way we utilise our natural resources through the existing oppressive world trade regime. These are the issues that we entrust the PAP with, and as I keep on saying, enriched by our contribution as an Assembly, we will be able to tackle them. I am happy to note that PAP has started addressing these issues. That is why we need to make our contribution now, so that our representatives can take the issues forward for the benefit of Africa. It is gratifying to know that one of the areas of concern; HIV/AIDS scourge which is ravaging Africa, is also being addressed by the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). Issues of poverty, which are interlinked with natural resources and fair trade, were also part of the discussions that took place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate our representatives and the entire PAP for showing that, even in their first term, they are tackling issues that are of concern to us. We ask them to build up on that. I have heard my colleagues saying that they should be elected directly. I do not know whether it is the right time for that. However, it is the right time for the issue to be mooted, so that it is given due consideration. We need to look at the implications and what constituencies will be created for the election of such Members. Let this debate go on, so that we can enrich PAP, then it can come up with rules that will govern Member States to go to direct June 14, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1389 elections. But for now, the rules are that national assemblies of member-countries nominate Members. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I heard a colleague say that one slot for Kenya is vacant, and it belongs to a particular political party. I agree that one slot is vacant, but I do not think it is correct to ascribe it to any political party. When party leaders in this House sit down, they will allocate it depending on the current realities of affiliations in this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ninth Parliament has been very dynamic in terms of alignments. Like I have said before, we will need to look at our rules to see whether what is happening militates against internal party discipline and growth of democracy. We can address it so that the next Parliament does not have the kind of dynamism that has been exhibited by this Parliament, which I once referred to as \"migration\". Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, once we cure that, the formulae that normally obtain when there is sharing of slots in this Parliament will be used. But as for now, it is not easy to discern which slot falls where, without people sitting down and seriously negotiating. However, the term of PAP Members has only two months left. Therefore, as we elect Members for the next term, it will be the headache of this House to work out arrangements which will help us achieve that. It will be the same thing for the East African Legislative Assembly. Last time, when we elected Members, the power arrangements were different. Now that we will be electing Members again, the power arrangements are different. We need to start thinking about those issues and come up with formulae that will represent the reality on the ground. That is something that most institutions are not taking cognisance of. I have seen institutions writing and saying that such and such a slot belongs to this or that party, without considering the realities on the ground as they are today. We need to deal with that issue. I have looked at the resolutions and recommendations and I support them. I am happy to note that, while the past resolution is calling for member-states that have not signed the Peer Review Mechanism to do so, Kenya has not only signed it, but it submitted itself to be the first in the Peer Review Mechanism. That is not because we are perfect. We are not afraid to be assessed, so that our strengths and weaknesses could be pointed out. That is the only way we can grow as a democracy and nurture transparency and accountability. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also note that, even before the Peer Review Mechanism came up, by sheer proximity to our neighbours, we cannot be blind to the fact that, what happens within the neighbouring countries affects us. Hon. Members will recall that when the multi-party wave came in the early 1990s, and Tanzania went multi-party first, countries like Zambia and Kenya followed suit. The wave went throughout Africa. It was apreceded by a pro- democracy wave that went throughout Eastern Europe and the former Eastern Block. So, we really cannot say that we are not our brother's keeper because whatever happens influences us either negatively or positively. Therefore, it is easy to see the reasoning behind the Peer Review Mechanism. It may be that, that mechanism does not impose sanctions on the defaulters. Those issues were raised by Mr. Sungu. Parliament can look at those issues and see how we can strengthen them and have a method of sanctions. Where there are serious human rights violations or violations of an agreed code of conduct or protocol, there are sanctions on a member-state to force it to conform. That way, the effects of the breach will not negatively affect any one member- state or its citizens. In other words, can we have a mechanism - like in the developed world - where we can intervene before the situation gets out of hand? We need to look at those issues. Although we may say that we are weak in our budget, the question is: Is it not more expensive to address the issues after a disaster? Recently, this country incurred debts during the Sudanese and Somalia peace processes. The reasoning behind it was that, it is more costly to have a neighbour in turmoil than to 1390 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 14, 2006 help address that problem. That is the philosophy that ought to guide all of us. It has been applied elsewhere in Africa. We must pull our meagre resources together to intervene in each others' woes before it is a total disaster. West African nations, under the umbrella of ECOWAS, once intervened in one of their countries when there was turmoil. Although they do not have adequate capacity to intervene continuously, it shows that, together, African nations can do something to stop the useless civil wars that lead to the continued rape of Africa's natural resources by the western conglomerates. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, all in all, I want to commend PAP and, especially, our representatives there. On behalf of the Government, I support the adoption of this Report. With those many remarks, I beg to support."
}