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"id": 248067,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Poghisio",
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"legal_name": "Samuel Losuron Poghisio",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. It is good that the hon. Member who moved this Motion comes from a marginalised community. Mr. Ojaamong feels completely marginalised coming from his area, surrounded by people who have made Teso District almost difficult to live in. Even now he is asking where the boundaries of Teso District are, but nobody can tell him. I hope that by bringing this Motion and by the ensuing amendments to the existing Act, these problems can be sorted out. We would like to know what should be done when the boundaries of a district cannot be defined. For example, West Pokot District is one of the original 46 districts, but we still cannot determine whether this place is in West Pokot or Turkana because there are no definite markings which show where the district boundaries are. This is a very important Motion. I would like us to debate it, not because we all want to have districts, but because it is important that the 28 districts which were created by the last Government be legalised. Among them is a small district called Mt. Elgon. Much as they have existed all these years, they have existed out of illegality. They are legalised and yet they are not legalised. What I mean is that they get money from the Government, they have District Commissioners, they have vehicles and budgets and yet they are not legally gazetted. Let us get ourselves out of that illegality by recognising those districts first. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say something about the new districts. Much as we would like to move fast and include the new districts, they are still in a stage where people have not agreed on the headquarters. I think the original ones which have already been facilitated need to be gazetted and properly legalised. When this law is amended, I would like hon. Members to consider that there are certain places which do not seem to have many people but the land mass is so big that they need to be sub- divided. The rationale that we must have these high populations has made it difficult for expansive areas. Turkana District has been proposed for the sub-division, but there are many other places in northern Kenya that have not been proposed. There should be more districts in those arid and semi- arid areas for purposes of adminstration. There are places like Kacheliba where we must begin to create special districts. Kacheliba Constituency has come out of a different situation. This particular constituency was handed over to Uganda in 1931 for administrative purposes. It was in Uganda all that time until 1970. When it came back to Kenyan administration, it was completely forgotten by Kenya. Under that circumstance, the people sometimes do not know whether they were better off when they were in Egypt or now when they are in the land that they call their home. Some of those situations, for example, where people came from should now be considered. A special district needs to be created for purposes of Kenyanising the people, but this was never considered. Since we were put under a district that already existed, for purposes of services, the constituency was left behind. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently when the creation of districts for the politically correct were being proposed, nobody considered that kind of proposal. We should find a proper way of distributing districts. Recently, districts were being distributed on the basis of who is who. Districts were basically being handed to people. I would go there and pick my paper and say that is my district. Somebody else would also do the same. It should not be done that way. We must have a rationalised way of creating districts. Even now after the referendum, it is difficult to tell why certain places were given districts. June 7, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1185 There are certain places like where my friend, Mr. Wetangula, comes from, where every constituency will become a district. In fact, every location will soon become a district."
}