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{
"id": 254091,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/254091/?format=api",
"text_counter": 108,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Energy",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support the Presidential Speech. It is very clear that the President was challenging us to do what Kenyans sent us here to do. Kenyans elected us to perform a particular duty of enacting legislations. It is true that we have failed to perform that duty and nobody can claim that we have performed it rightly. Twenty-five Bills were brought before this House and we did not have any time for them. We did not prioritise them and, instead, we have started to accuse each other. We have also decided to take politics at the centre stage of anything else instead of doing what Kenyans sent us here to do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when we fail to perform our duties as legislators, Kenyans suffer. When we come here and shoot down a Bill or a Motion just because the Opposition and the Government do not agree, Kenyans suffer. If for five years we will not have passed enough legislations to develop this country, our people will suffer. If the Opposition will hold the Government at ransom and sabotage every move that the Government makes for five years, this 338 PARLIMENTARY DEBATES April 5, 2006 means that there will be no development in this country for five years. That lack of development in the country for five years will translate to lack of development even in constituencies where we have Opposition hon. Members. If this country is not developing, it is not developing in North Eastern, Central or even in the Rift Valley Provinces. Every area of this country will be affected. Hon. Members must ask themselves whether they are here to fulfil their selfish greedy ends or to represent the people of this country. When we fail to perform our duties and every end month we smile all the way to our banks to draw our salaries, where do those salaries come from? Who is responsible for all these? Who are the taxpayers? Are we performing our duties? Even before the eyes of God, are we justified to draw salaries? The spirit of nationalism must be put in front of all what we do. We have to recognise and realise that we have a Kenya that will be there for our sons. A Kenya that will be there beyond us even for the next 200 years. The institutions that we have today were built by people who are not here today. What are we going to leave behind for our sons? Are we going to leave behind the quarrels that we are engaging ourselves in? Two years from today, this Government might be voted out or in. Does it mean that if I will be in the Back Bench, I will oppose the Government which will be in power for the next five years? We must agree as leaders that issues that pertain to ourselves and generations to come must not be politicised at all. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have a Bill here that can give our courts a new lease of life. When I go to the courts, I ask myself how many Kenyans attend court sessions every day; the accused, the defendants, their sympathisers and witnesses. If you go to the Machakos Law Courts, you will find a lot of people lining up there. We have people rotting in remands, namely, the innocent and guilty ones. We should set up a Committee to tell us how much is being lost per day in our courts. A lot of time and energy are wasted, which could have been directed to other areas where some development projects may be initiated. Time is wasted because hon. Members cannot agree to bring a legislation here to increase the number of judges and magistrates or build more courts, so that cases can be heard expeditiously. We cannot do that because we do not have the welfare of Kenyans in our minds. All what we have in common is that we want power and power! We are thinking of nothing else. If we have the welfare of Kenyans at heart, we should reduce the number of Commissions that we have and direct those resources to the courts. This will enable us to employ enough judges, so that those who steal eggs and eat omelette which is not theirs, can be judged conclusively and those who purport to have tried to steal an egg can also face justice. However, justice will not flourish in this country as long as we attend court sessions everyday and as long as we are talking about fighting corruption when we do not have instruments and institutions to do so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if we are serious about fighting corruption, we should make sure that we have enough judges and magistrates. We should also have enough courts where these corruption cases can be heard. When you read the newspapers or listen to radio stations, you will find that instead of them concentrating on what the Government is doing, or focusing on the development projects that it has initiated, they are only criticising. People who are supposed to be very responsible have become very irresponsible. Wherever there is death in this country, that is where the congregation is. For example, we had drought in North Eastern Province and leaders were flying there to go and criticise the Government. They never offered any alternative. They concentrated resources there. They spent over Kshs1 million to fly to North Eastern Province while they could have used the same amount of money to assist the people of North Eastern Province. They could have sent a representative there to donate that money to drill a borehole. That money could have been enough to do that. Their aim is to get votes. We have become like vultures who want to live on carcasses instead of developing systems that can be respected. It is very unfortunate for us as leaders. We should come April 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 339 to the negotiating table and ask ourselves: Which is the way forward? If we are a responsible Opposition, why do we not come up with concrete solutions? Why do we not come up with constructive criticisms? This way, at least, we shall pass other Bills, like the Forest Conservation Bill which is affecting our citizens. It is also affecting food security in this country. We are not asking ourselves why we are having these problems. We are only interested to know when we will ascend to the coveted seat of power. That is why most of us are declaring daily that we want to go for the Presidency of this country. It is good that some young hon. Members are also declaring their intentions to run for the Presidency. I wish them luck! However, before we do that, we need to come up with a programme to say that, for instance: \"I, Mr. Kiunjuri, want to become the President of this country\". Before we even tell Kenyans that we want to run for the Presidency, why do we not tell them what we intend to do? Why do we not tell Kenyans that this is what the Government has failed to do, and this is what we intend to do for them instead of just playing politics for 24 hours? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time, we want to listen to people, who have an agenda. We want to listen to young and old people but their arguments should be constructive. Let us hear what they can do for this nation. Let us think on the way forward for the next 50 years on what Kenya we want. Those are the arguments that must be advanced and that is the only way we shall eliminate ethnicity and tribalism. These must be fought! However, we cannot fight tribalism if we do not come up with solutions. Let us sit over a cup of tea and translate the sitting into action, so that this country can have proper guidance as to what is expected of it. Let us criticize this Government constructively but also acknowledge the achievements we have got. Nobody has stood up to question why the economy has grown at the rate of 5 per cent. Why are we not taking that route? We only want to talk about the bad things of this Government but we do not want to look at the achievements. Lastly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say that we, the caucus of the Young Parliamentarians, should set a good example. We should initiate dialogue. We should sit down whenever Bills are brought before this House and put aside selfish interests for the good of the country. We should ignore people who are desperate to become presidents of this country and who can do anything on earth to achieve that. We are wondering whether some of them do not require psychiatrists to certify clearly whether their faculties are of sound mind. The conduct of some of these leaders is questionable. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}