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"id": 254108,
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Ndung'u",
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"legal_name": "Susanna Njoki Ndung'u",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I stand here to support the President's Speech. In particular, we should address the challenge about the performance of Parliament in terms of delivery of legislation. It is a sad fact that we only managed to deliver seven out of 25 Bills. Indeed, this is below public expectation. It is one of the reasons why Parliament has become very unpopular outside there. It is important that we earn our upkeep. The primary role of hon. Members of Parliament, indeed, is to legislate. However, if you go out there, members of the public will ask you: What does an hon. Member of Parliament do? When you say that the primary duty of an hon. Member of Parliament is to legislate, our people do not understand. This is because, in terms of our own performance, it does not appear that we do so. There is something wrong. We need to address why we are under-performing. It is a question that is now known, even outside of Kenya. For those of us who are hon. Members of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), we are consistently being challenged and told: \"You are the Parliament that delivers the least, but is paid the most.\" We need to start giving what we are getting back in terms of development and in law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are two significant reasons why I believe we are under-performing. One is that we need to address the Standing Orders and the calender of Parliament, so as to give us more time and hours to focus on passing more legislation and policies in the House. Secondly, and more importantly, it is time for us to play less politics and do more of law making. This House has become a political body beyond what it should be. All we do is talk about political parties; we are house keeping each others' parties. There is no party discipline and this reflects on what we are able to deliver. We are encouraged that the Political Parties Bill is coming to the Floor of the House. We must pass it. We must also be able to tell parties how to behave in the House even in terms of their own legislative agenda and delivery. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his Speech, the President mentioned a number of the Government Bills which will be brought to the House. I would like to alert the hon. Members of the House Business Committee that there are several Private Members' Bills, including the Sexual Offences Bill, coming on the Floor of the House. I hope these Bills will be given priority and consideration by the House Business Committee. Having been one of the Private Members who generated a Bill, I now recognise that is a very expensive and labour intensive process. It is time for Parliament to start looking into how Private Members can be funded and supported. We also need to see how research can be done for them. We may now need to look at a Fund for Private Members in order to assist them with their legislative agenda. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President emphasised that 72 per cent of the April 5, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 345 population of this country comprises the youth. Indeed, we must work on the Sessional Paper on the National Youth Policy. However, apart from looking at the issue of employment of the youth, we need to ask ourselves: How do we export their skills? We also need to look at how we mentor and role model the youth. We are setting a very bad example for our youth. So long as we are quarrelling, intimidating and inciting each other, this is what our youth will become. After all, children become what their parents are. Therefore, it is time for us, as leaders, to become responsible. As we continue to discuss the participation of the youth in this country, there must be an emphasis on the registration of the youth as voters. We cannot have a democracy where 72 per cent of the population is not engaging in the politics of the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President also mentioned that there will be a Sessional Paper on Gender, Equality and Development. Having discussions with somebody who was sitting in the Gallery, there was a note that this particular Sessional Paper received the least applause from the Floor of the House. It may be a reflection, therefore, that women remain second class citizens, and that there is not sufficient interest in this House in terms of developing and empowering women. I hope that we will move away from that and give this particular Sessional Paper the seriousness it deserves. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, women in this country remain marginalised in terms of representation. They remain the poorest Kenyans who do not have equal rights under the Constitution. They are discriminated against formally and informally. Even in this House, women are discriminated against. It is unconstitutional for women parliamentarians to leave part of their dress at the door, when their men colleagues do not do the same. I think this issue should be addressed by the Chair. It is not proper for this House that makes laws to breach the law, particularly when it comes to discrimination against women parliamentarians. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, women's economic contribution has not been well documented. Even wealth, labour and welfare issues do not reflect women's dual role as workers and mothers. Also, the role of single women as parents is not reflected. I hope that a Sessional Paper will address all this. His Excellency the President did well to recognise the role of the police. I think we need to give the police credit that they deserve. There are under 40,000 police officers looking after over 30 million Kenyans. This disparity is too big. Unless citizens, through the community policing programme, assist the police, they will not be able to address the issue of insecurity efficiently. There is also need to enhance the technology that our police use. For instance, we need to introduce use of the forensic science laboratories, DNA and other scientific methods of gathering evidence to enable them to arrest culprits. We also need to realise that, as Parliamentarians, we have not helped the police very much. In the year 2003, we passed a Miscellaneous (Criminal Amendments) Bill, which contains provisions on confessions. But, in doing so we have rendered our police virtually powerless in terms of investigating, arresting and prosecuting suspects. We must go back to the drawing board on this issue. We must empower our police but ensure that confessions are not used to abuse human rights. We need to ensure that confessions can be part of the evidence that victims of crime can use in court."
}