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"id": 254844,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Bett",
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"legal_name": "Franklin Kipng'etich Bett",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you very much for according me this opportunity to join in this seven-day journey which was flagged off by the President six days ago. In flagging off this journey, the President delivered his Speech very well. I am saying so because of the experience I have in speech writing. I would not want to dwell on the content of the Speech, but I would like to say that there was wisdom in it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, hon. Members who have spoken before me have done so with a lot wisdom. As they spoke, a thought that came to me that there is a lot of wisdom in the Holy book, that is known by Christians as the Holy Bible. The religious leaders who prayed before the President spoke and made reference to the book of 2nd Chronicles 7:14. It says:- 320 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 4, 2006 \"If my people, who are called by my name shall humble themselves---\" The gist of this particular verse is \"humility\". What we need in this country is humility. We do not need arrogance and disrespect. We need respect for one another. We also need forgiveness. According to the teaching of that particular verse, we must learn to forgive one another. Forgiveness pre-supposes love for one another. It also pre-supposes that I have respect for you, and in reciprocation, you also respect me. So, I would like to urge leaders in this country to, indeed, go back to the wisdom contained in that verse of the Bible. I believe those people called by that name, are the Kenyan people. Kenyan leaders should humble themselves and seek the face of God. The power of providence is of immense value to this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to thank the President for recognising the efforts of Kenyan athletes when they came back from Melbourne, Australia. It is gratifying to appreciate those athletes. Indeed, it was a moment of excitement when the Head of State invited them to State House, so that he could recognise them for bringing glory to this country during those games as they were performed in Melbourne. I also would like to thank him for rewarding them with monetary gifts. I hope that, in future, our athletes will be rewarded by appointing them to various positions of Government. They should be appointed to various sporting institutions, such as in boxing, athletics and so on, so that in future they are respected. I have in mind some great athletes such as Mr. Serafino Antao, Mr. Ben Jipcho and Mr. Wilson Kiprugut, who are now languishing in the villages. When you meet them, you would think they never achieved anything for this country. Yet, they put Kenya on the map of the world. We should recognise our heroes and heroines in the sporting world. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) should also manage all sporting activities in an orderly manner. They must do so, knowing very well that those athletes have families and relatives to take care of. These athletes also need to live comfortably. When they participate in races in various parts of the world, they come back with money. The Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) takes 2 per cent of what they do not sweat for. I would want the KAAA to recognise the efforts of our athletes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, environment is of immense importance today. It is the desire of every country to protect its environment. This country's forests are depleted to the level of a paltry 1.7 per cent forest cover, which is far below the international level of 10 per cent. Our land mass is, indeed, becoming more bare and bare every day. Yes, indeed, we need land. Our population is growing and pressure on land is increasing. We need to tackle the issue of our population growth, so that pressure on land and the environment is reduced. I would like to urge the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources to operationalise the Forest Act, which was endorsed by this House before the end of last year. We need that Act to be operationalised, so that our forests, which are getting depleted everyday, are protected. We need to have nurseries and seedlings, because we cannot continue evicting people forcefully under the pretext of growing trees and yet there are no seedlings to plant. We need to have seedlings, so that as we evict people from Kipkurere, Likia, Mau, Eburu or Mount Kenya Forest we have seedlings in place so that we may be able to plant them and have trees in those areas. It is, indeed, an irony to evict people from areas where you do not plant trees. It is an irony to destroy houses and then fail to construct roads. We need to deal with this issue of forests conclusively, so that we are able to afforestate this country. On this issue of forced eviction, I believe that there are a better ways of evicting people from water catchment areas. There is a civil way of doing it. We need to apply dialogue, which lacks in this country. We need to apply talking. Let us talk to one another. Let us appreciate one another. I would like to thank the Minister of State for Administration and National Security for what he has done. He has given recognition to the document called \"title deed\". Otherwise, title April 4, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 321 deeds had lost value. I want to thank the Minister for appreciating and recognising that document. I hope the Minister for Lands will do the same. As we remove people from water catchment areas, let us do so knowing very well that the affected people have invested their meagre resources in putting up houses. Even if they are a grass- thatched house, people have spent some money in building them. Even if they are mud-walled houses, people spent money on them. Let us recognise that and evict people decently. Let us evict people using civil methods as opposed to where our own policemen in uniforms are seen on television torching houses. What impression does that give to the world? What will it mean to our children who see us torching their parents' houses?. We need to find a more humane way of dealing with such a situation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on roads, I think Kenya is one country where potholes are not seen as a bottle-neck to the growth of our economy. Our motorists spend a lot of money in repairing their vehicles. We are losing lives through accidents. People in their prime age are dying in accidents caused by potholes. We need to have our roads done. We need our main and subsidiary roads done, in order for the agricultural and livestock sectors to prosper. If roads are done this country, which I believe is great, we will benefit a lot. Kenya is a rich country, but we need to manage our resources well. We only need to spend time on the proper management of our affairs. In conclusion, I want to underline the importance of honesty, consistency and truth in dealing with public affairs. This afternoon we heard contradiction in our personnel management, with regard to the issue of the Governor of Central Bank, Dr. Mullei and also Dr. Rotich. There was a lot of contradiction in the way we handled their cases. The issue of ending tribalism is of great importance to this country. We should fight tribalism now and not allow it to grow. Today we are allowing it to grow. Look at the way we are appointing our parastatal managing directors. Ministers appoint people who belong to their own tribes to senior positions. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}