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"id": 255282,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Muriungi",
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"legal_name": "Raphael Muriungi",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to join my colleagues in commending His Excellency the President for his very eloquent Speech which, indeed, shows that our President is a real statesman. Although the Speech was delivered at a time when some people were expressing their frustrations, it was ably delivered. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me start by congratulating the President, first of all, for taking over the Chairmanship of IGAD, a regional body whose membership includes countries beyond the East African region. That reminds me of what the immediate former Chairman of IGAD, President Yoweri Museveni, said about the famine ravaging the eastern region of Africa. He said that this should be a matter of concern to all of us. The Government has done a lot in distributing food to the affected areas. However, as we give food to people, their feeding habits should also be taken into account. When people are affected by famine, we should not just give them maize, beans and oil. Let us remember that there are other foodstuffs like bananas and potatoes which they can also be given. The President of Uganda spoke of bananas which are rotting in his country because nobody can move them from Uganda to the hungry. So, we should try to find a way of ensuring that all available foodstuffs reach the hungry. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to commend the Government for the way it is tackling corruption. Corruption in this country is like a cancer. It is like a disease which has been treated with a half dose of a drug and which has now developed resistance to that drug. The only way of curing this disease, which has developed resistance, is hitting the individuals who have been associated with corruption harder than they have been hit so far. The President promised to increase the number of judges and magistrates. However, it is not enough to increase the number of judges and magistrates without increasing the number of courts dealing with corruption cases. The longer corruption cases remain unresolved, the higher the chances of corrupt individuals bonding with prosecutors to have the charges against them compromised. It is, therefore, my appeal that the number of anti-corruption courts be increased. Allocating a corruption case a hearing date of some time next year would be a typical example of the saying in judicial circles, that justice delayed is justice denied. Another way of reducing corruption is by planning recruitment. I have in mind the recent recruitment exercise conducted by the Kenya Police. The initial exercise had to be cancelled because of corruption. Money had to be paid for young men and women to be recruited into the 200 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2006 Police Force. I am glad that, after the cancellation of the first exercise, the subsequent exercise went on smoothly. If such exercises are cancelled in future, once it is established that they are riddled with corruption, the malpractice will be eradicated or reduced. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would now like to talk about eradication of HIV/AIDS. Some briefcase community-based organisations (CBOs) have been formed by some leaders, and have been allocated money by the National AIDS Control Council. Although the money was meant for campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS, the persons behind those CBOs have put it to their personal use. Therefore, such persons should be arrested and charged in court with corruption because the money allocated to their CBOs has not been used for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Mr. Speaker, Sir, one way of reducing unemployment in this country is by empowering the youth through education. Once they are educated, the youth can seek employment even in other countries. Right now, there are so many young men and women who have travelled to South Africa and Botswana in search of employment. Therefore, the loan portfolio for university students should be increased, especially that for teachers who have enroled for university studies through the parallel degree programme so that they can acquire internationally acceptable qualifications, which will enable them to seek employment outside the country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would further like to thank the President for waiving registration fees for people seeking to acquire national identity cards. In the first place, it should not have been necessary for a Kenyan citizen to pay to be recognised as Kenyan. Let the waiver of the registration fees not be the end of the support to the youth. We should harness their energy by offering them opportunities in sports. In the same breath, I would like to join my colleagues in commending our athletics team, which participated in the just concluded Commonwealth Games, for their excellent performance. In his his Address, the President mentioned tourism as one of the leading income- generating sectors of our economy. As we all know, you do not milk a cow and fail to give it some food. Tourism is flourishing in Kenya but the roads which lead to tourism attraction sites are impassable. The roads that lead to Maasai Mara Game Reserve, which is a leading tourist destination in this country, are a shame to this country. Something should be done about the roads leading to our tourist destinations, including those leading to all the Game Parks and South Coast."
}