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"id": 255310,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Lesrima",
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"speaker": {
"id": 178,
"legal_name": "Simon Saimanga Lesirma",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank hon. N. Nyagah for that clarification because indeed given the documentation that is already before us, the message that I got was completely different. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to do a lot of work in the Committees so that we speed up the passing of these Bills in the same manner we often pass Bills that are of great interest to us such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and other Bills to do with our own welfare. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to mention something about drought. Clearly, the drought has affected the pastoralists in a very big way. I could say that it has turned pastoralists into internal refugees. I take this opportunity to thank the people of Central Kenya for hosting my people for the last two months and they have had no complaints at all. However, at the same time I wish to register my disappointment in the manner in which the Government is flushing out the pastoralists from Mount Kenya and the Aberdares when, in fact, the rains are yet to visit us. We have nowhere to go. If you drive us out of Central Kenya we will have no choice but to lose our animals. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to say that because of that severe drought it is not 206 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2006 possible for many of our children to go to secondary school. I wish to appeal to the Ministry of Education to increase the bursaries that are given because a number of the children are now out of secondary schools. If one cannot join Form One then he or she cannot qualify for a bursary. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, certain measures were taken to fight drought one of which was to grant Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) loans, but I must say that, that has very little impact because AFC loans tended to target the wealthy. For example, we are required to have title deeds and the capacity to purchase not less than 100 steers in order to obtain these loans. I must admit that my people have not been able to access those loans and I wish to appeal that the Government considers group loans and also facilitates the release of title deeds for the group ranches. We also want to appeal to the Government to increase abattoirs so that instead of depending on famine relief only we can also slaughter some animals and earn some money. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to touch on the question of security. I think there is something unpleasant going on in my constituency. There is selective disarmament which is not quite effective. We feel it is unfair for the Government to disarm the Samburu, who normally do not go raiding other communities and to leave our neighbours fully armed. The question of security requires some discussions with the people on the ground. There are reasons why people obtain arms. In 1996, they decided to defend themselves against a regime that was not protecting the people but when the new Government was elected and requested us to surrender arms, we did that voluntarily. We feel that we have disadvantaged ourselves by surrendering arms while our neighbours are not going to be disarmed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I would like to talk about cattle rustling which is related, of course, to availability of arms. Recently, in my constituency 3,950 goats and a total of 395 cows were taken away from 40 families and as of now, I believe about 50 cows have been recovered. However, the sad thing about these activities is that they happen when there is military presence in my constituency. In my constituency we have the army, General Service Unit (GSU) and police. Where do people get the courage to act with such impunity? The Government needs to investigate this matter to see if perhaps there is some kind of trade going on and I would like to recommend that the performance contracts of District Commissioners in that region should depend on how strongly they stop cattle rustling. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}