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"id": 255313,
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"speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
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"id": 122,
"legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity you have given me to comment on the Presidential Speech. The Speech had a few good things here and there, but he also left out a lot. Generally, most issues were not adequately addressed. One of the things that this House needs to address seriously is its calendar. We were on recess for four months. We were very unfair to the citizens of this country. The House is at the mercy of the President. He can decide to open or close it at his discretion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, time has come for the Keter Bill to be brought to this House, March 29, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 209 so that we can decide when to go on recess and when to resume. We will be unfair to the citizens of this country who elected us to Parliament if we do not do that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, insecurity is causing a lot of anxiety amongst Kenyans. I do not see any difference between what the police is doing to those who settled in the forests and what is done by thugs. I was terrified to see what happened in the name of land clashes. Does this Government not have a more civilised way of evicting people from forests? Must it go out of its way and burn houses? What future does this reflect to our children who watch televisions and see their parents' houses being torched by police. What is the difference between that and what happened in Rwanda? This morning hon. Wamwere suggested that some of us should watch a certain movie. I have watched that movie. What is the difference between what is in that movie and what the police was doing to citizens of this country in the name of evicting them from forests? What is the difference between that and what the late Amin Dada's soldiers used to do to the citizens of Uganda? I think the Government must come up with better ways of evicting its citizens, if they settle in a place they are not supposed to settle in. The Government should not burn houses and destroy the property of citizens. It is very unfortunate that it has happened. The Government is actually terrorising its own citizens. Many Kenyans, including hon. Members of this House, have talked about the invasion of the KTN and the Standard Media Group. That was tantamount to terrorism. The only time I saw hooded armed people on a television screen was when terrorists hijacked a plane in the Arab world and kidnapped its passengers. Those were the only images of hooded terrorists I saw on TVs, otherwise I see others in movies. But people who claim to be police officers and servants of the people hooded themselves in order to terrorise unarmed civilian, who were doing their duties. Yet, we still assume that the Government is law abiding. The Government has to do something about this matter. The Government is claiming that it wants to cleanse or improve its image. I do not know how it will do so. It should do something to change what is in the minds of children who saw what they did to their parents' houses in the forest. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are these \"Armenians\" in this country, who sometimes become Indians, Czech or Russians. These people have committed a crime openly in this country. Concealing a number plate of a vehicle is a traffic offence. It was shown by TVs and we saw them doing that, but nobody has arrested them. When will these people be arrested for concealing the number plates of the vehicles they travel in. All over the world, it is a crime to do that. It is a crime, whether one is in Dubai, Armenia, Czech Republic, USA or Kenya. It is a crime to conceal number plate of a car you are travelling in. Even His Excellency the President himself does not do that. How come that these foreigners conceal the registration numbers of the cars they travel in and nobody says a word about it? And we still insist that we are law abiding people! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have famine in this country because of drought. The Government is saying that the food that it recently distributed to people affected by famine was locally acquired. That means we did not import food. Well and good. But where was this food when people were dying from hunger? Who kept it until a few people died from hunger? Why was the Government storing food in its silos until Kenyans died from hunger? Is there really, proper planning in this country? Does anybody care? It is sad to see Kenyans dying of hunger on our television screens. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go to the affected areas, you will see people dying of hunger. It is such a painful death and yet someone is keeping food in stores! Farmers have maize in their stores. The House Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources went and saw a lot of maize. Farmers were queuing to sell their maize but no one was willing to buy it. This was just because someone in Nairobi had not authorised its purchase while 210 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 29, 2006 Kenyans were dying of hunger! I do not know whether anybody in the Government cares about the welfare of our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in his opening Address His Excellency the President said something about the sugar industry. The sugar industry has been mentioned a number of times in his speeches and in the Budget Speech, but very little has been done for it. The COMESA safe- guard period is ending in just about a year or so from today. But there is nothing on the ground that has been done by the Ministries of Agriculture and Finance and Kenya Sugar Board to make us survive when the COMESA safe-guard period ends. The President keeps talking about it every now and then when he makes a speech. Why does he repeat things that are not dealt with. The Government is not promoting the diversification of the sugar industry. Mumias Sugar Company is producing electricity, but is paid peanuts by the power company, KenGen. It adds its electricity to the national grid. That means Mumias Sugar Company and other sugar milling companies are being discouraged from producing electricity to add to our national grid, yet when drought strikes we do not have enough power. The Government is not keen on developing the sugar industry. Diversification of the sugar industry in terms of production of alcohol, which is done by M/s Spectre International in Kisumu and M/s Agro-Chemicals in Muhoroni, is not encouraged. These two companies suffer a lot. They pay very heavy Excise Duty on the alcohol they produce. They find it difficult to export their product. This Government even goes out to verify who exports alcohol from Kenya. What the hell does the Government have to do with who buys our alcohol? With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}