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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
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"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to speak after this wonderful Kiswahili speaker. Most of the times, it is semantics. I also support the President's Speech. It raised very pertinent issues that are food for thought for all of us. I wish to state that this Parliament stands indicted for being ineffective in our legislative programme. The President said that we have passed very few Bills, and it is true. I hope and, I have said here before, that our Committees will wake up and do their work and make it easier for plenary sessions to conclude Bills. Your office and the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly have a duty to help us do that. It is not good for us, as a Parliament, to have the dubious distinction of being the least effective in legislation in the whole of the Commonwealth. That is not good and we can do better. We have enough people and good hon. Members and enough Bills come to this House. I hope that this time, we will be able to pass more Bills. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country is suffering from excessive bad politics. The country is so polarised and awash with hatred. The tribalism that we buried in 2002 has reared its ugly head again. Everywhere you go, leaders are now talking in terms of their tribes. Leaders are only soft with members of their tribes. If the sense of healing, dialogue, accommodation and nationalism is devoid in this House, God help our country. There are many things that this Government has done. Kenyans are enjoying a lot more freedom than ever before. The concept of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) and bursaries is a very positive issue to the people of Kenya. I laud the move by the CDF Committee to bring a Paper to increase the CDF allocation. We shall all support that move because it is going to assist the people of Kenya. However, we must also, as leaders, learn to appreciate and speak with appreciation, that the Government is doing something good. To echo the words of Mr. Speaker, we must move away from the situation where the role and target of a politician is just simply to look at the next election. We have Kenyans and their destiny is in our hands. I think we can do better. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if this Parliament wants to give this country a new Constitution tomorrow, it can do it. If this Parliament wants to lower the political temperature in this country, it can do so. If we want to speak with each other instead of speaking at each other, we can do it. Why do we not rise to that occasion? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country is faced with a terrible famine. I have said before that this is a time when we need the Ministry of Special Programmes and the Government to take seeds and fertiliser to high productive areas so that we produce enough food. We also need sufficient storage capacity in areas like the one you represent that suffers perpetual food and water shortage. It does not make economic sense to start taking seeds and fertiliser to areas where we have not had rains for two years and to areas where we are not having rain and give it to farmers. March 28, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 135 It makes a lot of sense to take the seeds to Kitale in the Rift Valley Province to produce food more cheaply and have sufficient stocks. For a country whose mainstay is agriculture, it hurts us to constantly cry out for food relief. We can do a lot better than that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me talk about the environment. Recently, we went to Budalangi. This is for my colleagues who come from the lake region and are staring at me. They have to wake up! When we went to Budalangi, we found out that for the last six months or so, Lake Victoria has receded by 60 metres! That is a disaster waiting to happen! You can imagine Lake Victoria, that takes care of the livelihood of over 30 million people around it, receding by 60 metres in just about six months! The ecosystem of Lake Victoria is under terrible threat! The catchment areas have been destroyed. The volume of water flowing into the lake has reduced! I know of my colleagues who are excited about some destruction going on in Yala Swamp in form of development. It is not development! We have to protect that lake! We have to protect the catchment area of Lake Victoria. Otherwise, many of us who come from the lake region; that is, in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, are at a state of peril. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you can imagine how many fishermen will be deprived of their livelihood. You can imagine the disaster we shall have with our only fresh-water lake. We also know that Lake Victoria is one of the shallowest lakes on this Continent. It has a depth of just about nine metres at the deepest. If it has receded by 60 metres within six months, that must worry everybody. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the East African Community - to whom we pay some money - and the Lake Victoria Management Commission, must send out an appeal. I want to suggest that we have a Summit of Heads of States of countries concerned with Lake Victoria, to discuss on how to save it. Otherwise, it is a worrying thing. Let me turn to the Constitution. Many of my friends, including the wonderful Kiswahili speaker, have made very cynical remarks about the Kiplagat Committee. Let us not be cynical about everything! Go and tell them what you think. They are simply collecting views on what to do next. You do not have to sit there for the Committee to be meaningful. They can take your views and use them to give this country a new Constitution. Finally, I want to repeat my appeal again! As leaders, let us lower the temperature of politics in this country, and give an opportunity and room for economic activities. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}