HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 255821,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/255821/?format=api",
"text_counter": 141,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Khamasi",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 300,
"legal_name": "Daniel Lyula Khamasi",
"slug": "daniel-khamasi"
},
"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like your protection from Mr. Osundwa. This Government has never looked after the interests of tea farmers. Tea farmers continue to suffer because of the liberalisation of the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). In fact, that liberalisation was the death knell for tea farmers. The Government is doing nothing to save the farmers from the pains that they are going through. It has left them completely at the mercy of the directors of KTDA. The Government is looking aside while the KTDA management is doing what it wishes as if there is no Government in this land. It is high time the Government asserted it authority and looked at the issues affecting tea farmers. That is very important! They have now called for a strike. I want to assure this Government that in my own constituency, I will support the farmers to go on strike if that will help them to earn a little more than what they are getting now. The world prices for tea went up at some stage, but what the farmers get is constant over and over again. We do not know where the difference goes. The tea industry is now controlled by a cartel of a few people, who are very keen to make tea farmers suffer. We would like to see a change in that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President commented very effectively about the independence of the Press. I believe that the Press must be independent, forthright and reasonable in presenting their news and programmes to the public. What on earth would this Government get by being hostile to the media? I cannot imagine anything, in my humble submission. A government that is hostile to the media cannot get anywhere. If the policemen were doing their normal duties, why did they wear masks? Why would they wear masks and go to raid a media house? We have never been given a reason. Why did they hide their faces if they were doing their duty in the right manner? There is much to hide! The best thing the Minister can do, because it is human to err, is to apologise and save this country. It will not do any good to this country, if the Government continues to fight the media. They learnt a big lesson during the referendum. But even now, they do not seem to have learnt a lot from that. The entire media was against the Government, but they are repeating the same thing. I hope that, that will not be repeated again. It is high time the Minister came out very clearly and said exactly what was right and where they went wrong. Sometimes if you go wrong, it is good to say so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a colleague has mentioned something about the new districts that are supposed to be created. That is a matter of concern in very many areas. Where people need districts, they ask for them. But where they are not required, do not force them down the people's throats. Where people have agreed on the mode of making boundaries, those decisions must be respected. I have a case in point in Kakamega District. We had not even asked for a district, but when they came, we said: \"Yes! If you want to give it to us, let us take it. Let us divide it this way!\" I understand that some Ministers in the Office of the President are trying to do their own things in Kakamega District. Let me warn them here and now! Let them not dare do what they wish to do. Let them do what the people of Kakamega have decided. If they are not interested in providing with the districts in accordance with the wishes of the people of Kakamega, let them keep the districts. We are not interested in them! The wishes of the people must be respected. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me now turn to the so-called song on corruption. We will never go anywhere until the leadership of this country is keen and practical in the fight against corruption. We need political will! It starts from the top. We were told that there were no sacred cows, but now we can see many of them moving around in our midst. Let us stick to what we say. We said that there will be no sacred cows. We spent taxpayers' money to go to London to talk to Mr. Githongo, because he cannot come here. He is afraid of losing his life. Do we really need to do that if we had the political will? We should not be spending taxpayers' money in that regard. Let us not have sacred cows! Let us see it in practice and not in speeches and addresses to the public. Let us see it in practice. 23 March, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 69 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, again, regarding the Constitution, we have just started messing ourselves up. There is no way we shall get a Constitution for this country, unless all of us sit together and talk to one another. The chest-thumping ego will never take us anywhere. If we are serious that we want a Constitution for this country, let us put aside our pride and talk to one another. That is the only way. Otherwise, there is no single section of this country that will bring a new Constitution that will be acceptable to Kenyans, unless we sit together, put our differences aside, give and take and come up with a new Constitution. That is the only way forward. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to appeal to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs this time round to advise the President in the right manner in order for us to speak together and come up with an acceptable Constitution for Kenyans. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}