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"id": 255837,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwakwere",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
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"legal_name": "Chirau Ali Mwakwere",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, a country is like somebody's body. If you have a headache, then the whole body is said to be sick. Although I speak and give reference to the Coast Province, I can equally give hon. members examples of the same plight besetting the people of North Eastern Province. I can also do so for any other part of this country. Yes, I am a Minister of the Government of this country and I have every right to give examples relating to any part of this country. At this juncture, I feel it is relevant to give an example of the Coast Province. But I can also give examples from Nyanza Province. Out of the 180 state corporations heads - you go and check and if need be I will table the list - the vast majority come from the west of the Aberdares. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I abhor tribalism. The people of North Eastern and the Coast provinces stand as good examples of people who do not believe in tribal sentiments. It is on record here in Kenya that we have institutionalised tribalism to the extent that even political parties are now tribal. I need not give you the examples. We all know them. This is a shame to this country. It is a disease that must be fought. This is a weakness that came up as a result of the dream. This is important because the President told us that we should set aside vices that will hurt the development and growth of this country. Tribalism is one of them. I stand here to challenge everyone of us to ensure that we fight tribalism in whatever manner it appears in our great nation. 72 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 23 March, 2006 We, as Members of Parliament and leaders, should go out there and take the challenge that the President gave us. We have the East African Community, the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and border areas where we can do business and improve the economy of this country. Let us go out there, preach development, unity of the nation and economic development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Constitution of Kenya is in force. Kenyans rejected the draft constitution. That, to many people, is a welcome move. It is welcome in the sense that we are now operating and making use of the Constitution that we had before; but which was misused by others. However, we are using it in the proper perspective. I can assure this House that we shall make greater development in this country. People have a right to make choices. If people choose to reject something, it is their constitutional right to do so and it should be respected. We did respect those who rejected the draft constitution, but that is not the end of everything. We move ahead because we have a Constitution which is strong and respectable. It can make this country even greater than what it is. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I feel really ashamed when I hear colleagues making references to issues that they have not analyzed fully. Allow me to be a little bit personal on one or two people, and I will not mention their names. When you talk of foreigners coming to this country and insist that they should be deported, surely, a patriotic Kenyan would say they should appear in court. This is because if we think that they should be deported, then we are hiding something. We do not want them to be here. This is a shame to Kenyans! When we have foreigners in this country, the answer to our predicament; whatever problems or suspicions we have, is to insist that they appear in court, not to be deported. When we deport them, then we will be erasing evidence, which means somebody has something to hide. That is a shame. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Press is destroying this country. I will give two very quick examples. They destroy the characters of people. I am a living example of character assassination by the Press. They know it all. I won the case, but that is not the end of it. The President said the Press must check its facts. They cannot just go out and destroy the characters of people who are upright and an example to others in the world, not just in this country. Beyond that, the Press has got blood in its hands. This time last year, there was the Mulungu Nipa story that 2,100 youths from my constituency had crossed the border to Tanzania, because they had been trained as militia and were preparing to overthrow the Government of Kenya. That was a creation of the Press and it knows it. As a result of that, five youths from my constituency were killed in cold blood, but not by the police. There were reports indicating that they were shot dead. But I have postmortem reports showing that they were clobbered to death. The Press is, in a way, colluding with those who want to destroy this country and create instability. I am challenging the Press to refute those examples. It is responsible for the story of the Mulungu Nipa forest youths and it is still bent on destroying the characters of people who are good examples in this world. I am one of them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}