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{
"id": 255920,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/255920/?format=api",
"text_counter": 240,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Tarus",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Local Government",
"speaker": {
"id": 315,
"legal_name": "Stephen Kipkiyeny Tarus",
"slug": "stephen-tarus"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, had the other side been interested in dialogue we would have obtained a new Constitution before the 21st of November, 2005. History will judge us. We were supposed to allow Kenyans to realise a new dawn which did not happen. I hope that before 2007 we shall give Kenyans an opportunity to enjoy living in this country. They will truly enjoy if we have a new Constitution. If we fit all these issues of power sharing and memorandum of understanding into the constitutional arrangement, this country will be a good place for all of us. I do not want to talk much about the Constitution, but when you look at the results of the referendum, the winners had 58 per cent and those who lost had 23 per cent. It is telling enough that we must bring these two together. We cannot ignore this issue even if it is 20 per cent. We cannot also ignore the 58 per cent. Therefore, I request that the earlier we dialogued, the better for this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to talk about poverty. When leaders stand on a platform, they all talk about how they want to alleviate poverty. Time has come when we, as legislators, while perusing through the estimates of the budgets that are read here every year, should ask ourselves whether we are doing justice to the poor who constitute 56 per cent of the population of this country. I hope that, in the coming Budget, more programmes will be geared towards development of the poor, particularly in the informal sector and the rural areas. If you went to some areas like West Pokot, you would wonder whether you are living in the same country with the people there. If we want to eradicate poverty we will have to make a Budget that ensures that the poor feel they are part of this country. I thank the Government for introducing free primary education. But we still have a lot to do in the health sector. The district hospitals are dying slowly. I wish we could come together as leaders and allocate them funds. We also need to improve the human resource capacity in our district hospitals. Those that have overstayed have made small kingdoms in those hospitals. They are \"eating\" left, right and centre. This is another opportunity to re-organise ourselves. The President even re-organised Ministries to serve the people of Kenya effectively. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about agriculture. No country in the world, particularly that relies on agriculture, has been able to industrialise without the transformation of that particular sector. I want to thank the Government for taking care of the plight of farmers by purchasing their maize, providing them with credit and also developing additional infrastructure to increase their productivity. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in China, they are diverting one of the rivers to the dry areas. That has taken care of the drought in those areas and also helped the people to produce food. I hope that, one day, we will provide enough water to the arid and semi-arid areas, so that this country could enjoy adequate food supply. I hope we are not going to import food because farmers are now planting. This year, due to the prevailing drought, I want to request that additional support be extended to the Ministry of Agriculture to boost food production. That way, we will not import food even for a single day. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}