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{
    "id": 256427,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/256427/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 13,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Speaker",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Order, Order, hon. Members! Your Excellency the President of the Republic of Kenya, hon. Members, it is my honour and privilege to welcome you on this auspicious occasion of the State Opening of the Fifth Session of the Ninth Parliament. Hon. Members of this House and the whole nation are eagerly waiting to hear your Government's policies and legislative agenda for the Session. Your Excellency, hon. Members, this is the penultimate Session of the Ninth Parliament. As we begin our business, we must remind ourselves of the stack realities facing our nation. At this very hour, millions of Kenyans are undergoing very painful pangs of hunger inflicted by the prolonged drought which has ravaged a vast area of our land. Our livestock population has almost been decimated as a result of the drought. Millions more suffer because of poverty and unemployment. Those in the drought stricken areas look to the sky for any sign of clouds formation in prayer. Those unemployed and the poor in the slums and rural areas look to the sky for divine intervention, again, in prayer. Indeed, the majority of our people are in a state of hopelessness. These are, indeed, difficult times for our people. Your Excellency, hon. Members, in the very difficult times that our people now go through, they first look up to God and then to their leaders for solutions to their problems. The Kenyan leadership today is all gathered in this Chamber. The compulsive question must surely be: \"As a leadership, are we equal to the monumental task before us?\" I am hesitant to give an answer that clearly stares me on my face. I am afraid because speaking the truth has been criminalized in our times."
}