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{
    "id": 281576,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/281576/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 442,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Murungi",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Energy",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 93,
        "legal_name": "Kiraitu Murungi",
        "slug": "kiraitu-murungi"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have heard the Members of Parliament saying that they are going to oppose these Bills to teach the Executive a lesson. These Bills are not about teaching anybody a lesson. These Bills are for the benefit of Kenyans. I think it is in the new chamber where it is written at the door that it is for the welfare of men and I would like to include women. Parliament is for the welfare of the people of Kenya. It is not the business of Parliament to punish Ministers or the Executive. The business of Parliament is to act in the best interest of the people of Kenya. It is in that spirit that I would like to urge my colleagues to support this Motion, so that we can have an opportunity to debate and pass these crucial Bills, which will eventually be of immense benefit to the people of this country. You have heard that we have made a breakthrough in oil exploration and we have discovered oil in Lokichar in Turkana. I have heard people saying that this is an oil curse. Oil is a neutral innocent commodity just like coffee, tea and sugar. It cannot be a curse for this country. What they call “Africa’s oil curse” is not a curse. Indeed, we are talking about a “political under-management curse”. The law that we intend to pass, namely, the Public Finance Management Bill, will address some of these issues because we want to have a framework which will provide for transparent, fair and efficient management of the oil resource in this country for the benefit, not only of the people of Turkana, but for all the people of Kenyans. So, we need these tools for open and transparent management of financial resources of our country. All those things you hear about like the Niger Delta coming into Turkana, there is nothing like that. As the Minister for Energy, I am committed to leave in place a framework for very transparent and fair management of the oil resources in this country, so that they can be a blessing for the people of Kenya. Oil resources will lie at the centre of our fight against poverty, at the centre of our modernization projects and at the centre of our implementation of Vision 2030. So, we need a framework for the management of those resources for the benefit of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}