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{
    "id": 33218,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/33218/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 464,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ruteere",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 92,
        "legal_name": "Silas Muriuki Ruteere",
        "slug": "silas-ruteere"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I thank you for allowing me to add my voice to the debate on this very important Bill, which has come at the right time. When Kenya attained Independence, the founding father of this nation, the late President Kenyatta, declared war on poverty, disease and ignorance. This declaration was as a result of Kenyans having been deprived of their basic human rights. It was the hope of every Kenyan that after attainment of Independence, their basic human rights, which had been suppressed, would be guaranteed. However, after many years of Independence, the situation was not as expected. People became poorer. A lot of diseases came up as a result of poor services. There was a polluted environment and failure by the Government to provide services to the people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill gives a new hope to Kenyans. Following the promulgation of the new Constitution, every Kenyan has been looking upon the Bill of Rights to address some of the issues that have been affecting them throughout the various regimes that have been there. As we all know, there was suppression of freedom of speech. Violation of this basic right caused a lot of people to speak in whispers or speak while looking over their shoulders to see if somebody was listening to the opinions they were to give otherwise they would say what the authorities wanted to hear. Once this Bill is enacted, people will be guaranteed of the freedom of speech, which will make them talk freely and give their opinions. It will make every Kenyan to express his or her inner feelings about issues affecting the country. This is a basic right Kenyans have been denied for a long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are facing famine. Many hon. Members have spoken about famine, but not famine as a result of drought but rather famine as a result of poverty. It is the poor who are suffering. It is the poor who cannot access food because they have no money with which to buy food. It is the poor in respect of whom when their plight is made known to the world by the agents of the Government in the field, the same Government punishes those who have spoken the truth. It is this Bill of Rights which will guarantee workers their rights, be they persons working in the national Government or in the County Governments. Whoever will be executing whatever duties will be guaranteed freedom in his or her place of work. This is because the Constitution gives Kenyans the right to belong to trade unions and associations and the right to demonstrate. These rights will give somebody who is working a new lease of life. Currently, some workers cannot even talk. Civil servants say: “We cannot talk because our bosses speak on our behalf”. Recently, we saw what happened in Turkana. We all witnessed the suffering of the children, women and old people. When a chief comes out and speaks the truth, the truth that can be seen even with the blind that they were dying, you hear that the chiefs are supposed to follow a certain bureaucracy so that the plight of those who are dying is said. However, when following that bureaucracy, people are still dying or are about to die. This Bill will guarantee such chiefs the right to talk. It will guarantee civil servants the right to form trade unions. It will also give a chance to the Armed Forces to air their"
}