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{
    "id": 386225,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/386225/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 54,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Hargura",
    "speaker_title": "The Senator for Marsabit County",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 827,
        "legal_name": "Godana Hargura",
        "slug": "godana-hargura"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir for giving me this opportunity. First, I would like to thank the residents of Marsabit County which happens to be the largest county in this country with diverse communities, for having entrusted me with the responsibility of representing them in the Senate. I would like to assure them that I will work to my level best to uphold that trust and to ensure that I serve them at all levels, whether it be at the local county level or at the national level. I will strive to ensure that there is unity among various communities and equitable development in all the parts of the county. As the Senate, we are here to serve and protect the county governments and to make sure the devolution dream is realised. Based on that, I would like to take the President’s Speech a step back. My fear is that there is an assumption that we are all at the same level as a country. Therefore, the measures which are being applied are being applied across the board. My fear is that these measures might even result in further marginalization of some areas because the previous governments have been concentrating on what they termed as high potential areas. I come from the roads sector background. The roads sector developments have been done in a way similar to that of the colonialists where they concentrated on what they called the high potential areas or the white highlands. That is why the railway and the road systems are developed in a particular direction. After that, the Kenyan Government came up with the rural access roads programme and the minor roads programmes. All of them were aimed at opening up the high potential areas. I remember a map which used to be in the Chief Engineer’s Office. As a junior officer, I used to look at it. In this map, the country was divided using different colours. The colours signified parts of the country and the donor who was taking care of the construction and improvement of roads in a particular area. However, the larger part which was the arid lands or the marginalized areas, these were left without any colour. This area was indicated as one that would be developed by the Government of Kenya, but nothing has happened since Independence. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}