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"content": "Constitution in its entirety or as it is, without a serious attempt to water it down. We do not want to end up with a Constitution that has been implemented, but which really is not anything near the Constitution that we promulgated. I will be watching keenly to see any attempts or seriousness to that effect. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, he also promised in his Speech that agriculture is going to be modernized. It is my informed opinion that a nation that cannot feed itself really has no reason to call itself an independent nation. It is a pity 50 years after Independence we cannot feed ourselves as a nation. I think that this should really be the key area. But when we talk about agriculture, let us really think out of the box. Let us not only concentrate on what is already known as the breadbasket of Kenya. We can turn to the Arid and Semi- arid Lands (ASALs) to produce a lot of food, not only for Kenyans, but even export. Why did I not hear the President say, for example, that we are going to encourage coconut farming, when we have so many trees at the Coast? The Government does not give or write-off any loans to those farmers. There is no encouragement or factory at all. Why am I not seeing sisal farming and cotton growing in Nyanza being supported? We know that every area and region of this country has got the potential, with the right incentives to produce. If you looked at our accounts, for so many years, you will find that farmers in particular regions access loans more easily than others. After one or two years, those loans are written-off. But in other areas, even when people try and give it their best, they do not access loans. They do it under very difficult circumstances, but still we are expected to compete. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, by and large, going by the nine key pillars in the President’s Speech that he talked about, if he implements them, then that will be a good start. Having said that, if the President was my brother or hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, and he came up with this kind of proposal, I would still oppose the issue of laptops to class one pupils. Honestly speaking, I have tried to create a mental picture of 100 children in Mathare Constituency coming from their classroom, each carrying a laptop; being waylaid--- Are we not risking the lives of these children? In a few years’ time, we are going to have so many laptops. Some of these children will be strangled in the process of their laptops being taken before they will be able to identify those who would have taken them. So, to sort out those problems, the person will then kill the five children, take their laptops and then come to River Road to sell them. Could you also convince me how it is that a child who has not fed for three days, who goes to what is called a school with a classroom under a tree, which does not have electricity, with what is called a home which is a hovel of a kind, with a sick mother on an empty stomach, suffering from malaria, has any use for a laptop? Honestly speaking, if we are to set aside Kshs70 billion for the education sector, could we start by pumping a lot of money in the physical infrastructure, so that we have enough classrooms, teachers and even a health facility per school? With Kshs70 billion, we are able to do so. We should be able to treat these children so that we have healthy children. 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."
}