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"content": "to do fantastic eye surgeries. This is just an example. So, what Sen. Kagwe was saying is true. If we are going to catapult into the future in terms of development, one of the areas which we must consciously and effectively handle is this fibre optic. It is a shame that we only have 4,800 kilometres of fibre optic and yet what we need, as Sen. Kagwe says is 65,000 kilometres. We should collectively go into this with a lot of zeal which will enable us achieve our goal within no time. Finally, the age of using pen and paper is actually coming to an end rather fast, especially in administration. Paperless management and paperless administration is something that is fast creeping into the world of management. As usual, the private sector is much faster in doing this. If you go to centralized managed economies like China, you will find that the government is much faster in using paperless administration than even the private sector. Therefore, the idea of the government taking the lead in development is something that we cannot run away from. There is some kind of belief and blind faith that development can only take place in the private sector. This is not necessarily true. A government whose managers are well-trained, conscious and entrepreneurial can do a lot of things. Given that the government has so much resources and infrastructure at its hands, it is extremely important that we make our people in bureaucracies to be entrepreneurial and efficiency oriented. We really destroy this when we use petty tribalism to run government departments. I know of a parastatal in this country, the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI), which is now dismissing some of its scientists because they belong to certain ethnic groups. These are people with tremendous experience and knowledge, but we have become petty. If we do not watch it, this country will stagnate because of petty politics and petty considerations. Knowledge and skills are very difficult and take time to cultivate. That is why I have been crying about Sen. Kagwe because he has tremendous knowledge, but because of the kind of political system that we have, today, he is in Parliament; the next day, he is a Minister; the next day, he is at home; the next day, he is a Senator. I think we should be more focused than this. People cannot just rotate like a rollercoaster in an economy where human resource is scarce. So, we should make use of these human resources when we get them and maximize on issues. That is the downside of democracy that I do not like because, somehow, it is wasteful. Nonetheless, we should recognize that downside and make amends to it so that we can use this thing more efficiently. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the final analysis, we cannot get away from catching up with the present world. The present world is going ICT, paperless, efficiency oriented and based on high productivity. Insisting on old ways of doing things will not help Kenya. It is important that we realize that in as much as equity is important in whatever we do, efficiency cannot be sacrificed at the altar of just equity. The two must be married and must come together. In Sen. Kagwe’s very professional presentation of this issue this morning, that has been extremely well demonstrated. I do believe that what this Senate is very good at is giving this country ideas and road maps. It is so unfortunate that when it comes to implementation, we are not that well-endowed. With those few remarks, I beg to support. 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."
}