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{
    "id": 403437,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/403437/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "per cent of it was good and 20 per cent was bad. This country cannot afford what we are faced with – the 47 counties in terms of the wage bill. We need to start these discussions as we talk about tarmac roads. Where will this country get money to tarmack roads if all our money, as a people, are going to salaries? There is more demand for salaries. I said it here last year, and I am saying it again. If this country cannot afford the over 500 Members of Parliament – that is the membership of the Senate and the National Assembly combined – what is it that can be done? That question ought to be asked and answered in this National Assembly. India, with 1.3 billion people, has a total parliamentary membership of 565. The United States of America (USA), with 340 million people, has 520 Members of Parliament or thereabout. What is it that we can do in our case? This House will be doing a much more relevant thing. We know that there are issues. The Government of the day has challenges, and we ought to help it find solutions. We have a duty. We do not have more time to lose. We need to deal with the 20 per cent part of the Constitution that is bad. We were told by former President Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila that they would reignite this debate. This House must reignite this debate, so that as we talk about roads, the sources of funding become clear. This House’s Committee on Health has already raised a red flag. The health sector is going to collapse by the end of the year. What are we doing about it, as a House? I want to plead with you, hon. Speaker – and you will be remembered if you do it – that you reignited a bipartisan debate to deal with the challenges facing this country. I do not think that one year down the line, we will afford our survival as a nation. Thank you, hon. Speaker."
}