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    "id": 421540,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/421540/?format=api",
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    "content": "doing what and who should be doing what. However, we are taking advantage of the lack of knowledge of our people. We can continue to make statements knowing very well that they are not capable of understanding what we are saying. It should be known that unless we allow our people to be as knowledgeable as we are, we will remain in the problem of running this country in a bad way. We want to be accountable to our people for whatever we say in this Chamber. We want them to understand why hon. Wako brought the Motion. They should know that he is bringing it, on their behalf, for them to be empowered. There are some who may not understand what type of civic education we are talking about. If you look at what happened in 2013, you will see that the organizations that were supposed to train people on devolution were Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). We must understand that we get money from NGOs to educate our people. However, we cannot depend on donations in a situation like this one. We must have our own money to train the people on the content that we want them to understand. However, we get money from our friends who end up coming with their own material of content and inject their own ideological beliefs. The national Government – whichever Ministry - must have a big vote as it has been suggested by the Mover to ensure a deliberate effort by the nation to educate our people so that they know their rights. When we look at all constituencies, you will see that only 210 constituencies were allocated money for training. These are the constituencies which were in existence previously. So, that tells you that the matter has taken a back seat. When you behave like that and yet we have a lot to do, that means that we are either not very genuine with our people or, possibly, we want to use their lack of knowledge so that they can continue to elect us. Since they do not understand, they remain in their tribal cocoons or clanism. They do not elect someone because of the good that he will do for the society. The purpose of this Motion is to ensure that civic education providers focus on areas within their accessibility, in the interior where people need to know what is happening. For instance, we have Lamu, Laikipia and many more places which have never enjoyed training because they are far. People who are closer here are trained by the civil society. We cannot have our Government relying on the civil society to train our people. How can you ask me to give you money to train someone unless I also know what kind of training you will give? Therefore, the key areas of civic education should allow people to oversight the programmes and expenditure of our Government. We have 40 million people in our country who only rely on 500 Members of Parliament to be their guide. It has been suggested that students in secondary schools and universities must own the Constitution and understand it. Once they do so, we will have no problem here. Since we were elected on the basis of our people’s knowledge of the Constitution, we need to change our minds in this House and the lower House. Our people must know why Anyang’-Nyong’o was elected and what he is supposed to do. What is expected from him? If we have somebody making statements and then he goes back home to condemn a certain tribe or boundary, then we will not be developing our politics the right way. We have to change our political culture by aiming at educating Kenyans to be able to make good decisions. For example, for the wrangles going on between the 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."
}