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{
    "id": 422900,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/422900/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 56,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "nationalism, the sense of feeling, the sense of belonging, the sense that I truly want to be proud to be a Kenyan at the moment is lacking in our country and that is coming about because of income disparities. As leaders, I think we owe it to the people who have brought us here; the people who have brought us to this privileged House and environment. We must spread hope around. The only way we can spread hope around is through our actions, taking actions that will make sure that every part of Kenya feels that, indeed, they have a right to call themselves Kenyans. I remember about 20 years ago as a young engineer, I went to the northern part of Isiolo at a place called Merti. I was very surprised when the people we met there--- In fact, when I met field officer, the first question he asked us was: “How is Kenya?” I was wondering why he was asking me how is Kenya and yet, he is supposed to be a Kenyan. When I looked at that town at that time - and I have not been to Merti now in almost 20 years - I had reasons to believe that those fellows did not feel at all that they were part of this country. We were going there as people taking solutions to that part of the country. But even a decent place to sleep or have a good meal was not there. When we looked at the way people were going about their businesses, clearly something has gone wrong in this country. It has been said that if we do not do something urgently, the poor in Kenya will have no option but to feed on those of us whom they feel are the privileged lot in society. Therefore, this Constitutional Amendment, in so far as it aims to take the resources down to the people; I think it is a welcome move. We need to do more. The programmes that we have pursued in the past have only succeeded in creating unhelpful oligarchies. We have pursued policies that only help to create very few wealthy at the expense of the majority of Kenyans. That is how autocracy creeps in and in some worst cases, you have aristocracy creeping in and people start to feel, indeed, that it is ‘us versus them’. This ‘us versus them’ scenario in Kenya is something that we must fight. We cannot all be the same. Even the fingers in our hands are not the same. But we can bring every Kenyan to a level where everybody, no matter what they do, feels that truly, I have a right to have hope for my children and the children of my children. If we do not do that as leaders, I think we will be failing miserably. As for the proposal to take the Equalisation Fund to the constituencies, I think it is a good thing. I have been privileged to have been in the CDF Committee in the 10th Parliament and even now. I have seen what the CDF has done. I think that model will work. With those remarks, I do support."
}