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{
    "id": 470415,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/470415/?format=api",
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    "content": "the problems in that area, then I urge them to go further and not waste public funds by looking for land to buy to settle IDPs, but to go back to those communities and ask them to be tolerant of each other, so that those people can go back to their land. If they do not know where that land is, the assistant chiefs, the chiefs and the District Commissioners can tell them that Mr. Kamau who was displaced from point X can now go back to his land because now the panacea of their problems has been created. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in his Address, the President addressed the important issue of sports. I was so shocked to hear him say he will construct five stadia. That is okay and we support him. But as he gives these stadia, he should ask himself what is the history of sporting in the communities where he intends to start these stadia? How on earth would he deny a modern stadium to Kakamega? Kakamega County is the one that provided the man who is the face of football in this country; Mr. Francis Kadenge. Kakamega County is the one that provided the first African coach who by the way is my father-in-law, Mr. Elijah Lidonde. How can we not build a stadium in Kakamega? The best players of football in this country, if you will allow me to use our rich ethnic language are Luos and Luhyas. Therefore, the best football stadia should be in those areas with academies so that our children can actually train. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is not enough to build another Kasarani Stadium in Garissa County or Kakamega County, if we cannot use it to train our children. It is very important to start academies where children can be exposed to sporting activities at a very tender age. In Brazil, for example, children are exposed to football from the age of three years. This is why they have soccer giants. I would like to comment on the issue of the wage bill. Whereas I would like to congratulate the President on the fact that he appreciates the fact that 12 per cent of the GDP goes towards the wage bill as opposed to the expected 7 per cent, I would like to also bemoan that in so doing, it leaves us with only 30 per cent for development. We will go nowhere if we allow only 30 per cent of our GDP to go towards development. However, why is the President being so simplistic on such a complex issue when he talks about the wage bill? It is because Kenyans are hungry for quick fixes. They always think about salaries of parliamentarians. If he wanted us to listen to him seriously and take him seriously on this complex issue, he should have factored in how he is going to manage public debt which today stands at Kshs1.8 trillion. When Moi left the Government, the public debt was at Kshs700 billion. Today it is now Kshs1.8 trillion. Thank God some of this money was used by President Kibaki’s Government to do infrastructure. Sen. Murungi, never again should you ever dress us down because it is this expanded public debt that went and favoured only certain parts of the country leaving out others. The roads you are talking about in Western Province were built by the colonialists and not any of the three Presidents. I expected the President to talk about the Current Account Deficit (CAC), because until we narrow down on the CAD, we will continue allowing cheap and useless imports into this country at the expense of us encouraging export for purposes of narrowing the CAD. We expected the President to tell us what he will do to revive pyrethrum. What will he do to improve tea production in this country? We expected to hear him say what he will do to make sure that we stop importation of sugar, so that the sugar which is cultivated in the western part of the country can now be used as a net foreign exchange income earner. 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."
}