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"id": 47418,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kiunjuri",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Public Works",
"speaker": {
"id": 175,
"legal_name": "Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri",
"slug": "mwangi-kiunjuri"
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"content": "There is no question about it and I hope the Minister will bring it in good time so that this Bill is properly backed and Kenyans are now aware of their rights. That will also ensure that those who have been oppressing others can know that there is already a law that will challenge them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must also look at ourselves - those in positions of privilege - that, for the first time in this Parliament over 380 hon. Members will sit and we shall have over 47 governors and 47 senators. This is a burden to the nation. We will give this Commission a free hand and let Parliament not try in any way to armtwist it. This will enable them to sit down properly and say how much an hon. Member should be paid and how much a governor must be paid. For the first time, let us only have servants of the people coming to Parliament; let us only have the servants of the people becoming senators; let us only have servants of the people becoming governors and not those who want to come and enrich themselves. I am very happy that the Constitution already bars us from becoming Ministers or Cabinet Secretaries. This will ensure that whenever you vie to become an hon. Member, you know that you have a duty; that you have come here to make laws; that it is very clear that you do not come here to benefit in any way or the other; that you do not come here so that you can start arm twisting the Cabinet Secretaries in order to be awarded contracts. Those salaries must be set in a way that will also consider Kenyans. That way, we will talk about true and patriotic Kenyans. I remember, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir the first time you came to this House. You used to earn between Kshs10,000 and Kshs30,000 and you did the job. When I came to this House, I earned Kshs70,000. That was 14 years ago. The money was still enough. Whenever I went for Harambees, I gave Kshs3,000. People recognized that their area Member of Parliament was around. I was given the respect that I deserved. When the salary was raised to Kshs300,000, I also raised the Kshs3,000 to Kshs30,000. Now, the salary is about Kshs800,000 and the contribution has been raised to Kshs100,000. The salaries we get from this House determine what people think about us. It is very unfortunate that when we are fighting for those salaries; when we are only trying to cut the long queues that were heading to State House--- Those days, every weekend, hon. Members would queue for long waiting to go to State House to be properly facilitated. Despite all those things, Parliament is losing its credibility and respect. Let us, for the first time, be seen to work alongside with other Kenyans. We should be able to control the civil servants and tell them to state their facts clearly. We want to know how they are spending monies from donors. They should also tell us how much they are earning, as CEOs in their respective civil societies, so that we can harmonize their salaries. If it is the Press, we will ask, for example the Nation Media Group, how much they pay their MD and the reporter down there in the village, so that they can also be ashamed. We will have a country where every Kenyan will be comfortable. You might think that reporters who are out there reporting negatively or positively about you are properly paid. You might end up realizing that even there, the gap is very huge. We can go on and on, but I think this is one of the best things that we can give to this country. We are ready to support the Minister. When it comes to amendments, let us be realistic so that we are seen to have a Parliament that is working for Kenyans and not a Parliament that is divided on political affiliation. For the first time, let us pass this Bill as Kenyans and not members of PNU, GNU or ODM. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}