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{
    "id": 479447,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/479447/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 213,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Shidiye",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2070,
        "legal_name": "Mohamed Muktar Shidiye",
        "slug": "mohamed-muktar-shidiye"
    },
    "content": "because they are viewed as refugees. So, today as we speak, there are about 200,000 Somalis who are stateless. They are Kenyans yet they are not Kenyans and they have nowhere to go. They cannot get jobs; they cannot get education; they cannot do business, they cannot travel and they cannot get married because for you to get a marriage certificate, you must have an identity card. So, those are basic things which we need to address. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, If you travel from Mandera to Nairobi, there are about 60 roadblocks and officers manning them do not ask for anything else, but identity cards. Some of the people have to pay their way up to here. The other point I want to make is that even for the Somalis who are living in other parts of Kenya, call it Diaspora in the sense that they are in other parts of Kenya, if they are in Kisumu and today they want to get identity cards, they are told to go back to their homes yet they are born and bred in Kisumu. If you are in Nyeri, you will be told to go back to Garissa or Wajir, because that is not your home. So, we are facing discrimination that is pushing people to the brink. The bitterness is palpable and you can literally feel it. You are struggling right from childhood. The weather is harsh, there is shortage of food and water and the worst thing or the clincher is that you have no identity card and you cannot travel to any part of Kenya. You cannot access opportunities. Mind you, this is the most painful thing to be a Kenyan. To get a passport is also a bigger nightmare. You will be vetted and told to come with your Member of Parliament’s letter, the chief’s letter or an endorsement from wherever you can. You will be taken round and round. Many have lost scholarships and jobs abroad. Many are languishing here. To be a Member of Parliament in northern Kenya is very painful because you do not have answers. These problems keep occurring day and night to us. They ask themselves: Are you really Members of Parliament? What are you doing? There must be a paradigm shift in our thinking. Identity cards must be issued right in schools, villages and all centres of the Government. We have the Huduma Centre here, but we do not have huduma centres in our areas. To get an identity card is a nightmare. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}