Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 513821,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/513821/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 167,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "point, Somalia is going to be stable and we need to be looking at how we can benefit from Somalia economically. We have had several appointees to positions in this Government and I think the President and the Deputy President who are digital, have a higher affinity for older people. When you look at the appointments they have been making all along, they are old people of over 70 years and yet, we have young men and women in this country who can hold those positions, whether they are 35 years or younger. We can have an ambassador who is 25 years old. We can have a chairman who is 35 years old. As hon. Members of this house, especially the Committees that deal with appointments, we need to be looking at not only the question of tribal balance or regional balance, but the question of the youth and the careers of people who are being employed to those positions, so that we do not just rubber-stamp what other people have done. I wish to state that the border between Kenya and Somalia is very porous. We hope the gentleman who has been appointed will use his military background to ensure that we stop the proliferation of small arms across our borders. We must also understand that there is a dispute currently in the United Kingdom Senate and in some other places, where Somalis want to remove the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) from their country. We wish to support that gentleman because we hope he is going to advise the country on matters of dealing with militarisation in Somalia. Like another great gentleman has spoken, it is like Kenya is going the military way. Kenya is almost becoming a military state so that when you look at the President, almost all the time, he is in a military uniform. We do not want to militarise this country. We do not wish to have military people everywhere. This is a civilian state and although when that gentleman retired he became a civilian, we also need to have input from civilians in positions meant to be held by civilians. I want to end by saying that the issues that the Committee looked at and inquired from the nominee, he gave answers on how he was going to deal with them. On how he would deal with the question of the Petition between Kenya and Somalia in the United States Senate, he hinted that he was going to look at how to handle that issue diplomatically, because our men and women in uniform are “kind of” occupying Somalia. Another question that was raised and the gentleman seemed to seriously understand it was how Kenya was planning to withdraw the KDF from Somalia. His answer was that Kenya currently is not in Somalia as Kenya, but it is in Somalia under the African Union (AU). We also need to make the people of that country to understand that Kenya is not in Somalia as the KDF, but under AU so that people can stop attacking this country. Al-Shabaab will not be attacking this country based on the fact that we have Kenyans in Somalia. We have Ethiopians in that country. We have Ugandans in that country. We have so many other countries in Somalia. Hon. Speaker, the Ambassador-designate should make it clear to either the Somali Government or the militants in that country that Kenya is not in Somalia as KDF. Kenya is in Somalia under the African Union and the gentleman seemed to understand that. Also, another major issue is the illegal trade which, as we speak today, has seen the proliferation of arms in the streets of Nairobi, villages where there is cattle rustling and areas where we have been having tribal clashes. The reason why we are having guns in 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."
}