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{
    "id": 517195,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/517195/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 215,
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    "content": "accountability and guarding against misuse. The minute I decided I was going to run for the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, the first feedback that I heard from a wide array of Kenyans was that I would not succeed politically if I did not have resources. We have over-emphasized the issue of resources to the exclusion of the competence and ideas that are fundamental to ensure that this country is transformed in a manner that meets the aspirations for not only our generation but for future generations to come. Little did I know that Kenyans are fairly liberated. I presented my candidacy against two or three established politicians, some in pentagons of opposing coalitions and some in all cadre of positions. There were some who have been in politics for the last 30 years. I noticed that the most fundamentally abused strategy was the issue of fundraising. If money by itself was a testament to leadership, I would not have been Senator of Mombasa County. I went to some of these fundraisers at that point in time. Different organisations, religious institutions and certain bodies took advantage of us at that point when we were most vulnerable. As I went to those harambees, it was literally a competition of resources. Poor Hassan Omar, presented cheques of Ksh10,000 while contemporaries who were agitating for similar positions, were presenting up to Ksh1 million in harambees. I told them that as much as this man has provided this kind of support to you, if Kenya was to develop only on the strength of harambees, today we would be a first world nation. It was done by successive presidents, yet we are still poor as we are in terms of how many Kenyans live below the poverty line. So, I told them that the only way that we can have a sense of change this country fundamentally, is to alter the structures of Government and change the paradigms of Government. So, rather than you as a leader looking at harambee as a solution, you must factor in progressive development agenda that is sustainable. Rather than try to give people a harambee for a certain issue, you can implement policies and laws that ensure that those issues are provided for within the realm of your Government; both at the national Government and at the county governments. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Bill is a fundamental compromise from the total banning of harambees because, as Sen. Kisasa said, it is still an idea that is valid if it is used in a manner that is guarded, progressive, structured and transparent. We had different accounts, as Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o will bear me witness, of people who held harambees only for them to be seen to own a fleet of matatus . There are people who told an entire gathering that they were going to take their children for higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), Malaysia and other countries, only for them to see that child in a local university and the father owning property whose acquisition cannot be explained. Therefore, regulating harambees is an idea of our time. We must insulate harambees from political manipulation, not only from the politicians who have money. I read it in the media and researched it myself; that during a certain era in this country, people would carry millions of shillings and present it in public. Some of them were of known notoriety so as to win political capital. Often times, I have gone to members of the old regimes like KANU. When I asked them to contribute to harambees, they told me that the difference between then and now is that, there was free money and land at that time 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."
}