Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 530801,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/530801/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 88,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Lay",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1022,
        "legal_name": "Joyce Wanjalah Lay",
        "slug": "joyce-wanjalah-lay"
    },
    "content": "For them to participate in the budget making processes of the counties, and understand simple mathematics, or how much money has been sent to the counties and the sub-counties and what criteria were used to share out the money, understanding the law is important. The reason why I am saying that we translate laws into Kiswahili is because there is a project I am doing in my Taita Taveta County. I want to come up with a public participation forum where the common mwananchi can sit down and understand the laws that we make. These platforms are going to give my people and women a voice. There will be no discrimination and choice of who has gone to school and who has not, because it is going to be at the village level. There will be no one who will be looking at who is dressed smartly and who is clean. This will be a village set-up and everybody will participate. That means their voices will be heard. The other reason I am pushing for this is because people do not understand devolution that we have right now. People do not understand the role of every leader who has been elected. For the people to understand these things, we have to have them in a language which everybody understands.The frustration which wananchi are having right now to the extent of calling us pigs is because they feel they are not involved. They feel whatever we are doing is far away from the wananchi we represent. They feel like we are here to do laws that do not involve them, yet they are for them. So, let us translate them into Kiswahili. We have the Bible of this world translated even into our languages. We have a Bible in Kitaita Language. That means the people owned, understood and lived by that book after that translation. That means the Constitution can also be translated from Kiswahili to the languages that every Kenyan can understand. This is because this is their book and it is their right to understand it. When we call for referenda, we always go to wananchi to ask for their signatures. That means we cannot touch this book without the involvement of the people. If we cannot touch it without their involvement then, why can we not make sure that people understand it? If we give them an opportunity to understand this book, then the next referendum will not come from a political leader but from the people. This is because they will realise that there are some parts in the Constitution that need to be amended. They will not need to go through a political leader. We have also seen all the frustrations that this country has gone through, especially when we lose elections. The people who voted for us go to the extent of killing each other. It is because they do not understand the law. Because of the frustrations and the boiling point at which Kenyans are right now, we will have to ensure that their involvement in everything we do in this nation is possible. When I talk about public participation, or village Bunges in my county, and after we start translating laws into Kiswahili, my intention is to have Bills translated into Kiswahili, so that there is a copy at the village level whenever we are speaking, or debating a certain Bill. That way mwananchi will be involved in the Bill making process before the Bill becomes a law, and they will be part and parcel of what we will be doing. The reason why I am their representative is because I stand here to speak on their behalf. They cannot come to Parliament and speak."
}