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{
    "id": 532575,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/532575/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 43,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "development is happening but the poor people are increasing. This means that the President and his team have more homework to do. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, I witnessed a small accident at an inter-change near Bomas of Kenya where a pedestrian was knocked down by a vehicle. I pass through that inter-change often but when I look at it after this accident, I could see that a grand project had been done but the designers forgot that there are pedestrians and bicycle riders. These are the things we are saying that the citizenry should be carried along otherwise we shall continue singing development but the citizens are left behind. Regarding corruption, in my view, the President has taken the right step and the right direction but it is not going to be a walk in the park. First of all, whoever compiled this list seems to have been called to do it so that the President can deliver a speech. When you look at it, there is a lot of lack of seriousness. In my view, there is nothing new in this list. We have heard it before and the only new thing is that it is part of the Presidential Address in the State of the Nation address to Parliament. People being named in various misdeeds and stepping aside is also not new. We had this in the past but after a while, they come back and we are not told what happened. Maybe this is just another circus and we appeal to the President to be serious this time round. Some of the aspects of calling various personalities to step aside makes a lot of sense because if you are in charge of an institution or a Ministry and you are accused of some wrong doing, if you continue being in charge, you will interfere with investigations. If you tell a Member of Parliament to step aside, I do not know the meaning of that because there is no investigation being done on the Member of Parliament vis-à-vis his or her position in Parliament. Maybe, one can resign if he or she is a Member of a committee. The others, including the governors, must give way so that the investigators can go on without interference and unravel whatever the accusations are so that if there is a case, it is followed to the end and if it is just whims, it is done away with and we stop tarnishing the good name of the person. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, scientists tell us that if a disease affects a species consistently for some time, after so many generations, it becomes part of that animal or that species, be it an animal or plant. I think this is what has happened in our country. Corruption has now become part of our fabric. Last year, a Member of Parliament was accused of things he did before he was elected to Parliament and the people on the ground were behind him. The argument was, “he is very good because when he steals, he gives us.” This kind of attitude is not good because thinking that if a person comes to steal goats in your father’s boma, he is a good person because when he slaughters the goats, he gives you the meat. That is very foolish thinking. We have also been known to praise public thieves; people who are lucky enough to be given responsibilities of managing a major corporation. When they steal money we praise them. When you look at many of the senior people who are listed and their pictures put in papers, if you listen to their reaction, they are surprised. They are not sure whether we are serious about what we are saying. The reason is that when one is appointed in our country to some of those positions and you do not steal, you actually look foolish. That is how far our country has come in terms of corruption. Most of the people who are mentioned deny any wrong doing. 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."
}