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"id": 57318,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Shakeel",
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"speaker": {
"id": 140,
"legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we saw the other day that the issue of getting condoms seems to be more important than the one of identity cards. We are jumping all over the place saying that we do not have condoms. What about the question of identification cards? We have no identification cards. It is also wrong to blame the Treasury all the time that it has not given us the money if the Ministry of Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 has not budgeted for that money. This is one of the pillars of Vision 2030 that every person must have the right to vote and they must vote. I hope sooner than later, we will pass a law that everybody must vote. However, that cannot be implemented until the time we will all have identification cards. We are very far behind. The question of new generation identification cards is not even relevant at this moment in time. The colonial government, as bad and as hated as it was, gave everybody a kipande without fail. The reasons were different. Here, the reasons are still identification to ensure that, that gentleman or lady is a citizen of this country. What shocks me is that it is easier to get a passport than an identification card. A passport is an important document. It allows you to travel all over the world. In Kenya, we are going to serve the rich. The poor are always suppressed because they cannot make noise. We can get a passport within 24 hours but a poor man will sit outside in the rain waiting for the chief to sign the documents. The chief will take another Kshs100. Somebody else is also going to sign and he or she will take some more money. It can take a poor man up to six years or even more to get an identification card. I am told that there are people who are over 50 years old and they do not have identification cards. So, I would like to tell the Ministry of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons to get off its back side. This is an issue of national importance more than some of the things they are doing. If the Ministry does not have money, it should stop issuing work permits for Godâs sake. If it has no money, it should stop issuing other documents. It should issue identity cards. If the Ministry has no money, it should stop issuing passports but issue identity cards because this is for the poor and it must be done. If it is not done, then the Ministry has failed in Vision 2030. There is nothing like Rapid Results Initiative (RRI). At the same time, this Government should realise that we must share, understand and prioritize costing or expenses. It is a shame that one arm of the Government says that there is no money for identity cards and resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are languishing while the other arm of the Government is going round in shuttle diplomacy. We are talking more about The Hague than the issuance of identity cards. I really wish that at every function where we are talking about The Hague, somebody was talking about identity cards because this would have helped a lot. I am not taking away for a minute peopleâs"
}