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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to support the Address by the President. While I largely agree with the President when he says that our new Constitution has renewed our sense of nationhood and given us hope for a brighter future, I am also aware that, in some of the more established democracies of the world, there are constitutions which have served people for over 200 years and have served them well. Sometimes, when you look at our country, you must ask yourself: Are we really having too much Constitution and very little constitutionalism? You have heard what the hon. Minister has just said with regard to the problem of IDPs. Sometimes, when you look at our country, you will see that we are still very much doing business as usual and impunity has become the order of the day. It may be true that our economy has grown by an estimated 5.4 per cent as stated by the President in his Speech. But what we, as the people of Kenya, desire is not the growth in the economy. Even if the economy grows at between 10 and 20 per cent every year, but it does not translate into better lives and more jobs for our youth and the people of this country, it accounts for very little. It is unacceptable that 50 years after we got our Independence, every year large sections of our population still have to hold begging bowls in search of relief food. I have said it here before and I want to say it again, that there is absolutely no way we can claim to aspire to be a middle income economy when we are not even able to feed our people. Turning to Vision 2030, the blue print of the vision looks good on paper, but I think that is as far as it goes. If you look at, for example, the social pillars that have been talked about, how are we going to achieve them when ethnic harmony and placidity is still very elusive in Kenya? I want to say it very courageously because I am a son of this country and very proud to be Kenyan, that if I have to think of one collective failure of all our three Presidents from Kenyatta to Moi to Kibaki, it is their unwillingness to place ethnic conviviality at the heart and soul of Kenya. If we had ethnic conviviality in this country, there would be no IDPs and the question of some of us going to The Hague would not arise. But our Presidents, either by omission or design, have never put the desire for Kenyans to live with each other and to share the resources that we have with pleasure at the heart of this country. It is not impossible. Julius Nyerere did it in Tanzania and to some extent Leopold Sedar Senghor tried it in Senegal and Houphouet- Boigny also tried it in the Ivory Coast. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the aims of Vision 2030, as I said earlier are good but we want to see a more open society. That is why sometimes we have to ask whether the Vision 2030 Secretariat and the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) have really provided the threads necessary to push this country to an economic takeoff. If for example, you look at some of the blue chip projects in the Vision 2030, for example the Lamu Port, why is it still shrouded in mystery? Not just the port itself but some of the key appurtenances of the project, for example the high speed rail line and the fibre optic national cable; why are we not making them public if they are for the benefit of Kenyans. We also have another key project for Vision 2030 delivery, and this is the technology park at Konza. Who is the national champion of such a project? We are told that when it is eventually finished it will cost about US$10 billion. Who is the national champion? Is it the public or private partnership, or is it just a public project? Who in Government is providing the leadership necessary to bring the coordination required between the different Ministries to push this project forward? We want to see a change in the way we do things to believe that constitutionalism has, indeed, become a culture in Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am a believer in this country as I said before. That is why at all times I resist any attempt by foreigners to try to dictate the way we do things. I know that we need to help our youth, but the youth of this country will not grow when foreigners accustom them to the culture of handouts. That is why I have said here on the Floor of this House that it is unthinkable that a Kenyan diplomat in another country can decide for that country what to do, and we, as Kenyans, must not allow it. Finally, I am glad our new Constitution provides a good framework to facilitate reform in the provision of security. I am particularly looking forward to the Police Service Commission Bill. As we debate this Bill, there are some omissions we have made, as a society, which we need to look at and correct. Our policemen are not angels. None of us is an angel. Our policemen have made mistakes, but have we judged this force fairly? I have in mind, for example, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). Every time an armed thug is gunned down by the police, the KNCHR is always rushing to their defence. I have been a victim of raw animalistic robbery with violence, and I can say it here that I can never have sympathy for armed robbers. These are not human beings, and much as we condemn our policemen when they shoot a few of them, let us also start to look at the welfare of the police. They are also human beings. They are Kenyans. How come when our policemen are gunned down by armed thugs when doing their work the KNCHR does not defend them? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is not a small matter. I have here with me records from the police force, which show that in the last five years alone, in 2006 ten policemen and seven Administration Policemen (APs) were killed while on duty. In 2007, 40 policemen and two APs were gunned down by thugs. In 2008, 11 policemen and two APs were gunned down. In 2009, 27 policemen and 14 APs were killed. In 2010, 23 policemen were killed. In total 111 policemen have been gunned down by thugs while in the course of executing their duty and 31 APs have also been killed. This gives a total of 142 officers. Do these people not have fathers and mothers? Do they not have wives? Do they not have children? Why are we shy to say that, much as other Kenyans have got rights, policemen also have rights? Sometimes I want to challenge people; we tend to condemn the police force and only look at the bad things they do. Can somebody imagine how this country would be like for a day if the police were removed from our streets? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as we look into debating the Police Service Commission Bill, I think it would be prudent for us hon. Members, as responsible citizens of this country, to also seriously think about the conditions under which the police officers work. Let us think about the welfare of our police officers. As a responsible nation, it is time we provided our police officers with insurance to protect them from the hazards of their profession. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}