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{
    "id": 59604,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/59604/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support the Motion. I appreciate the exposition of public policy by the Head of State. The Speech, to me, was fair. It touched on a number of issues. In particular I was appreciative of the leaning towards the implementation of the Constitution, and the big Statement by the President that the Grand Coalition Government is now determined to systematically implement the new Constitution. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Tenth Parliament is a very fortunate Parliament to have been involved in the promulgation of the new Constitution. It is the responsibility of this House to ensure that all instruments and laws are in place. The President himself outlined ten Bills that must be undertaken in this House. That requires a change of attitude, and of the way we do things in this House. I think all of us must agree that the Grand Coalition Government must work now more than ever before, so that we are able to pass these Bills without pulling in different directions. It is very important that all of us, as Members of this House, realize the agenda that is before us, and ensure that everything will be in place next year. As the President stated, we have less than two years before the next general election. It is upon this House to ensure that everything is ready by that time. He spoke about the new arrangement of county governments and the national Government. We know that there are many things that we must put in place. Again, I urge my colleagues that we create an environment for ourselves that will enable us discharge our duties in a very honourable manner. We know the country is tired of the noise of competition. We must cease to discuss 2012, and start focusing on the issues at hand. Even as we do that, there is need for us to see practically cooperation between our own Cabinet Ministers. I dare say that I was quite discouraged when an acting Minister decided to dismiss appointments that had been made by another Minister. I asked myself what informed the decision. In his own words the Minister said, “I have done this to effect a balance and eliminate people who are not qualified”. That is reasonable, but it is not reasonable if there is no policy. If we have a policy by the Cabinet, we would like to see the Cabinet come back here and balance everybody from institutions “A” to “Z”, and also at the qualifications of everybody else, so that it does not look like we are taking advantage of situations. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have many companies and parastatals which have not been vetted; the Minister who dismissed the said persons in the Ministry of Industrialization was doing--- If he vetted them, we need a vetting system for all corporations. We have many corporations where Ministers have made appointments; if we feel that we should be dealing with that we should deal with it generally. That is why I am saying it calls for a law, policy and even guidelines by the Cabinet, so that we have something that is very systematic and we do not look like we are trying to marginalize certain people, or taking advantage of situations. I asked myself, what if the same Minister is cleared and goes back to the Ministry? Would he not remove the same people who had been appointed? What if Sophia Abdi from North Eastern Kenya, who is a woman, is given a Ministerial position? Would she balance the position of all the women from North Eastern against other women in whatever positions in her Ministry? What if Mr. Mbadi was given the position of Minister for Energy, what disaster would he cause in KenGen and Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC)? I am saying this because unless we agree to be sober and respect each other, it becomes very difficult for us to work together. The Grand Coalition Government is something we accepted for a season and we must start respecting one another and the positions that we have created."
}