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{
    "id": 60217,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/60217/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 201,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Shebesh",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 377,
        "legal_name": "Rachel Wambui Shebesh",
        "slug": "rachel-shebesh"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion. I really want to thank the President for speaking about the landmark legislation that needs to be passed by this House. Some of the landmark legislation, unfortunately, has not been given a shorter time frame within the five years. The President, in his speech, referred to the young people so many times. I did not hear the President mention women in his speech; I am sure it was an oversight. In spite of this, much of the land mark legislation that we are supposed to pass is to allow for that affirmative action and the provisions that the President really emphasized on. So, I am pleading with the Leader of Government Business and the Cabinet to fast track the Bills that have to do with affirmative action where young people are allowed to take their rightful place and especially because of the affirmative action on women which calls for one-third representation of women in all spheres of this country including in Parliament. I heard the Leader of Government Business speak about rains. I think it was also referred to yesterday. I really want to speak as somebody who has been in the forefront speaking about climate change. I want to tell the Leader of Government Business that the rains that will come will be floods and, therefore, we will again be faced with a disaster and yet we are still experiencing drought. The time for the Government to be ready for disasters is now. As we pass various laws in this House, we need to ensure that every Ministry is prepared to handle disasters. We saw what happened in Japan. In fact, we add our voices to the condolences that have been sent to the people of Japan. They are much more prepared than we are. This is because they put a lot of money in disaster preparedness. Their road network has been devastated and their livelihoods destroyed. Here in Kenya, we still hope that we can cope with floods and drought. We know that there is a phenomenon called climate change which is not about to move away from us – it is here to stay. We must start dealing with disasters in the perspective of climate change being here to stay. I would really like to see a change in the tone of Government when we talk about rains and drought. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to talk about the Red Cross Society with regard to this matter. I am sure that there are Ministries that are tasked to look at the issue of disaster preparedness, but I believe that the Red Cross Society has proved to be credible. The Government should give more money to the Red Cross Society so that they can train Kenyans on disaster preparedness because I think they are the best placed to do that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have also been provoked to talk about--- Although it was not part of the President’s Speech, he spoke about our dealing with the issue of post-election violence. The Leader of Government Business has indicated that we really must congratulate him. I am sorry that I still cannot congratulate the Vice- President and Minister for Home Affairs on the issue of shuttle diplomacy. I will continue to hold onto my very strong view that if we are to have this process in Kenya, we must have a credible judicial system. What we should be asking for is a referral. The position of ODM has been that the cases should be tried in Kenya. When we ask for a deferral, we are asking for a one year pause in this process that must happen. I do not see what a one year pause will help because after that, we will still go back to face the ICC. We want the ICC to refer the cases back to Kenya. With the goodwill that we are speaking about here and the new language we are talking in terms of having consensus and agreement, we must set up a credible judicial system that has the confidence of Kenyans because we speak a lot about the Ocampo Six and not the victims. We never speak about the IDPs and the people who were killed. These people must have confidence in this judicial system that will be set up. Since we have lobbied the international community through shuttle diplomacy, they must be confident about our---"
}