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{
    "id": 603407,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603407/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 38,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 981,
        "legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
        "slug": "priscilla-nyokabi-kanyua"
    },
    "content": "information that we seek to access is for public good – a public resource that should be available to everybody at the same time. Information is value-free. Information is neither good nor bad. It depends on how you interpret it. Interpretation is the basis upon which we use information. In the first instance, the information that we seek to access – the data – is a public good and a public resource. In this country we use the Official Secrets Act, which criminalises disclosure of information by any public servant. Time passage means that this law is no longer effective. In this era of information communication technology (ICT), information should be accessible globally without borders. There is no reason for us to continue having in our statute books the Official Secrets Act. In the fight against corruption, which has come to the fore in recent weeks and months, and in this year particularly, access to information becomes very important. If the information held by Government officials in the records they keep, including the tenders they give and the selections they do, can be accessible to the public, we would probably not have as much corruption as we do. In many countries, corruption thrives in secrecy. Corruption thrives behind closed doors. If you open the doors and bring in sunshine, corruption will disappear. With regard to development, a celebrated economist, Kay Mathiesen, in his studies discovered that closed societies are more likely to die and suffer from famine. It is not famine that kills. It is when you have a closed society, where information on calamities and disasters is not shared, where information does not spread, where you do not have freedom of expression and freedom of information; you will have a problem with development in such a society. None of the 38 countries on the World Bank list of the least developed countries has an access to information of law. The converse is true. Most of the highly developed countries allow easy access to information. It is easy to see that even in counties like my own in Nyeri, where we practise agriculture. You need a lot of information to be a productive farmer such as the right soil, the right fertiliser and the right seeds. Without such information even development is compromised. With regard to elections, for peaceful, free and fair elections, information is critical. Form 36A, Form 14, Form 39, Form 419A and all of the information that we need during elections must be availed on time. We are politicians and contestants. It would scare you to death if you could not tell the votes that you have in a particular polling station at the right time. We have to get all that information. Information regarding elections such as the registered voters, who is being put on or off the register, what is the voting like, and whether the Electronic Voting Device (EVD) is working is very critical. The other reason we need to access information is peaceful coexistence. I come from the Kikuyu community which continues to be painted in very bad light. Many Kenyans think that the Kikuyu community lives in largesse. I want to state for the record that does not happen. Like everybody else, we have challenges of our own. We have hospitals and schools that do not work as well as they should. What we need for peaceful coexistence is the right and accurate information and important data to avoid stereotypes, genocidal messages and problems within the tribes that coexist in this country. We also spoke about self-fulfillment. Many people need information even for personal and religious reasons. As a christian I have been happy to find out that God does not love ignorant people. The Bible is all about truth, information and transparency. Even God does not love ignorance, darkness and secrets. The Bible and christianity are about information and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}