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{
    "id": 645376,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/645376/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 135,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Odanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2286,
        "legal_name": "Geoffrey Makokha Odanga",
        "slug": "geoffrey-makokha-odanga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. On the State of the Nation Address by the President, I want, first of all, to reiterate the fact that it is constitutionally given. The President of the Republic of Kenya will have an opportunity to give such an Address to the nation. There are also expectations of the President. As a nation, we would be expecting the President to be expounding more on our national values and where we are at that point in time. Kenyans would have wished that the President would talk more on issues of integrity and corruption and what his Government is doing to ensure that the nation can have confidence in itself. On education, despite the fact that the Jubilee Government has waived examination fees, there are still very many issues that need to be tackled. As Members of the National Assembly and representative of the people, ours is to look at what has not been done every time. Indeed, Barack Obama said that democracy means that there is always someone complaining, every time. We are here to see what has not been done. We expected the President to tell Kenyans when basic education will be completely free. That Kenyans will not be paying any money for their children in basic education institutions. We also expected the President to shed more light on issues of the education system that seems to be failing. We expected him to tell us that there is a way of reforming the education system currently in place. Many times we hear people talking about changing the number of years spent in lower primary, upper primary and so on. Education is more about content than just structure. With regard to jobs, there is a lot of exclusivity in this country and this is not good for the country. It is not good for all of us. Kenya belongs to all of us and we need to work together. When we talk about equitable sharing of resources we are not saying that the sharing should be equal. It should be equitable. We want to go the pro-rata way by considering many factors such as population of the communities, the land area and so on. These are the issues that need to be considered so that every Kenyan feels that he or she belongs to Kenya. When resources are not equitably distributed, be sure that animosity will continue to grow. When you construct roads in one part of the country and you do not do so in another, you create animosity. In Busia County, we have not had one kilometre of road constructed through the Annuity Road Programme. When you do that, you are not only adversely affecting the people of Busia, but all Kenyans because those roads are used by all Kenyans. There are very many people in Busia County doing a lot of business, who come from other parts of this country. If you do not construct good roads in that part of the country, do not think that you are just denying the people of Busia roads. Some of these facilities are meant for all of us. We expect the President to do better than he is doing. We need to do more with regard to insecurity. In Busia County, and particularly Matayos Constituency, insecurity is increasing of late at a very alarming rate. Armed robbers attack bodabodas every night and this is not being addressed. We do not have a single police patrol vehicle in the whole of Matayos Division. I raised this matter with the Cabinet Secretary last year around this time. He promised to provide one in a week’s time but until now, we do not have a vehicle. We expected the President to give us a real State of the Nation Address. With regard to our economy which is now going to sleep--- 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."
}