{"id":718015,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/718015/?format=json","text_counter":326,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Okoth","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":12482,"legal_name":"Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth","slug":"kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"},"content":"Turkana. We will soon be talking of other conflicts that will be coming up in that area. We will be talking about people losing lives to starvation. This is a country where doctors have been on strike for over 50 days but a sense of urgency to resolve the issues surrounding the strike is lacking. The lecturers of public universities are on strike. Our young people are not studying yet we have made vote-seeking, and registration of hungry and dying voters, a national priority. We are at a point when we should be asking the people whether they are better off today than they were four years ago, when they elected the current Government that is supposed to be serving them and implementing the current Constitution. The oath of office that we took as parliamentarians, which the President and his Cabinet members also took; to protect the Bill of Rights, including safeguarding Kenyans’ right of access to food, security and dignity, among other rights, should not be in vain. We are seeing a total failure of the Government in this regard. There is no way of sugar-coating the situation. I am telling the people of this country to ensure that we vote wisely this time round because choices have consequences. If there are MCAs, governors, Members of Parliament and even Cabinet Secretaries who are working for the President and letting him down, causing you suffering in the process, vote very wisely. With those few remarks, once again, I would like to register my regrets that in the 21st Century, our people’s lives are not treated as valuable. This is a shame. It is an indictment of the ruling class in this country. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker."}