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{
    "id": 744297,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/744297/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 903,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "our people appreciate it. There are many more Kenyans who can take their families for holidays, but they do not. You will be very surprised at how little Kenyans know about what is happening around them. My constituency, which borders Hon. Millie Odhiambo‘s constituency of Mbita, has a beautiful resort called Lake Rusinga Lodge. The other day I was Googling the maps and somebody was asking me where this exotic hotel is. And it is just here in Mbita. I was amazed. In December, I took my family there for about a week. You would be surprised that for nearly a week, on full board and with a lot of attractions including lake skiing, excursion into the lake, going to see the white sand beaches of Takawiri, each one of us had hardly spent Kshs50,000. That is within the reach of the middle class. I am not saying in any way that all Kenyans can afford this. What I am saying is that there are a lot of things that can make domestic tourism viable in Kenya, but we tend to focus on them. For example, I hear Najib Balala, our former colleague in this House in the 10th Parliament, talking about huge figures to go to Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing, America, but I do not hear much being said to promote domestic tourism. It is amazing how little Kenyans know about their country. I wish the Leader of the Majority Party was here. About four years ago, I took my family to stay in Garissa in a hotel owned by one of his relatives. The people there were amazed. They were asking me: Are there no hotels in Kisumu? We have put our minds to think it is only outside this country that we can tour. That is tourism for me. We stayed there for nearly a week. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I would want my children to grow up knowing every part of this country because they are Kenyans and they shall always remain Kenyans. So, we need more creativity to make tourism grow. Most importantly, investments such as the Ronald Ngala Utalii College in Kilifi County and noble intentions of projects be reflected in the way we implement them. Let us not allow vested interests to crop up because that is the biggest disease in this country. In fact, it is vested interest that has stopped some counties from growing. Right now, I am proud to say that I am gunning to be Governor of Siaya County. Part of the reason I am so determined like my life depends on it, is that public resources are being misused by few individuals and yet poverty has pervaded every village. People are getting poorer by the day and yet individuals, who a few years ago had nothing, now ask what they are supposed to do with the money they have stolen from the public. Our systems do not seem to do anything. Today you will see people who some time back were struggling to pay rent in towns such as Nairobi building swimming pools in the rural areas. It is obscene! I cannot believe it when I see people who purport to be championing democracy in our country still wanting to side with such people. It is an insult to the people of Kenya that somebody can want to live so large at the expense of so many people. So, let us go back and re-embrace the spirit of what the founding fathers of this country had in mind. Ours is a land of plenty. We have no reason, whatsoever, as Kenyans, to go to bed on empty bellies. All we need to do is to get our priorities right. Progress in tourism will give us that major promise. Let me conclude by saying, once again, that Hon. Keynan and his team have done a wonderful job. I hope Hon. Kenyan, like we did a short while ago, will prepare a legacy report. It will help Members who will succeed us in the Committees we have been serving in. The good habits that we have adopted should be carried forward in order to make this nation great. I believe the true potential of Kenya is yet to be realised and it must be realised in our life time. I support. 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."
}