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{
    "id": 801764,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/801764/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 103,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ernest Ogesi Kivai",
    "speaker_title": "The Member for Vihiga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13502,
        "legal_name": "Ernest Ogesi Kivai",
        "slug": "ernest-ogesi-kivai-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to speak in this House for the first time. From the beginning, let me say that as a first time Member, I have had challenges catching your eye. By now, I have learnt my ropes. I will know how to catch your eye when I want to. From the beginning, let me thank the people of Vihiga for electing me as their Member of Parliament. I give them my commitment to serve them with dedication. With every dedication in me, I will serve them. Let me also thank the party that sponsored me to this House, namely, the Amani National Congress (ANC). The party found it fit to sponsor me successfully to this House. Hon. Speaker, as you have indicated, being my first time to talk in this House, before I make my comments on the Budget, let me just make my comments on a few issues touching on the state of our nation. Let me start with the obvious one, the handshake. I really support the initiative as a first step. I think it is very important that when we want to bring people of Kenya together, we should have a lot of inclusivity. We should carry everybody along. We should not leave anybody behind because immediately you do that, you attract a bit of resentment. We are saying this was a very good first step. A lot of work still needs to be done and I will encourage everybody to come along and take up this initiative but not to treat it as an end to itself. It is not. About corruption, I think the war must be intensified. There are no two ways about it. I appeal to everybody who is involved to intensify the war. On the investigation side, we have the EACC. On the prosecution side, we have the DPP. Obviously, we have the Judiciary and the people of Kenya. We are hurting. The old days when people used to talk of ‘our people’ and ‘my people’ should be days of the past. People should take the bull by the horns. A thief will always be a thief even if he is in your house. I encourage my dear colleagues that when it comes to issues of corruption, nobody and no effort should be spared. If we do not check it, corruption will become a cancer. I come from an area where, just because of corruption, almost all our industries are on their deathbeds. Most of them have closed down. I used to work for a very nice company in western Kenya called Mumias Sugar Company. It used to be an icon of what a good industry is. Right now, I pass there and feel like closing my eyes. You wonder what went wrong. The machinery is there. The same staff is there. People came in and looted. With the sugar industries in western Kenya, the Government should change tact. It is not a question of pumping in Kshs2 billion here and there. It is a question of going to the underlying issues. In Mumias, for example - because I understand it very well - the problem is lack of cane. You cannot run a sugar factory when there is no cane. That company has a lot of machinery and everything that it takes, but as long as you do not have cane, it will not work. I duly submit that continuing to pump in money would be a waste of time. Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me that chance to touch on those things which are dear to me. Now I can talk about the Budget which happens to be my specialty as well. This was my first time participating in the budget-making process in this House. It was a good experience. There are still some challenges that I noticed. We are supposed to be the budget-making House. Budget-making is a cycle. It is not an action. It starts with identifying what you are budgeting for. When I was deliberating in my committee, my experience was that this Budget is made elsewhere. The first time I saw anything on the budget is when we were looking at the Review Paper. The next thing was when we were furnished with the ceilings. After the ceilings, the Estimates were brought to us. By the time we got the Estimates, I realised that the role of our committee is very limited. I remember the famous words were: “Do not change The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}