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{
    "id": 823185,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/823185/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 373,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyando, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jared Okelo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13457,
        "legal_name": "Jared Odoyo Okelo",
        "slug": "jared-odoyo-okelo-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is important to benchmark with other jurisdictions in a bid to learn what happens out there. It is only a concern to me that each time we leave this country to go and benchmark, we only tend to focus predominantly on developed nations. It would be my suggestion that we come up with a plebiscite system where we integrate both with what the current American President would call “a shit hole nation” with a developed nation. That is so that whatever we come up with is a hybrid system. Interestingly though, we tend to learn a lot but implement none. Based on the monies we pump into these foreign trips, whatever we learn out there must henceforth be executed in a way that will be beneficial to us as a Parliament and to the Republic of Kenya. Implementation of all lessons learnt out there should not only be infrastructural, but must also have a behavioural enterprise. I visited one of the developed nations. To my amazement, it was 2.00 a.m. in the morning when we were driving. On a red light with no vehicle on the road, the driver stopped until the lights went off. In Kenya, even when the red lights are on, drivers will never wait for a green light, much less 2.00 a.m. in the morning. They will just run through the red light. So, we must also embrace not only what we have seen to come and put in place here, but also equally change our mindset and try to inculcate what we see out there as a behavioural aspect. Kenyans are looking at us to provide leadership and direction in line with our constitutional mandate. Even though I have heard a lot of lamentation pertaining to the infrastructure we have within Parliament and within our offices, it is also important we take cognisance of our economic wellbeing. Our economy is struggling. It is not like that of the US. The US has states such as Washington DC. That State alone has a GDP of US$530 billion annually. That is just Washington DC. It is a very small segment of the United States of America. We still struggle to generate income to support our infrastructural development and recurrent expenditure. So, we are not going to bring back everything we have seen and implement it here so that we can live lavishly as a Parliament. We must realise that our economy is struggling. Whatever we put our hands on should be that which prospers and augments our economy so that it can move to levels that will hence percolate downwards and embrace the people who are suffering down there. About 55 per cent of our youth are jobless. Even the small percentage that has jobs is those that are under-employed. That means whatever they do is not in line with their skills and experiences. So, let us put more attention and focus on spurring our economy as opposed to creating our own welfare, lest we are judged very harshly by the people we represent. Let us put monies in wealth creation for all to enjoy and not in that which is only meant to massage our ego as a Parliament. There is a new animal in town called IFMIS. The wisdom behind the creation of IFMIS was not to subject civil servants and those in the entire trade chain such as suppliers and all people to jeopardy. It was only meant to curtail imperfections within the system. Each time we are confronted with issues on payments, including salaries, we are told IFMIS is still closed. It is as if this is a system that was created in Mars and is operated in Jupiter. These systems are domiciled here in Kenya. They are run by our own Government officials. Therefore, this should not be an excuse. If the Government is broke, they should approach us and say: “We are broke 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."
}