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{
"id": 839878,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/839878/?format=api",
"text_counter": 180,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 366,
"legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
"slug": "amos-wako"
},
"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. I thank the Mover of the Motion, who is the Senate Majority Leader. When I visited the USA for the first time in 1979, I was surprised that the only persons that people in the USA knew from Kenya at that time were not my President or anybody else, but Kipchoge Keino and Naftali Temu. That is when I knew that athletics is important. As a nation, we have not invested properly and heavily in sports. We have benefited a lot but, have not invested properly. This country ought to take seriously the issue of talent academies. Everywhere in the world where somebody has excelled, you will find that the talent was identified when that person was barely five or six years old, and they went to an academy and trained in that sport. For most of the people who win gold medals in swimming or tennis, like Serena Williams, you will find that their talents were identified early, when they were still young. Even whoever beat Serena Williams the other day in Japan is talented. Her talent was identified when she was very young. She was sent to the academies and excelled. Therefore, this is an area where we need to invest in very heavily. We, as a nation, have to learn a lot from the athletes. First, the athletes unite us. When Kipchoge won, Sen. Moses Wetangula, who is a Luhya, felt like he was the one who won. They evoke in us the spirit of the Kenyan nation and we should learn from that. Secondly, we, as politicians, should learn to have our competitions in a transparent, fair and open manner. Even if athletes come from one area, we gladly accept that because the competition is open and transparent. That cannot happen in politics, because the competition is not open or transparent. Therefore, let us also learn from the athletes. Let me also add that the A, B, C, D and E should be national honours. There is no need for Chairpersons of Committees or Cabinet Secretaries to be automatically given awards like the Elder of the Golden Heart (EGH), Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS), Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) and so on. What have they done to win those awards, except win elections, which might not be free and fair---"
}