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{
    "id": 904430,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/904430/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Baragoi in Samburu County; to the Pokots and Turkanas in Lokwar-Nakuse and Turkwel; to the Tugens and Pokots; and the communities in Tiaty. Many of those have never gone back to the ways that they had. In fact, one thing that really moved us was a joint meeting in a place called Nginyang or possibly Loruk, where we met the actual warriors from the two communities. The discussion started in a tense way. In fact, they could not allow the area Member of Parliament to speak because some of them felt that he was the one causing division. After the discussion, we slaughtered livestock and they hugged each other. To date, the former warriers of the two communities patrol jointly and do peace caravans. When we went round, we found that in this country that covers 583,000 square kilometres and was made a Republic in 1964, many Kenyans lack a sense of belonging. Majority do not see themselves as Kenyans first. Many of us look at ourselves as Kambas, Luhyas or Kikuyus first and then Kenya. It is lack of a sense of ‗Kenyanness,‘ which has been contributed by a number of factors. Secondly, we realised that in many places, we do not see boundaries as bridges but walls. As you might have seen in the last Parliament and even in this one, many petitions keep coming on boundary disputes; that a certain community has crossed our boundary, as if there are limitations as to where Kenyans can live despite what our Constitution says. Every Kenyan has a right to respectfully live in any part of Kenya. We realised that conflicts have been created because of scarcity of resources. The scarcity of water, especially during famine and drought, has caused a lot of conflict. I dare say that our greatest challenge as a country today – which I like to call the challenge of our generation – is to unite our people. It is to do all that appertains to that work including legislating, putting together institutions and programmes like the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that will make us feel Kenyan. That is why what Sen. Pareno is doing is really the hallmark of a legislator; to bring up a Bill from scratch and take it through the motions. It will take you time and it is not easy, especially in this bicameral Parliament. However, take heart knowing that what you are doing is not a favour to yourself or this House, but a great service to our nation. This country has had different generations that have played the roles. Our first generation of young Kenyans together with old Kenyans from whom we draw much inspiration like the Tom Mboyas and Mwai Kibakis who worked with the Kenyattas etcetera – traversed this country from the north to south and east to west, with the Jaramogis and Kaggias. They were imprisoned because they knew the cause of their generation was to free us from the shackles of imperialism and help us get a country‘s independence. They did all that it took for them to get that and they did it. Our second generation was also in tune with its season during the Moi times. I do not know where many were. The time for some of us had not come. I am not sure where the Deputy Speaker was."
}