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"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Zani",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy speaker, Sir. World over, the issue of equal opportunities is always critical. In fact, societies and countries‘ health index, in terms of the health of the nation and in terms of development, is based on the level of equality, inclusivity and how everybody feels that they are part and parcel of the system of the country. That, in turn, contributes to the level of effort that they put in, in terms of actually building those countries and trying as much as possible to raise those countries to a better level. It always has to do with the real making of an effort. For example, you will find people in countries like Australia going out of their way to make the indigenous of that country – the Aborigines – feel part and parcel of the system. They do this by acknowledging those ancestors even before any speeches are made because they are important. Now, that is the format of doing things. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will find people in many countries looking at the Gini Coefficient to find out how unequal countries are, or what the level of inequality is. Many countries try as much as possible to move towards inclusivity. If you look at the correlations of inclusivity and development, l suspect they will be very high. This is because where everybody is happy and moving to a point, then we are doing very well. We have had a Commission, the NCIC, in place for a very long time, and we need to even get to the level where we evaluate that Commission. Were they effective at the end of the day? Were they heard? Were they able to speak up when they needed to speak up? Were they able to speak up without being partisan or supporting only one side of a political divide by, for example, only speaking to reduce the voice of the other side? Did they speak fairly when they did speak? Did they interrogate the cases of discrimination where they happened? There seems to have been a gap; and l think that is the gap that Senator Pareno is trying to address by widening the scope and also looking at a very important component of peace building. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, as Senator Sakaja said earlier on, in the Joint Committee of the Eleventh Parliament, which l was a Member, did a lot of work in looking at different communities. They were addressing why they could not be able to have cohesion, work together and, in some cases, arbitration was done, and it was very successful. We also found out that in many communities, the issues were very well known to them. They understood what the problems were, but when it came to addressing them and getting sustainable solutions, only some communities were able to do that. For the others who were not able to come to the table to identify and solve the problems, those problems continued for a very long time. It is, therefore, important to have a Commission that can address this. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, l also heard Sen. Sakaja say that we need people of high integrity and with true leadership skills in that committee to ensure that they take the task seriously. In the various Clauses of this Bill, the various responsibilities for the Commission and the Commissioners are well spelt out. Indeed, it gives the framework for actually assessing where a problem has occurred, the mechanism for addressing it and even involving officers in addressing it. This is very important in addressing all these specific issues. I think the first spot is an analysis of the NCIC, and l suspect Sen. Pareno, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}