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{
    "id": 945208,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/945208/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 276,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Samburu North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Alois Lentoimaga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2756,
        "legal_name": "Alois Musa Lentoimaga",
        "slug": "alois-musa-lentoimaga"
    },
    "content": " I am coming there. So, the issue of representation is about voices such that someone has to be positioned to represent certain groups, so that they can make decisions on behalf of those groups. I support this Bill because it supports the representation of women and youth. We have also talked about marginalised groups. This country is divided into various categories. There are people such as the Ilchamus, Elmolo and Ogieks who have never been represented in decision-making positions. They are represented by other people. There are also communities which live in inaccessible places and they are also not represented. Sometimes when you look at the pastoralist communities living in northern Kenya, even if they are represented in Parliament and also in counties, we still have a lot of issues that are not managed through political representation because of our nature. For areas such as Samburu, Marsabit, Isiolo and North Eastern, although we have representation, other Kenyans do not understand us well. We would like to be represented more. For example, because of lack of representation and lack of our voices being heard, they brought the Equalisation Fund because we were neglected by the previous Governments especially by the colonial Government. We were neglected and most of our counties were closed. So, even during the LEGCO, the first political arrangement in this country, those counties never benefited from representation as well as from resources of this country. Some people are not counted well just because their voices are not heard. There is also the issue of perception where our people are considered as just existing for the sake of it. They can kill themselves, raid and do cattle rustling among themselves because it is their culture. So, if we have proper representation, people can explain themselves better. I was worried the other day about the Punguza Mzigo Bill since it would have marginalised us more. It would have marginalised us more by having one woman and one male Member of Parliament representing the entire of Marsabit or Samburu counties. We would have gone back to where we were before. It is good the Bill is dying because it would have marginalised us in terms of representation more than it is at the moment."
}