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{
"id": 948965,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/948965/?format=api",
"text_counter": 160,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": {
"id": 376,
"legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
"slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
},
"content": "that we used to read. There were very short interesting stories that taught values about honesty, integrity, inclusion and against discrimination. What do we have nowadays? Recently, books were allowed in the market which use certain four-letter words on six- year-old and ten-year-old children and we expect people not to be corrupt. We are already teaching them that these are the values that we live with as a country. As a country, we are very quick to pass the buck. Whenever there is a problem, we are branded mpigs . We all blame Members of Parliament. It is the most convenient way, but that is not the problem. Corruption has become so deeply entrenched and embedded in this country. Until and unless we deal with it from the root, we might as well legalise it like some developed countries have done and given it fancy names. When I became a Member of Parliament, I was shocked and astounded that I was trying to do a government project and I was being asked to bribe a government official to do a government project. I almost went into shock. I thought people would ask me to bribe for something that benefits me as an individual. To date, a person employed by the Government will ask you to bribe them to do a government project. I have not gotten over that yet. I know in one country, I will not name where, there are people who give free donations. It was in the newspapers in the last Parliament. They were being asked to bribe that country so that these people could give free donations to the county. As late as yesterday, somebody came to see me here in Parliament and told me of a case where some people in another county were to be given free money to build a health facility. They were told, “Unless you bribe us, we will not allow you.” I think there is something wrong with us as a nation; there is something entirely wrong with our psyche as a nation. That is what we need to figure out and sort out. The academy is good at the international level, but we must fix Kenya as a nation. We no longer need to look outside, because they have their problems. Early on, we would sit here and say we want to be like America which has its own challenges. Let us look at Kenya and fix it and aspire to be like Kenya. This is the time Kenya should be a shining light to the rest of the world, but we must agree as a nation that we are all rotten to the core. It is not a problem of Members of Parliament. It is a problem of small children, too. That is why a little boy in school was able to go on air and talk to the whole country using four-letter words and even threaten to kill another child; because people are watching our own Members of Parliament fight. Again, that is what I call the convenience of blaming Members of Parliament. When you say Members of Parliament, where are you as a parent? What values are you teaching your own child as a parent? We need to agree as a country that we have a serious crisis. We are leaving the social media to set for us values. Unfortunately, it has gone to the churches. Before, people would look for direction in the church. The church has lost direction. Perhaps, it is a time when we need a law that would streamline the churches, but they say, “No. No. No. We can self-regulate.” How are you self- regulating when every single weekend there is a crisis in one church or another? I have not gone to church for the last three months because my own church is embroiled in a crisis. Why can we not sort out issues? In my own constituency, yesterday, I was being asked to help another church contribute money so that they can go to court to stop another wrangle. If the church is not giving direction, who do we want to give direction and then we blame the politician? By the very nature of a politician, we are meant to be evil. The church should direct us, but we are the ones directing the country. This country will go to the dogs, if it looks upon politicians for solutions. I am not saying we are that terrible, but surely; we cannot be the ones giving moral direction in this 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."
}