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{
    "id": 976839,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/976839/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 273,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Pareno",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13180,
        "legal_name": "Judith Ramaita Pareno",
        "slug": "judith-ramaita-pareno"
    },
    "content": "The picture we have of our country is disturbing. As I said this afternoon, we really need prayers. God should remember us so that we may go in His way. Yesterday, we watched news of police officers scaling down a very tall wall trying to get into a compound and then they recovered several motor vehicles, very expensive gadgets and lots of money. Thereafter, we have not seen any actual conviction. Madam Temporary Speaker, the other day, a report was tabled in this House on how other countries are fighting corruption. Passing the necessary rules and laws will ensure that people are punished for wrong doing. One issue that struck me in that report that as laid on the Table by Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura was how Hong Kong has been able to fight corruption to the extent that they are now proud of being corruption free and how over 50 countries are trying to come together to get new ways of fighting corruption. The other issue that struck me was the issue of self-discipline. As a country, we lack self- discipline and we have taught our children that discipline no longer matters. Good practice starts with us being self-disciplined. Madam Temporary Speaker, for the Maasai community and other communities, long time ago – right now it is not so - a child belonged to the entire community. In fact, a child could not dare do anything wrong before any member of the community or society. The moment you went wayward, anybody who was around would punish you. Right now, if you point at somebody’s child for doing something the wrong way, you will find yourself in a police station to explain why you pinched or pointed at somebody’s child for wrongdoing. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have to shape this society how we want it to be or how we want our sons to be. That is one of the virtues that were being preached in the Hong Kong conference. They actually started by looking at self-discipline, what was ailing them and figured out how to come out of it. They went ahead to talk about the rule of law. For us Kenyans, we have very beautiful laws in our Constitution and I have read a very nice Chapter on leadership and integrity but we have done nothing about it. Madam Temporary Speaker, I remember when we did the 2010 Constitution, immediately thereafter, even in political parties, we tried to vet candidates who brought their Curriculum Vitae (CVs) and we were able to know whether they were convicts or had court cases going on in order to clear them. I want to be frank that some of the people who were opposed to the vetting on integrity were politicians themselves. They interpreted Chapter Six differently. To us, the interpretation of Chapter Six was that if anyone had been charged or convicted, they needed to step aside until they were cleared. The politicians argued that we did not have the right to vet them. As a country, we have a long way to go. Recently, we impeached Governor Ferdinand Waititu Ndung’u, and right now we are trying to come up with the procedure for curbing corruption. I am hoping that this law will not be another document to be shelved. This is a well thought-out piece of legislation to help implement Chapter Six of the Constitution. I hope we will be able to make a difference. If we do not make corruption a very painful venture, we will continue fighting a losing battle and piling up laws in the name of fighting corruption. Madam Temporary Speaker, this will go a long way in implementing what we envisaged when we came up with Chapter Six of the Constitution. I support. 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."
}