HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154177",
"previous": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154175",
"results": [
{
"id": 1559952,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559952/?format=api",
"text_counter": 943,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
"slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
},
"content": " Hon. (Dr) Wilberforce Oundo."
},
{
"id": 1559953,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559953/?format=api",
"text_counter": 944,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I also rise to support Sessional Paper No.1 of 2025 on Kenyan Foreign Policy. As a country, we must leverage our strategic location, history and our connections. Our foreign policy should, first and foremost, be for the benefit of the people of Kenya. We must see tangible results and guard against any form of subjugation that might occur as we pursue particular foreign policies. Ideally, when a policy is being developed, there is abundant public participation where issues are deliberated on and resolved. When I was involved in developing the National Land Policy and the Housing Policy, we conducted desk research to find out the best practices. We collected data, which we compiled to create a roadmap. Ordinarily, a policy needs to be formulated and approved before subsequent legislation is passed. Unfortunately, we passed a Bill on foreign relations last year without a supporting foreign policy. Of course, everyone asked about the anchor. Or is this the typical Kenyan way of doing things, where we start with the end and claim that the end justifies the means? I hope that there have been adequate consultations with the ordinary mwananchi, the experts and those who serve in foreign missions. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I have had the occasion to travel before and after becoming a Member of Parliament. We have commendable people serving in our foreign missions abroad and yet, one of their greatest challenges is inadequate funding. I hope and pray that this policy has addressed the issue of facilitation to enable them to carry out their assigned functions effectively. It would be a terrible miss on our part if we have not addressed that challenge. The issue of strategic missions is critical. Kenya can exploit various areas to enhance tourism, trade and other related activities and yet, we do not have adequate physical presence. Sometimes, those we send to foreign missions - though I hesitate to use the term \"political rejects\" - often lack the necessary training in diplomacy. They merely seek employment. Diplomacy is not a career calling for them. They report to their stations, sit around, go to their offices, walk around and do nothing. I hope the Chairperson and the Committee are aware of those challenges, and will resolve them. If you speak to career diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they present a case of a very frustrated lot. They have the skills, experience and the drive but, when it comes to the appointment of ambassadors and high commissioners to missions abroad, anyone can be picked from anywhere at any time as long they are ‘politically correct’. No wonder this country has made so many diplomatic goofs that literally embarrass Kenyans. We are left to ask very simple questions like: Do we have a Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Do we have a robust diplomatic position that guides us on what to say and what not to say? It was written by Chinua Achebe that when you talk about dry bones, old women become upset, and the same applies to old men. You want those old women to support you and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1559954,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559954/?format=api",
"text_counter": 945,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": "yet, you make reckless statements and manoeuvres that leave one wondering what it is all about. Hon. Millie Odhiambo gave an example of having a boyfriend who starts looking for another girl. I just want to correct her that it may not necessarily be because you have a problem. It may simply be that the man wants to sample other girls. In any case, sharing at times is caring. Kenya and the world should not have a problem with sharing because we are supposed to interact and do business with everybody. Therefore, we must anchor our foreign policy in such a way that, as we deal with the East, we do not antagonise the West. The West should not feel as though we are abandoning them for the East. That requires tact, skill, training and experience. However, the people who are making those top-level decisions do not have the training and experience. That is why we keep oscillating. We find ourselves leaning towards the West in one regime and towards the East in the next regime. We get stuck on one side, and when we try to go back to the other side, we end up with very expensive loans and programs that are of no value to the people of Kenya. A foreign policy should transcend personal interests. The tiff we have with Sudan was avoidable. A personal business relationship between two people should not have led us to where we are now. The fact that a foreign country can petition the national parliament of a country to intervene is a very telling statement. We need to put our act together. Kenya was highly rated many years ago but that is no longer the case now. Kenya is no longer revered or respected as it once was. If we were, we would not have been taken on a roulette route in Addis Ababa, where Baba Raila Odinga, with his status on this Continent, could have been made to concede defeat in favour of an unknown individual from a small country in order to avoid a lengthy process. This shows that much needs to be done in our foreign policy. I call upon the oversight committee to ensure that we get our act together. We must truly oversee and not pander to the Executive. We should not be ‘yes people’, going to praise and worship even where the mistakes and shortcomings are seen. We must have the guts and courage to point them out so that we address the issues. Of course, a sessional paper on foreign policy is not static. It must be alive to changing circumstances. Donald Trump has turned the world upside down. He says, ‘‘America first’’, and for the rest of you, he does not care. He can impose tariffs on any country because he knows that the American economy is strong enough to withstand any shocks. As we go along, I hope we will be alive to the changes in the world and how world leaders respond to them. How will world leaders perceive them and us? We need to re-assess and realign our foreign policy to the changing international arena. With those many remarks, I support."
},
{
"id": 1559955,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559955/?format=api",
"text_counter": 946,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
"slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
},
"content": " Very well. I do not see any more Members interested in speaking to this Motion. Interested Members, please, insert your cards in the gadgets. I cannot see your names on my screen. Proceed, Hon. Caroli Omondi."
},
{
"id": 1559956,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559956/?format=api",
"text_counter": 947,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I thought I had keyed it in. Thank you very much Hon. Temporary Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to comment on our proposed Sessional Paper on the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Kenya, 2025. I think this is the second one. The first one was published in 2014. Until then, we did not have any particular policy document regulating our foreign policy or international relations. Hon. Temporary Speaker, when I got this document, I quickly perused through it. My expectation was that I would see a certain set of goals defining the anchor of our foreign policy or how we intend to conduct our foreign relations. I also took time to look at what other countries have done. For example, Americans were among the very first in 1918, when President Woodrow Wilson published the first 14 points of US Foreign Policy. This is a very The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1559957,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559957/?format=api",
"text_counter": 948,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
"speaker": null,
"content": "large document. Even if you read through it, it is very difficult to understand what the core pillars of our foreign policy are. Foreign policy is simply a set of principles and objectives that guide the conduct of a State in terms of relations with other States or international organisations at bilateral or multilateral level. So, my proposal is that we need to do a bit of refinement. This is a very lengthy document but if you look at it keenly, you will see that the key objective of our foreign policy is the pursuit, protection and promotion of the national interest. That interest could be military interest, economic interest or political interest. That is the overarching objective. If you read this document, you will clearly see what you may call ‘traditional values’ that have anchored our policy since Independence. Those traditional values are reciprocity, non- alignment, Pan-Africanism, non-interference and good neighbourliness. Modern foreign policy has adopted – if you study other countries’ foreign policies – new non-traditional values and principles upon which they anchor their foreign policy. For example, today, countries anchor their foreign policy on certain values like democracy. If you adopt such values, you will not associate with pariah States that kill their citizens as they stifle democracies, or countries which do not respect human rights and the rule of law; countries that do not pursue peace and peaceful resolution of conflicts and are always at war; countries that dismember the environment; countries that do not respect the international law and international decisions or countries that undermine multilateralism. Why am I saying this? Our foreign policy should not just set the objective of promotion, protection and pursuit of the national interest. It must send a very clear light of what our country’s value system is. What is it that we want to promote in relations we have with other States and international organisations? We need that clarity in this Sessional Paper. We must clearly state what the objectives are and what the values are. Secondly, from the current observations in our country, Nairobi is supposed to be a diplomatic hub. We host many international organisations but there is a trend where we are not respecting what are called diplomatic privileges and immunities for the international organisations that we host. In particular, there is the question of taxation. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations extends to those international organisations certain privileges because the money they bring into this country is collected from several countries and, therefore, tax exemption is granted. Today, we are harassing many international organisations. Some are established by African countries while others are more global in nature and yet, we are bringing in a lot of conditionalities around them. This makes Nairobi not attractive to host international organisations. The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs should get its hands on this matter. International organisations not only bring multiculturalism to Kenya and create Nairobi as a good centre for people of the world to come and work; they also bring jobs and money. We get more out of hosting them than tax collection from members of staff. We even harass Kenyan staff in those organisations by insisting on taxing them. However, when you tax them, it is the organisation that will compensate them for the tax. Other countries that are putting their money in those organisations would not want to pay tax. There is a lot of work that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to do to maintain the status of Nairobi as a diplomatic hub. Thirdly, I am a little disappointed that the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has literally remained mute on the impact of Trump-related policies on our diaspora. Kenyans are being harassed in the United States of America. Some Kenyans are facing deportation. Some are hiding in churches. They cannot even go to pray for fear of deportation. I have not heard any comments or interventions and yet, this policy document talks a lot about the diaspora. On the element of diaspora, we are talking about Kenyans who are living and working outside the country, and sending money back home. But we are not talking about other people who could become Kenyans, who are also Kenyans in diaspora. We talked about this earlier The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1559958,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559958/?format=api",
"text_counter": 949,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Caroli Omondi",
"speaker": null,
"content": "on when we discussed the issue of the Wapare and their right of return. There are people in the Caribbean, America and Latin America with their ancestry in Kenya. The ancestors of those people left Kenya as slaves. It is now recognised under international law, including through agreements signed at the African Union (AU) that, such people should be accorded the right of return, if they wish to become citizens of their respective ancestors’ countries. While dealing with diaspora diplomacy, this policy document ought to have included that particular angle. Finally, I want to associate myself with what my good brother, Hon. Oundo, has said. Good diplomacy requires competent diplomats. We are beginning to undermine that fact a lot. There is a problem. Even when we were in the Grand Coalition, we agreed with Ambassador Muthaura that we would never dilute the presence of career diplomats in our Foreign Service. There is a lot of political convenience today. We appoint unqualified persons to take charge of foreign stations that require highly trained diplomats with the necessary sophistication and domain knowledge of what goes on in international relations. This policy should also have indicated clearly that certain foreign stations should be reserved for career diplomats or people who truly meet the required qualifications. There is no point in sending somebody to a station that is so important, but without the necessary qualifications or domain knowledge. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
},
{
"id": 1559959,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559959/?format=api",
"text_counter": 950,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
"slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
},
"content": " Mover. Where is the Mover? I call upon the Mover to reply."
},
{
"id": 1559960,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559960/?format=api",
"text_counter": 951,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mandera North, UDM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Major (Rtd) Abdullahi Sheikh",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I thank Hon. Members for raising a number of issues. I do not want to speak to each one of those issues. I will focus on the specific issue of ignoring career diplomats and instead appointing persons based on political interests to head our foreign missions abroad. Hon. Temporary Speaker, it is not good to use the words “political rejects” to refer to people who have unsuccessfully vied for political positions. They are not political rejects. The voters just decided that this is not their time, and that somebody else should serve in those positions. It is not about being a political reject. It is a matter of going for election and the electorate deciding that you need to take a break. If you look at..."
},
{
"id": 1559961,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559961/?format=api",
"text_counter": 952,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
"speaker": null,
"content": " On a point of order, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}
]
}