James Orengo

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 31 to 40 of 4273.

• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank the Senate Majority Leader in his remarks. I stand to support the Motion. If there was a summary of the person, the departed President Mwai Kibaki on what he was and he did, that speech would contain a lot of things about this great man. To add on the speech that the Senate Majority Leader has made and in our usual tradition, we can prepare a volume of the HANSARD to give to the family of the late President. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I said in the beginning, we have covered a bit of what ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Unfortunately, these days we do not have anybody in the gallery. People would come in droves when there was a controversial issue to be discussed or debated in Parliament. True to form, some of the best speeches would be made by the late President Kibaki. He used to address the Parliament in two components. He will start by addressing the formal part of his address. When you saw him looking at the Press Gallery and the Gallery, then there would be complete silence in the House, because he did it effortlessly and very eloquently. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: I think to his death, he respected the institution of Parliament, not Parliament as an arm of the Executive. There are a lot of things that happened during the late President Kibaki’s time, where he eventually agreed with the Parliament. Although the Executive were planning other things, he eventually agreed to take the position that Parliament took. For example, although it started during the late President Moi’s time - the creation of the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and enlarging the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) which was very difficult to do in our earlier times. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: I remember when Minister Mwiraria was trying to move the budget and there was a stalemate because Members of Parliament insisted that there must be sufficient allocations to the CDF. The late President Kibaki, understanding that development has to go to the grassroots, instructed Minister Mwiraria that time that that stalemate was totally unnecessary. We were able then to begin to see the difference in terms of size and the quality of allocations which were being made to the CDF. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Mr. Speaker, Sir, many times he came to Parliament. I remember when we were trying to have the Grand Coalition Government after the post-election violence in the year 2007, he came to Parliament personally to convince Members of Parliament and to participate in the process of trying to bring peace to the country. This was possible because the late President Kibaki was always looking at the big picture. Never looking at little things that caused differences unnecessarily. If it meant agreeing with those that he did not share ideas, but the big picture obliged him to come to terms because ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: What I loved about the late President Kibaki is his character and style. You get very few leaders, in fact, for this Kenyan Republic to grow to a better democracy, I am hoping that we will have somebody in State House in the character and style of the late President Mwai Kibaki. I remember when people went to see him with a long wish list. If it was something that did not fall on his tenure, responsibility or jurisdiction as a President, he would tell you that you were in the wrong place and direct you to the people that ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: .” That is the problem with Africa and the Third World. That, we have leaders who never want to listen and entertain the contrary opinion. That is why democracy can never thrive in Africa and the Third World because we all want “Yes men”. The greatness of the late President Kibaki was that even when he was in Government, he would associate himself with those in the opposition. I remember when we were the “Seven Bearded Sisters” and we were not well regarded in Parliament, he took it upon himself to visit our constituencies. He went to the hon. Abuya ... view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: In this true spirit, I remember when there was a lot of criticism against Kenya about extra judicial killings, there was the meeting of the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva. A delegation was going to Geneva to defend our position. We were called to State House as Ministers in his Government. I remember the Rt. Prime Minister Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, the late Minister Saitoti and Justice Minister Martha Karua. Sen. Wako was there as the Attorney-General and civil servants. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: We demanded that the civil servants walk out of the room. That we wanted to talk as politicians about Kenya and these adverse reports that were being made about Kenya. There was a chopper waiting outside State House because the President was supposed to go at a formal function at Gilgil. The late President Kibaki just ordered those top civil servants, including the director of intelligence, out so that we could have a discussion. view
• 26 Apr 2022 in Senate: Instead of sending the Minister in charge at that time, he decided that we go as a delegation and accept the criticism that had been levied against Kenya. We went to Geneva to defend ourselves. I think Mutula Kilonzo Snr. was also there. To have people like Mutula Kilonzo Snr. on your side of Cabinet was something quite good because he was very frank even though he belonged to the other side. I think Sen. M. Kajwang’ would support me on this because he was also quite like Mutula Kilonzo Snr. Dr. Miguna Miguna was also part of the delegation. ... view