Let us have the Leader of the Majority Party.

Hon. Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order No.171(1)(f), this House approves the appointment of the following Members to the House Business Committee in addition to those specified under paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e)- (i) Hon. Samwel K. Chepkonga, CBS, M.P. (ii) Hon. (Ms.) Faith Wairimu Gitau, M.P. (iii)Hon. Umul Khier Kassim Sheikh, M.P. (iv) Hon. Omboko Milemba, M.P. (v) Hon. Robert Mbui, M.P. (vi) Hon. Adan Wehliye Keynan, CBS, M.P. (vii) Hon. Tom Joseph Francis Kajwang’, M.P. (viii) Hon. (Ms.) Sarah Paulata Korere, M.P. (ix) Hon. Joshua Mbithi Mwalyo, M.P. Hon. Speaker, Members will note that in constituting this House Business Committee (HBC), which is slightly over a week or almost two weeks late, we have tried to achieve regional, ethnic and gender balance and representation in line with our Standing Orders. We have considered small parties that do not constitute parliamentary political parties but are represented in the House. You will note that we have Members who represent these small parties from both sides of the political divide. We also have Members from both coalitions who represent the main partner parties. More importantly, you realise that we have a strong team of 12 Independent Members, and they are also represented in the House Business Committee (HBC) by Hon. Joshua Mbithi Mwalyo. I urge Members to support the formation of this Committee because as you are all aware, we cannot transact any business without the constitution of the HBC. This is the Committee that will help us to form the Committee on Selection and the Committee on Appointments, and even confirm our Calendar, which without pre-empting debate, is in line for the course of the day tomorrow. I do not want to say much in relation to this, because all of us know the importance of this Committee. It is regrettable that because of some small issues that we had in the last week or so, we were not able to constitute this Committee and are late. In actual fact, we ought to have set up this Committee within seven days. It ought to have come on Thursday last week, but because of the extraordinary circumstances, we had to delay to today. 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.

Therefore, I wish to request Members to support these people. We have endeavoured to pick both new Members who are coming into the House for the first time, and very seasoned Members of the House, who are very experienced in the HBC and affairs of the House, including the House leadership. I think it is a very well-balanced Committee representing the independents, the veterans, new Members and even those who represent parties smaller than the parliamentary political parties that we have. Hon. Speaker, with that, I beg for everybody’s support. I ask my brother and colleague, the Leader of the Minority Party, Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, to second.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I wish to second the Motion that is before the House on the constitution of the HBC in line with the requirements of Standing Order 171. To echo what Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah has said, there is no doubt whatsoever that Hon. Members who have been placed on this important Committee qualify. In my view, they are more than equal to the task that lies ahead. This is an extremely important Committee in the operations of the House. I urge my colleagues to approve the list. Once the Committee is constituted, I would like it to go out fully and embark on its mandate. One of the biggest tasks that lie ahead is to ensure that business that is prioritised to come before the House is business that advances the interests of the public. This Committee should ensure that this House engages in matters that are of importance to the nation. It is on record that from as far back as the 11th Parliament, there are reports which have continued to lie on the shelves of this House—reports which should have found their way to the Floor of this House for deliberation and eventual determination one way or the other by the House. Such reports are still lying idle on the shelves of Parliament. Once constituted, I urge the Committee to take it upon itself to prioritise such business. I will not go into details of those reports. If I do so, I will be opening a can of worms. Hon. Duale, I am sure you know what I mean by that. This Committee has its work cut out. I also hope that once this Committee embarks on its work, it will adopt a bipartisan approach to issues and prioritise issues that are of interest to the country. That is the only way this Parliament can move forward and execute its mandate. Currently, the country is facing myriad challenges. The cost of basic commodities is getting out of reach for the common man. Food prices specifically are out of this world. That is something that needs to be prioritised by this Committee so that the House can deal with it for the country to go back to where it should be. The country is facing serious insecurity issues. Kenyans are being butchered day in, day out like wild animals. We need to address the issue of insecurity in the country. It is an issue that needs to be prioritised by this Committee. Going forward, we should make it a rule rather than the exception that whatever goes through the HBC and ends up on the Floor of this House is only that which advances the cause of the country, and not one that advances parochial interests. This country is now past the campaign period. We expect everyone in the Legislature and the Executive to get down to work. Everybody should do their work. We expect those in the Executive to leave campaign hangovers behind them and focus on that which advances the cause of the country. Likewise, this House should now operate beyond the campaigns and deal with issues that are of utmost importance; issues that unite us rather than those that divide us. This is a committee that will be very instrumental in those endeavours. Without saying too much, I second and urge my colleagues to approve the list. Thank you.

Order, Hon. Members. Order.

Put the Question.

Is that the mood of the House? 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.

Yes.

Hon. Members that now brings the House to a level where we can start processing and transacting business. I direct that the Members who have been approved by the House as Members of this Committee to leave the House immediately and go to Committee Room 9 for HBC meeting. The Deputy Speaker will continue presiding over the debate at Order No. 9, this being the last allotted day of debate on the Presidential Speech. Thank you, Hon. Members.

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

Yes, Hon. Chepkonga. What is your point of order?

Hon. Speaker, I rise pursuant to Standing Order 259D. As you know, we lost a former Member of Parliament (MP), and I wanted to make a statement on his passing on. If you allow me, I would like to read the statement. It would be an honour to do that.

Go ahead. Order, Hon. Members. Let us hear Hon. Chepkonga in silence.

Hon. Speaker, it is with profound sorrow that I wish to make a statement regarding the untimely passing on of the former Member of Parliament for Ainabkoi Constituency on the morning of Saturday, 8th October 2022, while being rushed for treatment at Mediheal Hospital, Nairobi. Hon. Chepkut was born on 31st December 1970. He attended Flax Primary School and various universities before attaining his Master’s degree from Kenyatta University in Community Development and Organisation. He declared his interest to vie for the parliamentary seat of Ainabkoi Constituency in 2017. During nominations, he sought the seat under the Jubilee Party ticket. He won elections as an independent Member of Parliament in the elections that were held in 2017. Hon. Speaker, for the record, he defeated this Member who is now reading the Statement. Nonetheless, as an MP, he sponsored a number of Bills, including: 1. The Coffee Bill (Senate Bill No. 22 of 2020); 2. The Natural Resources (Benefit Sharing) Bill (Senate Bill No. 25 of 2020); 3. The Health (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No. 26 of 2020); 4. The Basic Education (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bill No. 4 of 2021); 5. The Kenya Sign Language Bill (Senate Bill No. 5 of 2011); and, 6. The County Vocational Education and Training Bill (Senate Bill No. 6 of 2021). Apart from being an MP, he was also the Vice-Chairman of the Special Funds Accounts Committee and the Committee on Appointments. He had a senior position at the Office of the President from 1997 to 2003. He also worked as the long serving personal assistant and private secretary of the Late Hon. Nicholas Biwott, who was a very powerful Minister during the Kenya African National Union (KANU) era. On behalf of the great people of Ainabkoi Constituency and indeed on my behalf, I wish to convey our sincere condolences to his family, friends and the people of the larger Uasin Gishu County for this great loss. Hon. Speaker, with your indulgence, I request that you allow that we all stand to observe a minute of silence in honour of the late Hon. William Chirchir Chepkut. Fare thee well, Hon. Chepkut. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

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.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Thank you. Order, Hon. Members. In honour of our departed colleague and friend, I order that we stand and observe a minute of silence.

Thank you. Next Order.

On a point of order, Hon. Speaker.

Yes, Hon. Ng’eno.

Hon. Speaker, thank you. With your indulgence, you should allow Members to convey their condolences.

We have already moved to the next Order. You showed no indication that you wanted to say anything.

Hon. Speaker, I was already on a point of order.

Hon. Deputy Speaker will give you 15 minutes to make brief comments. Remember that we have a scheduled matter that should be debated without interruption. However, this is an extraordinary matter. I will allow 15 minutes of three Members from each side to make comments and eulogise our departed friend.

Member for Garissa Township.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. On behalf of the people of Garissa Township and on my behalf, let me send my condolences to the family and friends of the former MP for Ainabkoi, the late Hon. Chepkut. He was with us in the 12th Parliament, and we will remember him as a very humorous man. I am sure that the person who will miss him most is the former President Uhuru Kenyatta. There was no one time that Hon. Chepkut would get an opportunity on the Floor of the House and fail to remember the then Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF). He used to call him a five-star General. This man whom we remember today has a very long 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.

history. This is another total man. He worked with Hon. Nicholas Biwott for many years. As we bury him next Tuesday, he will go down with a lot of experience.

He was a man who could make a call, if you wanted to speak to the late Mzee Moi. He asked me one day whether I wanted to speak to him. I thought that he was joking. He called and in one second, Mzee Moi was on the line. That is how powerful Hon. Chepkut was. I am sure that he is among the many other great leaders whom we have lost in this House. Let me ask all Members, in good faith, through Hon. Chepkonga, to contribute. We should attend his burial on Tuesday next week in his remembrance and the people whom he represented.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Members, those who want to eulogise Hon. Chepkonga… Sorry, it is Hon. Chepkut. I apologise.

The Members who want to eulogise Hon. Chepkut should press the intervention button so that we do not interfere with debate time. We will now have Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah, who is the Leader of the Majority Party.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Before we retreat to attend the HBC, let me also take this opportunity – on behalf of the people of Kikuyu and many other Kenyans who knew the Late Hon. Chepkut – to convey our very heartfelt condolences to his immediate family and the people of Ainabkoi Constituency. As the ranking Member, Hon. Aden Duale has said that Hon. Chepkut had his usual seat on the front bench here, just right where Hon. (Dr.) Mutunga is seated. We all remember him for his humour. Every time he stood up to speak in this Chamber, he referred to his Excellency the President as the Commander-in-Chief of KDF and a five-star General.

Many of us found humour in his speech. He was, indeed, a very amiable person with everybody across the political divide. I do not think that there is anybody who worked with Hon. Chepkut in the last Parliament who would say that he ever stepped on his toes in any way. He was a very amiable person. He was a likeable character, and a seasoned civil servant who served not only as a District Officer in the early KANU days, but also as a personal assistant of the late Hon. Biwott. With those few remarks Hon. Deputy Speaker, let us all pray for his family and his soul to rest in eternal peace. Thank you.

Hon. Members, I will give this chance to the Member for Mbeere North.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for this opportunity to address the House for the first time. I tried to become the MP for Mbeere North in 2013 and 2017, but failed. So for me, this is a dream come true. I am grateful and humbled by the trust that the people of Mbeere have bestowed upon me. I undertake to serve those who voted for me and those who did not vote for me in equal measure. I am alive to the functions of the House.

Hon. Member for Mbeere, you are going into your maiden speech while you should focus on eulogising Hon. Chepkut.

Thank you. I am alive to the functions of the House; namely, to represent the electorate, to legislate and to oversee the Executive. 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.

Hon. Member, maybe you can leave the rest of your time and come back to make your maiden speech hereafter. So, we can now move on to the Member for Emgwen.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for this opportunity. On behalf of Emgwenians and myself, I pass my message of condolence for the loss of a former Member of this House, Hon. Chepkut. I ask every Member in this House to give the support the family may need. Let us generously give so that we give Chepkut a decent send off.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Hon. Member for Mwingi Central.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to eulogise our colleague and friend, the late Hon. William Chepkut, the former MP for Ainabkoi. I recall the late as a very humorous person. He was the smartest person in this House— always in a three-piece suit and very humorous. Therefore, on my behalf, my family and the people of Mwingi Central, I condole the family of the late, and the constituency for the loss of this humorous and very good person.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

The Hon. Member for Kimilili.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to eulogise my friend, the former Member for Ainabkoi Constituency. We will remember Hon. Chepkut as a very generous man. He was willing to share the little he had with the disadvantaged. We will also remember him as a hands-on person. This Member would call even a government officer responsible and put him or her on speaker when there was a matter affecting his electorate. He was hands-on. Even with his passing on, we celebrate his life. There are many things that we must learn from the Hon. Chepkut. May the almighty God rest his soul in eternal peace and continue to stand with the people of Ainabkoi Constituency.

Thank you.

I think time for eulogies is up. We have four more minutes, Member for Seme.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to eulogise our colleague. On behalf of the people of Seme and myself, I take this opportunity to pass my sincere condolences to his family and his constituency. Though hilarious and humorous, this was an extremely serious man. I know that because we worked with him when I was in the Executive. Behind all that humour, he was a serious, hard working person. I also appreciate that regardless of how tense things were in this House or how much we differed, everybody listened when he took to the Floor. With his humour, he put everybody at peace and, in a way, managed to pass his message. He did this very diligently and in support and service of the people that elected him.

Let the almighty God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Member for Kabuchai.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to eulogise my good friend. I observed that he never missed the word ‘sir’ or ‘madam,’ throughout his life, whenever he was on phone or addressing anybody. This is a man who gave respect to anybody he ever called. I join the House in eulogising our good friend who has left us. Hon. Deputy Speaker, you are not wrong because when you mentioned Chepkonga, the name is almost similar to that of the late area MP.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. May God rest his soul in eternal peace.

Member for Vihiga County. 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.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I take this opportunity to pass our condolences, as the people of Vihiga County, to the family of the late William, who was a Member for Ainabkoi. He used to sit with us here and make us laugh. He was very humorous. Wherever you met him, he was always laughing. As a Parliament, we are going to miss his humorous way of talking. He never segregated people. He used to laugh with everybody. We condole with the family and ask God to give them strength at this trying moment as they mourn their departed father, brother and uncle. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

We can now revert to the Motion on the remarks on the President’s Speech. We will pick from where we stopped. I do not have the name of the constituency, but it is Hon. Abdikadir Mohammed who was interrupted last time. You may proceed.

Lagdera, ODM): Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the President’s Speech. First, I wish to thank my constituents of Lagdera for electing me to represent them in the 13th Parliament. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I also wish to congratulate you for having been elected the Deputy Speaker of this House. The President spoke, in paragraph 48, of the ongoing drought in northern Kenya and the entire country, saying that climate change was the cause. He said that the Government is going to distribute relief food. The President did not give this matter the seriousness it needs. In northern Kenya, already animals and people are dying. We do not want relief food only; we need other interventions. For example, the dying animals need feeds. The Government should also distribute animal feeds and do water trucking. We need many other things so as to protect the livelihoods of these people. While speaking on Universal Health Care (UHC), the President said that he will restructure the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The NHIF has been over-restructured. I was an employee of the NHIF for the last 10 years; it has been over-restructured. It does not need to be restructured again. As it is now, it can handle the issues of the UHC. There is also the problem of insecurity in northern Kenya. Whenever there is drought, pastoralists always clash because of pasture. So, the Government should also address this particular issue this time when there is drought in northern Kenya. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I wish to thank you for giving me this opportunity. That is all.

Thank you. The Member has donated more time for the next Member, and I hope that everyone can do that. It is now time for MP for Mbeere North.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to address the House for the first time. I tried to be Member for Mbeere North in 2013 and 2017, but failed. So, for me, this is a dream come true and it is for this reason that I am grateful and humbled by the trust that the people for Mbeere North have bestowed upon me. I intend to serve both those who voted and those who did not vote for me. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am a live to the functions of the House, namely to represent the electorate, legislate and oversee the Executive. I am happy that in the inaugural address to this House, the President was emphatic that he expects legislation and oversight from the House. To achieve the purpose of the House, and in order to serve the aspirations of the country, I would urge that we work together, and look at the Bills and Motions that come before us for consideration and approval. I say so because there is no Kenya Kwanza Alliance country and an Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya Alliance country. The effect of bad laws from the House or no laws coming out of this House will be felt in the entire country. For His Excellency the President to succeed in his vision for this country, we will need to make robust and enabling laws and ensure their implementation. I will, therefore, urge that 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.

the drafters in the House are efficient to ensure speedy drafting of Bills. I also propose that the drafters be around to invite sectoral experts in order to enrich and ensure quality Bills. Hon. Deputy Speaker, as a House, we need to vacate criminalisation of administrative functions and processes. I say so because in the recent past, public officers have become overly ineffective as a result of criminalisation of every process in their professional functions. As a result, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) among other institutions are now preoccupied with hurling to court public officers for minor administrative mistakes. That is why I will be proposing an amendment to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015. This House needs to give impetus to technology, innovation and sustainability in order to give solutions to the challenges in the society. I will urge that the House prioritises making laws that anchor technology as a solution to the challenges that we face as a country. Climate change is a reality, and I will urge this House to consider climate financing to help the marginalised communities in this country. I look forward to serving the country in my new capacity, and I thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Mbeere North. You were also quite brief, which means that many of our colleagues will have an opportunity to speak. I now call upon Nominated Member, Hon. John Mbadi.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Let me start by congratulating you for being elected as the Deputy Speaker of this House. Last time I made my contribution, I congratulated the Speaker, but I had not congratulated you. I have no doubt that you will lead this House to conduct its affairs diligently and objectively. I also hope that the four Members who are going to constitute the Speaker’s Panel will be Members who possess experience and ability to help you run the House. Having said that, Hon. Deputy Speaker, allow me to make my contributions to the Speech of the President. First, this House has a collective responsibility to oversee and hold the Executive to account as a unit. I am also alive to the fact that the Minority side of the House or the opposition as it used to be called, has an extra responsibility to even hold the Executive to account much more. I am sure that we are not going to provide parochial opposition, but an objective opposition. We will support Government policies that are geared towards bettering the lives of Kenyans and only oppose those policies which would make us roll back on the gains that this country has made so far. So, you should expect a robust, informed and objective opposition from us, which will help the country to move forward.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, the President is taking over a country that is divided right down in the middle; a country where 50 per cent voted for him and another near 50 per cent did not vote for him. This is a country that requires a real symbol of national unity. I am happy that the President indicated in his Speech that he is going to run a united country. He also said that service delivery is going to be given to all Kenyans in equal measure, regardless of where one voted, because we are all taxpayers. That is something that needs to be lauded. What we are now waiting for is action. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the only thing that I would have requested is that the Deputy President also follows what the President has said. I was a bit disturbed when the news came out that the Deputy President said something to the effect that it is their turn to eat. I hope he was misquoted.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, public appointments, including positions of Principal Secretaries (PSs) belong to all Kenyans. Those are positions in the Public and Civil Service, and they are 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.

not supposed to be used as a reward for political support. They belong to all of us, whether one voted for Azimio la Umoja - One Kenya Alliance or Kenya Kwanza. How I wish that the Deputy President understood that. So, we expect the Public Service Commission (PSC) to be impartial, and not to be a victim of state capture. Having said that, something that worries me a lot is that however short or brief the Speech of the President was, I expected it to at least have a line on devolution. If the President could remember the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), which I support, as a very progressive fund, then I wonder how he could forget to mention something on devolution. He even spoke about the Senate oversight fund, but he did not say a thing on devolution.

Devolution is the one thing that has changed the architecture of governance in this country since 2013. This is something that should always find space in the Speech of a President of the Republic of Kenya. I assume it could be because he was summarising his Speech, which is why he probably left it out among the very many volumes that I saw he did not read. I could see that the President read a portion of his Speech and decided to leave out others. Being an intelligent man, he must have summarised it in a way that we could not even notice that he left out some. I just want to assume that devolution was part of the rest of his Speech, because it would worry me if it did not.

The President talked a lot about the economy in his short Speech, and even proposed that he will start by cutting our budget by about Ksh300 billion. I thought that was a bit ambitious, but I am waiting to see, through the Supplementary Budget, what the National Treasury has for us to actualise the pronouncements by the President. However, I do not think the solution is on the quantum of the Budget as such, or the cutting down of it. I think we should focus, as a country, on misuse of resources, governance issues and fiscal discipline; what you could call corruption. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I do not understand why the President finds it hard to call out corruption by its name. I rarely hear my President talk about corruption. He will always cut corners and use language that is close to corruption, but he will not call it corruption. I would want President William Ruto to call corruption by its name. The one thing that he should disobey in his policy of bottom-up is corruption. This one must be toned down. It must be fought top-down; you cannot fight it bottom-up. The President, who is the head of this country must come out forthrightly and forcefully to call corruption by its name and make life unbearable for those who are corrupt. These are the people who are making our budget to be inflated and the country to lack resources to implement the projects needed.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to advise the Executive – that is if they can take my advice – that time is running out and that the honeymoon is over. Today is exactly 30 days since they were sworn into office, yet the Deputy President is still talking as if he does not believe. If you do not believe, yet Kenyans are expecting service delivery, do you want us to believe? Please believe and start delivering services. We want the cost of living as well as price of fuel to come down. Do not talk about the Ukraine-Russia war now. During the campaigns, you said that had nothing to do with this crisis. Now we join in saying that Ukraine is very far from Kenya. We want the price of fuel and petroleum products to come down. The price of unga must come down to Ksh80, as we were promised. There is no more time to move around.

The President has already sold himself internationally as a Kenyan leader. Therefore, we want him here back home. Very soon, we are going to give you your Cabinet. Once you have the Cabinet, please perform. Kenyans do not want any more waste of time, because the economy is down, and that is a fact. However, we will support you to make sure that this economy is resuscitated only with good policies. I thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. 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.

Thank you. Now I call upon the ranking Member for Garissa Township Constituency.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I will not take much time in contributing to the Speech of the President. I have done it three times; I have contributed to the speeches of the late President Kibaki, former President Uhuru Kenyatta, and now to the only President and a friend of mine, President William Ruto. Hon. Deputy Speaker for the first time, I think his Speech was only one hour. Members who were here last time will remember that the former President Uhuru left his Speech halfway. I think he even left it at the Speaker’s place. For those who write speeches, you do not allow the President to repeat. President William Ruto did not repeat what he said during his inauguration, and his inaugural address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He will not repeat what he said yesterday, but say what is there today. The key area to pick was to make sure that the Big Four Agenda in the plan are implemented, like the UHC and affordable cheap housing for every Kenyan to live in a decent house where they turn the payment of rent into ownership of houses. Thirdly is to make sure that Kenya is food secure. Even before his Cabinet sits, he reduced the price of fertiliser, which was among his first promises. He is dealing with the drought as we speak today. He appointed the six judges who the Constitution had allowed, but because of impunity, the former President refused to have them sworn in. He called Safaricom and told them that the owners of Fuliza are known, and that they should reduce the service charge by 80 per cent. Hon. Mbadi, a ranking Member, in 30 days, what President William Ruto has done, other Presidents have not done in two years. For corruption, watch this space. If you were involved in the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) scandal or have a file, whether you belong to Kenya Kwanza Coalition or to the opposition, he categorically said he will empower and support financially the oversight in independent institutions. Some of those institutions were, for five years, captured by the State mandarins. For example, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the EACC, the Office of the Auditor-General among others. Hon. Wandayi said that when I served as Member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Controller of Budget was harassed by the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury and Planning. If there is an incident in any constituency, the Inspector-General (IG) of Police today has the capacity and the financial muscle to do his operations without any hindrance. All these were done within 30 days. President William Ruto will either be like President Kibaki, who left us with a debt of Ksh1.8 trillion, or be better. I am one person who believes that if Kenya will not change under the leadership of the chief hustler, it will never change. There is optimism and a lot of excitement in the region and Africa. Never have you seen 21 Presidents coming for inauguration. There used to be a handful of around 10 to 15. Kenya is a hub.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, we have a young, energetic, sober President who only takes tea like me. He is a good listener, and one who believes in the unity of the people. Since he was in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the United Republican Party (URP), the Jubilee coalition, and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), he has never appointed any of his relatives to this House. Compare that. His party has been appointing the marginalised women. He is a person who listens to them. Let us judge His Excellency William Ruto in a very fair way, even if you are in the opposition. Today, I am very happy that my colleague, a ranking Hon. Member, has really confirmed to all and sundry that he has taken his place in the minority and in the opposition. This country needs effective and robust opposition. It was not there last time. Last time, we did not know who formed the Government side or the opposition, because that handshake killed this country. It gave us extra Kshs7 trillion, and that is why we need to reconfigure the budget. In this House, the budget of the Parliamentary Service Commission must be ready to be slashed. 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.

We must not rush for the Chinese loans anymore. We must borrow, if we have to borrow from the multi-laterals that will give us cheaper rates at 3 per cent for longer periods. We do not want these Chinese who come with their companies and Kenyans lose because they offload their population to Kenya. Imagine a Chinese truck driver in a construction site. This House must rise to the occasion. If the House approves me, I will not allow Kenyan’s place to be occupied by foreigners. Dear colleagues, and because majority of you are new, I really want to ask you to make laws that will help our country. Even when the Government brings laws, scrutinise them. I think everybody now knows that the ‘deep state’ and the ‘system’ are fallacies. I am sure the chief is no longer deep state. The county commissioners have realised that they are not deep state. The DPP could not work as he was under orders to choose which file to take to court. The EACC had gun on their heads. They were told: “Look for the file of Hon. Aden Duale and do not take this one.” The Judiciary was muscled. The Controller of Budget could not say that counties have overshot their recurrent expenditure. Our counties are employing 50 to 60 per cent outside the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act requirement of 35 per cent. Hon. Mbadi and team, you will watch from television the way this country will change. I have no doubt. In 2002, Hon. Kiraitu Murungi said that President Moi should go home and buy a television. I am telling you to buy a television, and may God give you more years to live and watch how His Excellency President William Samoei arap Ruto will transform this country. Please, buy television. That will later come down. Hon Mbadi and the rest, in 30 days, we have stopped the subsidy of petroleum products. I am not a CS, but a Member for Garissa Township.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, you need to protect me. I am a Member and I want to thank the people of Garissa Township. They elected me four times in four different political parties; that is ODM, URP, Jubilee Coalition and now UDA. That tells you that they have the confidence in my leadership. I moved with President William Ruto, who they told me to walk with. He took me to ODM and URP, but I did not mind because I was a pastoralist. I am so happy that what I said many years ago – that I will retire in politics when His Excellency William Ruto is in Statehouse – has been achieved; and may God bless Kenya and the Government of William Ruto. I hope that this House will provide leadership. I know that we have a very vibrant opposition. We have very good leaders on the other side. Let us all work together to protect the interests of our people. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now have the Member for Konoin, who will be followed by the Member for Nandi County, and then the Member for Matungu in that order so that you can be ready.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I would like to thank the people of Konoin for giving me a second chance and voting me for the second time to be in this House to represent their interests. I also appreciate the people of Kenya for voting in President William Samoei Ruto and his deputy, Hon. Rigathi Gachagua. I also congratulate you and Hon. Speaker for being elected in the House to serve in this Parliament. In his Speech, the President captured a number of fundamental issues that are in the Kenya Kwanza manifesto. They include food, nutrition and security. The mission to scale up production in agriculture while creating jobs is one of the fundamental issues that was mentioned. Eighty per cent of farming activities in Konoin Constituency revolve around tea. Therefore, the fertiliser subsidy to lower the cost of production is welcome and will serve our people and improve production of tea. 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.

In my constituency, we also have multinational companies that are covering almost one-third of the constituency – that is the Unilever, James Finlay, and Williamson tea farming companies. In the spirit of employment that is born through agricultural production, these multinationals have exhibited some misbehaviour and bad manners. They have actually sent home more than 15,000 employees through forced early retirement, redundancy and disciplinary dismissal. This has actually rendered very many of my constituents jobless due to introduction of tea picking machines. This has done more harm than good. We need to call upon these multinational companies to exercise restraint and balance between mechanisation to optimize profits and employment. As much as we appreciate mechanisation, the multinational companies must also appreciate that the only benefit we get from them is employment. When they are no longer employing our people, they will have outlived their usefulness. I am calling upon these multinational companies to think about balancing between mechanisation to optimize profits and employment, so that we can have as many people as possible employed. The President emphasised on the hustler’s fund. This is actually to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through affordable credit that will allow them to expand businesses for mama mboga, kinyozi and the boda boda industry for them to thrive and expand in line with the bottom-up economic model. The President also talked about matters of water. He talked about raising the target of access to water from the current 60 per cent to 80 per cent. In my constituency, there was a project called Bosto Water Project. The water project was supposed to serve five constituencies – four constituencies in Bomet and one constituency in Kericho County. The project was to be financed by the Chinese Exim Bank but the previous regime sabotaged it for political reasons. In the spirit of raising the target of water coverage from 60 to 80 per cent, we hope, pray and beseech this Government to jumpstart the project because the money is still lying at the National Treasury. So, the project can start as soon as possible and we can access clean tap water. There is the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which the President spoke about. The NHIF should be restructured to enable it become fit as a social insurance scheme that caters for all, including those with chronic illnesses. It should cater for terminal diseases like cancer, as the disease has drained many families’ resources. Many families have sold their land and property to pay for hospital bills. Since the Kenya Kwanza Government has promised to restructure NHIF, we appreciate it. That is a plausible initiative. The President talked about the NG-CDF. He said it should be aligned to the Constitution because it has had a huge impact in our society. The bursaries that we give to orphans and other vulnerable people in society have helped them to achieve their goals. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. God bless Kenya.

Thank you. Next is the Member for Nandi County.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I stand here privileged to be part of the 13th Parliament. This privilege and honour has been bestowed upon me by the great people of Nandi County. I want to pass my sincere gratitude to them for having seen value in me by voting overwhelmingly for me on 9th August 2022 to come to this House. I want to tell them that I am indebted to them and will ensure that I serve them selflessly and pay back whatever they did on 9th August by ensuring that I give responsive and responsible leadership. I want to say that my voice is their voice in this House. I shall speak for every child in Nandi County. I shall speak for every girl who needs encouragement. I will speak for every woman who needs a shoulder to lean on. I will speak for every special group and every boy and man who is trying to find a footing in their lives. 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.

That said, I am a new Hon. Member in this House. My name is Cynthia Muge. I was born and raised in Nandi, probably for Nandi and this country at large. I am a daughter, a wife and a mother, all that in one complete package. By training, I am a physical planner who was trained and educated at the University of Nairobi, with a Bachelors and a Master’s degree. Every person will be wondering how this person ended up in this House. My political journey started five years ago in 2017 when I was a young girl, a tiny girl who would pass for a uniformed Form Two girl. I went into the murky waters of politics and contested for a Member of County Assembly seat. I ran, and I thank God I was given the opportunity to serve the people of Kilibwoni Ward. I want to thank the great people of Kilibwoni. It is the star and the seed that they planted in 2017 that has eventually grown very broad leaves that today cover the whole county. I want to say thank you to those great people. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the easiest part is done. The easiest part was to be elected. The hardest part now begins. The responsibility given to me is no a joke. It is enormous. I come from the same village with Chelagat Mutai, who was elected to this august House at the age of 24 years. She did a great job in this House. She stood for the people and fought for their land rights. Therefore, the people of Uasin Gishu got land. I cannot fit in her shoes, so to speak. This is because those shoes were worn at a different point in life and in a different era where things were done differently. So, I will take her lessons seriously and wear shoes of my size going forward. I hope to speak up in this House, play my constitutional role and represent the people. So, those I represent and Kenyans at large will see value for their money and every coin used by this Government. Of course, we have the assurance of the President that his administration will rely on the oversight role of this Assembly. So, I will play that role without demonisation of checks and balances. I hope through me, Kenya Kwanza will be able to implement its plans and fulfil its promises to the people of Kenya. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to say a few words about the President’s Speech, which he made last week. For the first time, we have a President who is careful and detailed. He remembered to count the number of women who were elected to this House and the number of Members who came back. This tells you a lot about him. He is a President whom, during his campaign trail, spoke about the economy. He is keen on ensuring that the economy of this country is back to where it was left by the late Mwai Kibaki and even better. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I remember that the President also spoke about healthcare. It should be noted that any person who speaks about savings is a futuristic person. He is a person who looks into the future with a view to ensuring that it will be enjoyed by everyone. He also spoke about the hustlers’ fund, taxation and housing issues affecting the people of Kenya. In as much as many Hon. Members have said that his Speech was short, I want to say that every person who has the story header has the full story. I want everyone to know that the President was trying to be brief and avoid being boring. He had the content, details, plans and roadmap on what will happen in this country. I hope all the Members in this House will be instrumental in their representation, oversight and legislation roles to ensure that the President delivers. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I want to thank you, the Hon. Members of this House and the great people of Nandi for according me this golden opportunity to speak in this House as their representative. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Nandi County for keeping time. I now call upon the Member for Matungu. Thereafter, we will have the Member for Busia County, Hon. Catherine Omanyo.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this chance to address the 13th Parliament and talk to the people of Matungu. First, I take 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.

this opportunity to congratulate you for having been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the 13th Parliament. I also want to congratulate my mentor and friend, Hon. Moses Wetangula for having been elected as the Speaker of this House. I have a history with him because he is my political mentor. When I left employment in Parliament, he was the first person to embrace me politically. He campaigned for me, gave me a ticket in his party and has mentored me up to this point in time. Secondly, I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the people of Matungu for having overwhelmingly voted for me twice in a span of two years. First in 2021 and second in 2022. This is a show of the confidence they have in me. I embrace it, promise to work for them and ensure that I achieve what I promised them during the campaigns. Let me take this opportunity to say a few words about the President’s Speech in this 13th Parliament. First, I applaud him for acknowledging the fact that the NG-CDF is important for the constituencies’ development. He encouraged us to work out something that can align it with the Constitution so that it can work for the Members of Parliament and constituents, who are the direct beneficiaries. By all means, everybody understands that the NG-CDF is an important fund for the development of constituencies. Millions and millions of children have been educated through the NG-CDF, and a lot has been achieved. Unfortunately, it is only the Judiciary that does not understand the importance of this fund, but that is a matter for another day. Hon. Deputy Speaker, other than that, I want to register my disappointments. This is because the President did not give any commitment on the revival of the sugar industry in the western region, and more so the revival of Mumias Sugar Company. I am a representative of the people of Matungu and for many years they depended on Mumias Sugar Company 100 per cent. Mumias Sugar Company collapsed with dreams and aspirations of the people of Matungu and Mumias at large. It is imperative for the Government of the day to give some importance to the revival of the sugar industry. We have sleepless nights, and we are saddened when the Government of the day decides to ignore the issue of Mumias Sugar Company. This is because it is a very thorny issue to us. The residents of Matungu are desperate since it was their only livelihood. We depended on that company 100 per cent to achieve all our dreams. Unfortunately, it collapsed. All efforts to revive the sugar company over the years have failed. For whatever reasons, everything that has been tried to revive that company has failed. Right now, we have a businessman who is trying to revive it but there are numerous court cases ongoing to stop its revival. It is high time the Government intervened and ensured that this company stands on its feet for the benefit of the people of that region. The people of Matungu are tired of being told to move from sugarcane farming. We are not going to move on. This is because sugarcane farming is the only business we know. We have tried everything else and it has failed. We have tried maize, sorghum, cassavas and even avocado farming but nothing works for us. Therefore, we want our sugarcane back and it is only the Government that can help us. If it cannot help us, then we shall remain hopeless because we are not going to move on. We are not going to do other things. So, people should stop telling us to move on. We are going to farm sugarcane, and we want it revived. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the issue of youth employment did not come out strongly in the President’s Speech. Seventy-five per cent of this country’s population consist of the youths. Where do we then take them? There is no elaborate plan for youth employment in this country. Neither is there one for people to rise against poverty. We hear of the hustlers’ fund. If the Government is serious about this fund, they should then give a good percentage of it to the farmers of Matungu and Mumias at large. This will enable them to re-plant sugarcane 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.

supply it to Mumias Sugar Company and other sugar companies. If the fund is utilized that way, it will lead to revival of the sugarcane farming industry. This country’s economy is in shambles and everyone agrees. Instead of the Government joining the wananchi in crying about the bad economy, it should give us an elaborate plan on what they are going to do to revive the economy in the shortest time possible. There is a plan that was elaborated by the President – that, we should cut down costs. Instead, why should the Government not come up with a wealth creation method? We are not in the mood of cutting costs but rather of creating wealth. Nobody is ready to surrender their allowances or whatever they have targeted just because we want to revive the economy. The first step is for the Government to give us an elaborate plan on how to revive this country’s economy, and how small enterprises are going to get a boost or a kickstart to be empowered instead of waiting to be employed in a white-collar job economy. With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Thank you. Can the Member for Busia have the Floor?

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. First, I want to thank the people of Busia for overwhelmingly voting me in. It was a landslide win for me. I will not take it for granted because the task ahead of me is to keep serving them. I have issues I want addressed and become history in Busia County. They include children crossing swamps in order for them to get to school, release of fishermen jailed in Uganda for not fishing on the Kenyan side of the lake, and helping widows, elderly persons and Persons living with Disabilities (PWDs). They need to know that they now have a mother. I want to thank them for believing that I can take care of them. The President, in his Speech, did not mention Genetically Modified Organism ( GMO) food but he is nonetheless already implementing it. Is he ignorant of the disadvantages of GMOs? From where I sit, GMOs are toxic to our bodies and cause loss of nutrition. We already have children and adults who are suffering from malnutrition in Kenya. Why then should we bring such a thing to our nation? They also cause cancer and antibiotic resistance. As Members of Parliament and leaders of this nation, we should be brought to the knowledge of some things before they are introduced to us. Kenya has natural habitats and very fertile soils. We would not like to downgrade it. The President also did not mention the issue of perforated boundaries yet we recently witnessed Kenyans dying like chicken in Baringo yet the people who perpetrate the killings are known. As a mother, I wept. Nobody should be sleeping pretty waiting to dig graves in Kenya. We want to lead people who are alive and Kenyans should not live in fear. Thank you.

Member for Tigania West. He seems not to be here. We can then have the Member for Ugenya.

Thank you so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Allow me to join fellow Members in congratulating you for being elected the Deputy Speaker of the 13th Parliament. I know who you are. I know that you take matters seriously. This Parliament is in good hands with you as the Deputy Speaker. Allow me to also take this opportunity to thank the people of Ugenya, who against all odds have stood with me to see me come back to Parliament even when everyone thought I would not. Even those who cared had written me off. 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.

I want to thank the people of Ugenya for profusely having faith in me as the person who is most able to champion their agenda, wishes, aspirations and needs at the national level in this Parliament. We are here to discuss the Speech given by the President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency William Samoei Ruto on 29th September 2022. There are things we take for granted. Some people think that they just happen. We must thank Kenyans for being peaceful, civil and mature democratically. You will appreciate the fact that our democracy is growing and maturing if you see what happens in our neighbouring countries. A time will come when elections will just be a matter of course, and will not cause jitters and panic in the country. If you looked at status of the economy before the elections and now, and if you remember what we went through during the elections, you will appreciate the fact that the President recognizes that we have come far in our democracy, which is very important. The fact that our democracy is maturing should not be taken for granted. We must continue nurturing it. The President has promised to run an accountable, open and transparent Government. As the National Assembly, we must encourage him to do so. Those of us in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, will ensure that the President carries out his role in a manner that follows the law. As someone said earlier, our President is not averse to criticism. He does not want us to be a choir in this Assembly. He has said that he does not have monopoly of knowledge. He wants to share the views of the people of this country and Parliament to ensure that what the country needs gets into his thinking and interacts with his thoughts. He has said that this Parliament should not be timid and sit back but should oversee his Government accordingly. I want to invite all of us to give the President the challenge and ensure that he runs a Government that responds to the needs of the people. Second and most important is the place of education in the growth of our economy. The hustler nation does not mean that we throw out education and anything goes. The hustler nation means that everybody who has a chance and wants to get an education, who wants to get his or her papers right or who wants to grow by ensuring that his or her children accesses the best quality education in this country, is able to get it. The President wants to run a country based on merit. So, I ask all of us not to give up on education. It is a key thing. That is why when I hear the courts rule that anybody can run for governor or Member of Parliament, and that education does not matter, I feel that we are sending the wrong signals. I ask all of us to ensure that wherever we come from, education is the only equaliser to anything in this world. If you did not go to school, you will not end up anywhere. Investing in education is something that we must keep talking about so as to ensure that we are led by the best as a country. The former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, said that you must be led by the best in your midst and those who know what is required in the country. The President talked about investing in agriculture. Our country is agriculture-based. As a people, we must ensure that we become food secure. How do we do so? We must invest at the lowest levels of the economy. Everyone who wants to farm should be able to access quality and affordable seeds, whether they are avocados, cotton, maize, millet or potatoes, as well as fertilisers. Let us ensure that everybody who is willing to use his or her energy to benefit and earn a living in this country is supported. That is why we will ensure that this Parliament sorts out the supply and demand constraints on agriculture. Let us ensure that our people are taught. Let us bring back the service officers that used to help us in agriculture. Let us ensure that our people know the modern methods of farming, cooling milk and that our farm produce does not go to waste because we do not have storage facilities. Irrigation is very important for food security and stability. The failure of Galana-Kulalu is very fresh in our minds. The failure of dams is very fresh in our minds. As an Assembly, we will ensure that there is money set aside for irrigation to ensure that our people become food 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.

secure. We must ensure that the money is used for the right reasons. Corruption should not seep into monies meant to benefit our people. I have heard so many Members say that the President did not talk about corruption. I do not believe that barking and shouting at corruption makes it go away. The approach adopted by our President to ensure that institutions that are supposed to fight corruption are well-funded, well-resourced and well-equipped speaks for itself. I was in the last Parliament when the former President brought us a list of Principal Secretaries and Cabinet Secretaries who he claimed were corrupt. To date, none of them has ever been convicted by a court of law. I do not think we should ask our President to talk about corruption. We should ask those whom we have given that job to do by law. There is no law that requires the President to fight corruption. The law that was passed by the Assembly, and that which is set out in the Constitution, establishes the EACC as the body that fights corruption; not the President. We want the President to ensure that he does not try to stop any prosecutions or investigations. However, saying that the President must talk about, or fight corruption is quite weak. We have had guys who talked about corruption every day, saying that they would fight it and deal with it but people steal right under their noses, and they do not talk about it. The approach by the President to nurture institutions is the best. On this issue, I insist that the DCI, EACC and our courts are to blame. As an Assembly, we must ensure that we put them on their toes, not the President. Corruption seeps everywhere in this country, including in nursery and primary schools. There is corruption everywhere you go. I do not think the President has a thousand eyes to check how we live. In my opinion, fighting corruption requires a concerted effort. We must all play a role. We should not just say corruption is bad and when you are found to be corrupt, you say it is a witch-hunt. We must put the blame where it lies. The President proposed a very good housing project. All we need to do as an Assembly is to ensure that if a house is being built in Kisumu, the doors are bought in Kisumu. If you are building houses in Kakamega, let the doors, hinges and windows be produced in Kakamega. Finally, Hon. Deputy Speaker, this President means well. We cannot pray that he fails. If he fails, we fail. I ask all of us here, both the Majority and the Minority sides, to pray for this President to succeed. Let us help him succeed for if he succeeds, we succeed; and the country succeeds. Thank you so much.

Let us hear the Member for Baringo North.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. First and foremost, I thank God through the people of Baringo North, who gave me an opportunity to become a Member of Parliament in this 13th Parliament, a dream that started in 1984 when I was in Standard Four. When I saw Parliament then, I said that that was truly where I shall be in many years to come. I also thank the people of Baringo North in all their wards, their religious leaders, those who prayed for me and the Simba ni Moja campaign team, which delivered victory in military precision. I also thank the people of Baringo North, together with the people of Kenya, for giving His Excellency the President William Samoei Ruto an opportunity to become the fifth President of the Republic of Kenya, together with his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua. More specifically, over the weekend, the people of Baringo North told me to convey thanks to the people of Mount Kenya who gave us many votes, together with other Kenyans who gave us an opportunity to elect His Excellency President William Samoei Ruto as our fifth President. As elected representatives, we had an opportunity to elect you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, and the Speaker of the National Assembly. I congratulate you first, as citizens, secondly, as Members of Parliament and thirdly, as the product of our elections. Congratulations, Hon. Deputy Speaker, together with the Speaker of the National Assembly. 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.

Now turning to the President’s Speech, His Excellency President William Ruto is a product of God’s work. This is a man who was fought by all manner of things, including by the system, Government machinery and State capture but through prayers, none of them succeeded. It gives us freedom as a country that the son of a pauper from a village, like me, whose first mattress was the skin of a cow, can one day rise to become the President of Kenya. I also want to congratulate the Members who have been elected for the first time, just like myself, to be in this 13th Parliament. They are being referred to as ‘monos’. We may be ‘monos’ here, but mentally we are not ‘monos’ and we cannot be taken for a ride. We have the power to debate and propose legislation that can actually change the country into a positive trajectory. To our senior colleagues, I also want to congratulate you because you utilised the NG-CDF well and it brought you back here. Teach us how to come back the next time we face elections. On the President’s Speech, the Kenya Kwanza Government has a bigger mandate across the political divide in this country. In the last election, William Samoei Ruto got 25 per cent in 39 counties. The performance has progressively moved from 30 counties in 2013 and 34 counties in 2017 to 39 counties in this year’s election. That means he has a broader mandate and acceptance across Kenya. That is why immediately the results were announced and even during the Supreme Court judgment, Kenyans kept their cool and gave the country a breathing space to be able to transact business. On unity of purpose, we have one President. Any other person is subject to the President and must transact business in a manner that is acceptable to all Kenyans regardless of how they voted in the last election. Similarly, whether my constituents voted for me or not, I will serve them justly because it was a competition. Once we have a winner, we should treat all people the same way without discrimination. Even the nominees for Cabinet appointment are spread across Kenya. That brings unity in our country. On the matter of what is called Fuliza, access to credit by the people of Kenya is not enough. I want to congratulate the President for intervening, but it is not enough. I was doing research and realised that the base interest rate of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is 4.5 per cent. I am looking forward to a time when a borrower in Kenya will access loans at 3 per cent per annum so that they will be able to do business. For a long time in this country, Kenyans have been working for banks instead of banks working for Kenyans. I will be one of those Members of Parliament who will propose legislation to bring down interest rates charged on Kenyans who borrow money to do business. That is the only way we can make profits, have businesses that prosper and even reduce taxes. The biggest town in my constituency is called Kabarnet. Women go to Uganda to bring clothes. I wonder how people go to a landlocked country like Uganda to buy goods and services. Why? It is because there are too many taxes in our country. We should look at a situation where we reduce taxes, including Value Added Tax (VAT). If we were able to reduce VAT during the outbreak of COVID-19, why can we not reduce it now when the situation is normal? We should reduce VAT to 12 per cent so that Kenyans can do business. The hustler nation’s Government talks about spreading bottom taxes so that we have more productivity but we can also reduce VAT and PAYE. The other day when we were being served with payslips, I could see money being given by the right hand and taken by the left hand. As Members of this House, we must look at legislation to ensure taxes do not become punitive to the people of Kenya. We must reduce taxes to attract investors to bring money to our country so that we can do much more and develop as a country. I want to agree with His Excellency the President on the issue of agriculture and irrigation. Hon. Members, if we do not ensure food security in this country—if our stomachs are not sorted out—no matter what we do, nothing will develop in this country. Let us first of all sort out food security so that we have food on the table for people to work. We can even 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.

move from a middle-income economy to a first-world economy. If we can practise irrigation and stop reliance on rain-fed agriculture, we shall change. Finally, if we sort out school fees, food and health services through Universal Health Coverage (UHC), this country will change for ever. We will have sorted out the fundamentals that affect human life. I want to rest my case. In the coming years, I will do more in this Parliament to reshape the direction of development in this country. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you. Now we will have the Member for Isiolo County after whom we will have the Member for Kilifi North and the Member for Naivasha. Allow the Member to make his intervention.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. This being the last afternoon to discuss the Presidential Address, I kindly seek your indulgence to direct the House to reduce time allocated for each Member to five minutes so that we can have ample time to contribute to the Speech. In as much as we know that we are yet to make our maiden speeches, I implore you to reduce the speaking time for each Member to five minutes.

Given that the debate had already begun, that can only happen if the House so agrees. There was another intervention by the Member for Kajiado East.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to second the proposal by the Member. Every Member wants to get an opportunity to contribute to the Speech of the President. So, I support. Thank you.

Hon. Members, since it is not procedural to change speaking time in the middle of debate, I think that is something Members can agree upon. Whoever gets the next opportunity, try to make your contribution as brief as you can. Some Members have already done so. I think we can proceed. Member for Isiolo.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I wish to take this opportunity, first of all, to thank the Almighty Allah for his guidance and goodness that has seen me through all the hurdles in my journey to this House as the people’s representative. I also wish, in a special way and with so much humility, to thank the people of Isiolo for the honour, trust and confidence they conferred on me by resoundingly electing me as their county woman Member of Parliament against all odds. Indeed, Isiolo people demonstrated the meaning of democracy in its truest form by electing me to the 13th Parliament, in an election that was intensely contested and strongly characterised by, sadly, not real issues affecting ordinary people or competencies on the part of candidates seeking leadership positions, but by narratives that were heavily informed by tribal and clan entitlements, endorsements and formations that almost destroyed the social fabric on which Isiolo communities advance their well-being. As their representative, I proudly stand here today to celebrate the resilience and determination that was shown by the ordinary people of Isiolo County in maintaining peace and brotherhood in their grand match to the ballot, where they expressed their will through their votes as the ultimate decision makers. On this day, I make a solemn promise not to let them down but to serve them diligently. I will now move on to matters which affect the people of Isiolo County, which is arid and semi-arid. I would like to refer to the Address by His Excellency the President on the drought situation in our country and interventions that have been made by the Government so far. I wish to clearly state here that the situation on the ground has now moved from drought to famine. People are now dying of hunger. There is no water for both human and livestock consumption. We appreciate the food consignment that was flagged off by His Excellency the 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.

President. However, I wish to state here that, looking at how the situation is evolving, more action needs to be taken urgently so as to save both human lives and livelihoods. Continuous food relief is needed from now until five to six months after the rains. When it rains, hunger persists up to when farmers harvest first and animals bounce back strongly. I advise that in future, food distribution should be guided by the number of households in a sub- location and the population in an area. I am saying this because I am sad to report to this House that the consignment that was flagged off by His Excellency the President ended up at household level as just one kilogramme of rice and one kilogramme of beans. Looking at the situation on the ground, this will not change anything, if we are actually serious about addressing the situation. Once again, the President talked about climate change. He pointed out climate mitigation measures that include reducing greenhouse emissions to lessen the effects of climate change. While we appreciate that, what the President’s Speech missed out was the adaptation part of climate change. As we all know, the effects of climate change are already upon us. We must find ways to cope with it. This needs to happen at both national and local levels. As a country, we will continue experiencing the effects of climate change in the foreseeable future. It is important that we begin the journey on how we can cope with it. In this regard, for effective adaptation to take place, as a country, we need to invest and make use of climate information in all our planning and development decisions. It is not right that we are always surprised by failed rains and the drought situation in our country. As such, we fail to act in good time to save lives and livelihoods. I am still debating on the President’s Address. I was saddened by the fact that he did touch on the security situation in my county and the entire northern Kenya. For a very long time now, insecurity in northern Kenya, and specifically in Isiolo County, has been a matter of great concern. For example, Merti Sub-County has now become a battle field where militias from Wajir, Marsabit and Samburu East walk in at will, kill, maim and drive off herds of livestock belonging to the locals, with so much impunity. Lack of security has displaced families. Schools have closed down and Government services are not being rendered to the people. Strategic water points and grazing areas like Yamicha, Nyachis and Kom have been abandoned by locals. This makes Isiolo people more vulnerable to the biting drought situation as they now lack access to key resources that were once their drought fall-back areas. A week hardly ends without an attack from these neighbours. Over the last three years, we buried a countless number of people with no trace and hope of recovering the herds of cattle that have been stolen. To put the matter into correct perspective, the pastoralists and their herds of cattle in Isiolo County survive severe drought situations only to be killed and their herds of cattle stolen by militia from Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa or Samburu East. This has gone on unabated for far too long. As a matter of urgency, it is time the State moved in to look into the underlying drivers of these conflicts with the intention to address the matter decisively and restore back respect for people’s lives and their properties, as guaranteed in our Constitution. As I conclude, I wish to make an appeal to the Government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), well-wishers and all Kenyans to remember the Kenyans who are now starving to death. We need to come together in the Kenyan spirit, like we have always done, to save the situation.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Member for Kilifi North.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. First, I would like to congratulate you on your election as our Deputy Speaker. I wish you all the best in your new role. You have previously served this august House very well, especially, when you were in the Committee on Delegated Legislation, we saw your ability 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.

commitment to work for Kenyans – a trait I am sure you will use in your new role as you lead this House. I am happy to thank first the people of Kilifi North this afternoon for giving me a second opportunity to lead and represent them in this House. I would like to thank them for electing me despite the fact that I vied on a ticket of a party that faced a very hostile environment in that region. However, God was there and I am here. Thirdly, I would like to congratulate and to note with thanks the President’s Speech. He spoke with passion, commitment and the heart of a man who is ready to take up the challenge of leading this country to the next level. The President reiterated that this country and our democracy have come of age. For the first time, we have six more women who were elected to this House. Therefore, we have increased their numbers. That gives us confidence that women leadership is on the rise. This is exhibited even more by having a female Deputy Speaker in this House. This further reiterates the President’s sentiments. I look forward to having more women leaders in this Parliament so that we can bridge the gender gap.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, if you look at the elections again, as noted by the President, this time we had 39 counties that voted for the President. That is up from 34 counties in the previous general election. What does this mean? This country is becoming more tolerant. Our democracy is becoming more mature. Our democracy is taking shape given that we can now vote not based on our ethnicity but on ideas and national agenda. People can now cast their votes based on an agenda put on the table. People in this country voted on an economic agenda. Everybody felt the economy was going down. Everybody understood that we had to have better ideas on the economy. Every voter knew that it was the economy that was hurting most of us. Therefore, they went to the ballot and voted for one William Samoei Ruto because he had a better economic agenda. I would like to tell Kenyans that however tough the economic times are, we have better days ahead. These are just the pangs someone feels when giving birth but we are looking at a better Kenya in terms of the economy. I want to assure them that those of us in the Kenya Kwanza Government will strive to make the economy better. We have the ideas, the minds and the people. You have seen for the first time a President who is not talking about anything else but the economy. He left the comfort of his office to go to where Safaricom and other players were together and he talked about Fuliza . Today you saw him at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) talking about how to make the NSE available to everybody. He is a President who is keen on serving the country and changing the economic fortunes of this country.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, this country cannot move forward unless and until we are accountable for the resources given to us. This Parliament must put its foot down to look at accountability. We have had haemorrhage of resources. This country lost a lot of money in the past regime through corruption and dubious projects that were being done to serve other people’s pockets and not this country. We had the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) scandal and roads that are being built at a cost that is so astronomical that even baffles the engineers who designed them. Somebody sitting at a table is briefed by engineers that a road will cost us Kshs10 million but he says, “No, make it Kshs30 million.” That is the amount of money that we have spent and it is unnecessary. That is why I support the President when he says that we can comfortably cut the Budget of this country by Kshs300 billion. We can comfortably do that because many projects done by the past regime have had exorbitant unnecessary costs to them. The costs were estimated not by engineers but because somebody else said, “I want to make money out of this project. Therefore, increase the cost.”

I want to tell Kenyans that this Parliament must stand firm. Even those of us in the Kenya Kwanza Government must stand firm to hold this Government accountable for every cent that we give it so that Kenyans can have value for money. 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.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, one of the things I would like to speak about, which the President touched on, is about having confidence in our independent institutions like the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Judiciary. Immediately after the court ruling, people started lambasting the Judiciary. Just because they lost a case, they want to make the whole world believe that we have the worst Judiciary. What about those international businessmen who are looking at coming into this country because they have confidence in the Judiciary of this country? A time has come that when you lose a case, you dust your coat and go home. You say you have lost fairly instead of lambasting the Judiciary. The Judiciary has had a bad name just because one person lost a petition. The IEBC has been vilified just because somebody lost an election. Fellow Members of Parliament, I would like us to build confidence in our institutions. That is the only way to move the democracy of this country forward. It is one of the things that the President noted. More importantly is that this country needs to come together. The last election pulled the ends of this country. It is time we brought this country together. The 13th Parliament could be the organ to bring this country together. It is one of the things that the President talked about. Fellow Members, it is time we preached peace, national cohesion, togetherness and unity and brought this country together again so that the divide or the archaism that has been brought about because of an election can end. We should bring this country together, start working together as a nation, and build a cohesive country. That is the only way we can take this country forward.

As I congratulate you, Hon. Deputy Speaker and the Hon. Speaker Wetangula, I would also want to thank the Kenya Kwanza brigade. I also thank the President for giving the Coastal region opportunity to have one of our own as the Speaker of the Senate. This is something that is commendable. The people of the Coast know that this Government has taken care of their interests, for the first time. As we move forward, there are things that must be taken care of. The issue of water, especially in Kilifi and Ganze constituencies is serious. I would like the President to keep his promise—that he will build big dams there to ensure that the people of Kilifi do not die of hunger again.

The question of landlessness or squatters at the Coast needs to end in this Government. As I wind up my speech, I would like to ask fellow Members of Parliament some things. As we move together in the 13th Parliament, let us move on a bipartisan agenda and approach so that we can heal this country and move forward. God bless Kenya. Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Thank you. Let us have the Member for Naivasha. The Member for Wajir will follow so that he does not come up here. Then we will have the Member for Kericho, and so on. Most of you will have a chance. Thank you.

Thank you for this chance, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I will make my contribution short because my kid brothers here tell me that their constituents are watching. They are on the television wanting to see them speak. I will make it short.

First and foremost is to congratulate you on your election as the Deputy Speaker, together with the Speaker. I know you are equal to the task. We have come a long way. We have done a lot of work for our party and President right from the season of wamama . I would also like to plead with our President to give positions to our fallen soldiers—the ladies who went around this country campaigning for this Government.

I wish to congratulate all the Members who found themselves in this House, whichever route they used to come to this place. We know it was rigorous and difficult. So, it is upon us 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.

to honour our people by working for them. I applaud Kenyans for the way they conducted themselves during the elections. This is the most peaceful election that has happened in this country in a long time. As leaders, we all owe it to Kenyans. We should applaud them because of the way we did our politics.

The President spoke about the many things he is prepared for. What we know is that what he said is what he means and this is what he wants to do for this country. This is what he went around promising Kenyans. We know he is a sober President, hands-on and very hardworking. We know this is going to happen. I also wish to thank him for giving us a Cabinet Secretary from Nakuru, which has never happened since Independence. The First Parliament had Mark Mwithaga as an Assistant Minister. We have also had Mirugi Kariuki, Koigi Wamwere, Gitahi Ngaruro, Lee Kinyanjui and myself, who have served as assistant ministers in previous Governments. For once, we have a Cabinet Secretary, Zachary Njeru, and we thank the President for that.

On the NG-CDF, I was in the pioneer committee when the relevant law was passed, which was sponsored by Eng. Muriuki Karue. I have also been a wife to a Member of Parliament who did not have the NG-CDF. This made me hate politics because I would see my husband sell cows and the whole amount would be donated to building classrooms or for development. The NG-CDF is the best thing that ever happened in this country. It is upon all of us to support the NG-CDF, so that it is aligned to the Constitution. As I speak, there are many students we take to school through the NG-CDF that have been sent home. We have just come from campaigns and we do not have anything to give to them when they come to us. This is one of the things that we must support.

The President talked about the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). The CBC taskforce is very important. I have been to schools and found mothers knitting for their children. This makes one to wonder whose assignment that is. Whose work will the teacher mark? The taskforce is important because we do not want to scrap the CBC, but we want to get the best.

On drought in the country, many people have said that it should be declared a national disaster. There are families that sleep without food. As we wait for agricultural products and fertiliser prices to be lowered, let us address the current drought situation.

The President also talked about the UHC. I wish to thank the President for nominating women to the Cabinet. The current number of women in the Cabinet is the highest we have had in this country. He had promised that 50 per cent of his Cabinet would be women. This did not happen, but at least, as women, we have got the biggest chunk in his Government.

I wish to congratulate the single constituency women Members. This is the greatest achievement. In the 8th Parliament, we had eight women, which means there were only two elected at the constituency level because the rest were nominated. In the 9th Parliament, we were 18, with only 12 elected. This time round, we are 29 women and we were 23 in the last Parliament. We are catching up. At this pace, you may find the gentlemen fighting for the one-third gender principle. As women, we should work hard and give Kenyans the confidence that we can do better than our male colleagues.

I support the President’s Speech.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Every speaker before me has congratulated you and the Speaker for your election. I know you have been inundated with so many congratulatory messages. I wish to join my colleagues in congratulating you for your election as the Deputy Speaker and the Speaker himself. That position is well deserved. Secondly, the people of Wajir North are worth being celebrated. They elected me to Parliament in the 11th Parliament, sent me on leave in the 12th Parliament and they felt wise 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.

that I should be back to represent them in the 13th Parliament. For that, I am grateful and I shall remain indebted to them. Fast-forward to the Presidential Speech, I am proud to have elected His Excellency the President. I come from an area that is majorly painted orange and red and it was not easy to win on a United Democratic Alliance ticket. It was not an easy battle to face seven Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance candidates against one from Kenya Kwanza. Luckily, I triumphed. The President’s Address was apt on the various issues facing the country. Of concern to me were issues of constitutionalism. His Excellency the President appointed the six judges who had gone through the due process in their recruitment, as was done by the Judicial Service Commission. The only role left for the then President, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, was to appoint the six judges. That was not done. However, I am happy that the newly elected Fifth President of Kenya has fidelity to the law and has appointed the six judges accordingly. I am also happy that in his Address, he affirmed that the Judiciary Fund shall be operationalised. This is a great move towards constitutionalism. He also emphasised the fact that the Judiciary shall cascade its services to the constituency level, taking justice to the people, so that they can handle the many cases by the locals at the grassroots, more so commercial and corruption cases. I was taken aback when a previous speaker mentioned that the President did not address corruption issues. Actually, the President made a bold undertaking that he would devolve the Judiciary to the constituency level to ensure that commercial and corruption cases are expedited accordingly. This is the first time this is happening in the history of this republic. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the President has brought hope to the rule of law by ensuring that the Inspector-General of Police is the accounting officer as espoused in the Constitution, and that this is fully implemented. That was a bold move that we expected from him and he did it in the first few days in office. The other issue that the President addressed is that he implored the House to review the Standing Orders so that we can have the Executive on the Floor of this House for us to interrogate them on matters policy and service delivery. That is welcome, but we should be a bit cautious on matters of separation of powers. Separation of powers is thin and it is well needed. We must not confuse different arms of Government, but it is important that this House’s previous position is restored to when the Question Time was the most interesting time of debate in Parliament. Further, the President talked about agriculture. He emphasised that it is important to handle maters of production than the easy approaches to levies and subsidies. I appreciate his move and I feel that it is the right way to go. He spoke about agriculture from an expert oriented position. On matters business environment, Kenya is the first, if not second, in Africa and the world, most unequal country. The GDP is in the hands of 8,300 people only, according to the latest statistics from Oxfam. About 8,300 own 99 per cent of the GDP of this country. The President emphasised and promised that he would improve on the business environment to make sure that the inequality gap is reduced accordingly. Further, he talked about the PPP in regard to access to water. He promised to increase access to water from 60 per cent to 80 per cent. That is a welcome move. Water is a basic need, more so in the rural communities and in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). In as much as I appreciate his approach, emphasis is given to either public or foreign investors who have the bigger muscle and what happens ordinarily is capital flight. I would urge the President to consider small-scale investors so that they can also go into the partnership to sell and deliver water to earn money. Otherwise, the approach with regard to the PPP is welcome and that brings me to the Bute Water Pan, which is a presidential flagship project he has been following for the last 10 years. I hope he will consider the Bute Water Pan in Wajir as part of the PPP that he promised 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.

On the UHC, the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) as it stands carries the name ‘insurance’, but really does not operate like an insurer. It comes under the regulation and the supervision of the Insurance Regulatory Authority as it is in our statutes, but every year, it requests for a waiver, so that it is not supervised like private insurance companies. That is to tell you that it is always hiding behind the name ‘insurance’. It does not collect premiums. I actually appreciate the approach the President has taken to overhaul the NHIF and rebrand it to make sure it is a universal health care giver. Finally, I can see the lights are on, but the President emphasised on drought, which is ravaging Wajir North and other ASALs areas. I think we need to reconsider and re-strategise on matters drought. We must bring on preparedness so that we can mitigate drought before it strikes. Otherwise, I appreciate and support the President’s Speech. Thank you, Hon Deputy Speaker.

Thank you, Member for Wajir North. I actually took you seriously when you said that you wanted the time limited to five minutes. Obviously, it did not apply to you, maybe to the other Members.

I now call upon the Member for Kericho, Member 001 of the 13th Parliament. Kindly help her with the microphone. .

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. First, I thank God for enabling all of us to be here and most importantly, for the peaceful elections. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I would like to congratulate you in a very special way for being elected to that position. Receive greetings from the people of Kericho especially the women. In the 12th Parliament, there were some fracas on the Floor of the House and the late Hon. Laboso had water poured on her. This time round, the women told me to be there for you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, before anything of that nature happens. I will always wear flat shoes to enable me swing to your defence. Secondly, I congratulate the Speaker, who is a seasoned politician. He deserves this position having risen through the ranks in Parliament for all the years. I would like to thank the people of Kericho County who gave me the opportunity to come to Parliament. This is a dream that I had for so many years. I remember when I was in Class Six, we had a debate between the pupils in Class Six and Class Seven, entitled “A teacher is better than a donkey driver”. I was a proponent of the donkey driver. I was not eloquent, but I somehow represented my class and we won the debate. It was at that point that I appreciated my debating skills. As I thank the people of Kericho, I must confess that being Member No. 001 in the 13th Parliament is no mean feat. My making it to the 13th Parliament is by God’s grace and the trust by my people of Kericho. I promise that I will work hard and discharge my duties diligently as per the oath that I took to oversee, legislate and represent. Today, being the International Day for the girl-child, I believe the Speaker may have knowingly or unknowingly allowed you the opportunity to preside over today’s Sitting. I pray that every girl-child in this country enjoys this day. I dedicate my speech to the many girls who are in school, the women who are working hard to support their families and put food on the table, and those working in tea and coffee plantations, quarries and mama mbogas (grocers). As we celebrate the girl-child today, I pray that we do not just support them materially, but encourage them to be more innovative, creative and fight for their space. Having said that, I congratulate all the women Members who made it to this 13th Parliament. I appreciate the President who upheld the two-third gender rule when it came to the appointment of the Cabinet Secretaries. He said he did his part and I believe this House will 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.

uphold all the nominees for the positions. I congratulate Hon. Florence Bore, my predecessor. I am here because she got another position, but I hope this House will uphold her position. Hon. Deputy Speaker, there are many issues facing women such as gender-based violence (GBV). We have cases of suicide happening around the country particularly in Kericho County. We have many stressed women in need of psychosocial support. I commit to work closely with the three arms of Government especially the Executive and the Legislature, to ensure that women have their space. The President’s Speech was just the best. It was very short, but full of wisdom. He applied what we call the mini skirt rule; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to maintain interest. At the end of the Speech, Members were very excited. He gave us his roadmap towards implementation of the bottom-up economic model approach. He highlighted the key steps in which the Government intends to use to achieve full realisation of his agenda. As I said, he appreciated the women leadership. Secondly, he talked about investing in agriculture by reducing the cost of production. This is very important and we will review the legislation that will moderate issues on export and taxation of agricultural products. Agriculture is key in Kenya. This is the main area that gives us economic empowerment. I pray that we put more emphasis on the same. We are not only concerned about food security, but economic empowerment. On UHC, the President is concerned about a more effective, affordable and efficient system. In his plan, he talked about maternity and the provision of diapers for women with children under three months. This made me think of getting one more child to appreciate the Government’s programme of free diapers for three months. I will come so that we can discuss and I think you should join me. We appreciate the Government in supporting women by providing diapers for three months. That will help our women who have children. Our health is our wealth, and this will be good for us. On the issue of housing, it is very important that we have the land, but more importantly, we should also have other enablers so that the housing programme can help many of our people. I see the lights are on, but I want to add one more point. Our people are waiting for the hustler’s fund. They already have groups. We want to see it done in the right way. The department at the Ministry that will take care of the hustler’s fund will have to do it well so that people do not miss out. Hustlers are waiting for it and they are ready to be helped. This will cover everybody. It will help mama mboga, all the hawkers and everybody who is concerned with this.

Member for Kwale County. Since the Member for Kwale County is not here, we can have Member for Webuye East. Yes, honourable investor, Martin Wanyonyi, as the name says. Is that correct?

Webuye East, FORD-K): Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I am honoured to speak for the first time on the Floor of this House on behalf of the people of Webuye East. I want to congratulate you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your election. I also want to congratulate our Speaker, Hon. Moses Masika Wetangula, for his election as our Speaker in the 13th Parliament. I also want to congratulate my great people of Webuye East for the trust and the confidence they bestowed upon me as their third Member of Parliament. I was born in a very humble, but a hardworking family, a family that trusted in my capability of being somebody and also my possibility of pursuing my God-given dream. When I was born, I was blessed with two very important things. One of those things that I was blessed with is this condition of albinism. I am certain that if today you visit Mandera County or any other part of this country, and you ask any child about the composition of the 13th Parliament, that child will tell that we have 348 Members of the National Assembly and one mzungu in the Assembly, which I am so proud of. 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.

I am also proud and happy that God blessed me, and I was born in the Republic of Kenya, a country whose citizens believe that their rights are not given by their Government, but they are given by their God and it is the duty of the Government to protect those rights. That is why the Kenyan citizen can choose what they want and can elect the leaders they want. That is why today, even with my status and condition, I was elected as a Member of Parliament, and that is why William Samoei Ruto, a chicken seller, was elected as the Fifth President of the Republic Kenya. Even on the face of the system, the deep State and the Government opposition, he was elected. I also want to congratulate and thank my Speaker because he led the team and the region that made the difference in who was elected President and who lost. I want to thank him for the support and for the relationship that he gave us. Hon. Deputy Speaker, it is also said that to whom much is given, much is expected. I won in all the wards in my constituency. I am inheriting a constituency that is still very young, that has been in existence for only 10 years under the 2010 Constitution. My people are in need of infrastructure. Schools are still not doing well, and many people lost their families and their marriages broke up because of the collapse of Pan Paper Mills. I just want to promise them that my experience as MCA - being nominated in 2013, elected in 2017, now elected as Member of Parliament - is a true testimony that I lead what Kenya Kwanza stands for. I am a true testimony of how bottom-up can work. Being nominated, elected as an MCA and now a Member of Parliament, I am sure the sky is the limit. Tutapanga maneno hapo mbele. I want to assure my people that we are going to do whatever we can. We are going to go out of our way to ensure that we realise every plan, every strategy and every manifesto that we promised them. I just want to ask them for their support and walk with me in this journey so that we can transform our constituency together. From the outset, I just want to thank the President for his Speech. Through it, he was able to demonstrate that he does not believe in quantity, but in quality, preciseness and in unequivocalness. This is why his Speech was precise, simple and to the point. I want to also thank the President because while the former President, Uhuru Kenyatta believed so much in big things and initiating big projects, I am happy with the current President, the Kenya Kwanza's and the Fifth President. I want to thank him because he believes in very simple and few things that are important to the Republic of Kenya and its citizens. That is why in the inaugural Speech, he talked about universal healthcare and the transformation of agriculture.

Hon. Members who are at the bench, your exchange with the clerks is amounting to harassment as I can hear the conversation. We still have three hours and everyone who is on the list will get a chance to speak. You may proceed.

(Webuye East, FORD-K)

Member for Kitutu Chache South

Thank you for this opportunity, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I first want to congratulate you and the Speaker for your election to the offices in the National Assembly. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the Members, elected and nominated. I take this opportunity to congratulate the President and his deputy on their election. Mine is a unique story of sheer resilience, determination and relentlessness. My story should inspire young people of this country that just like Eliud Kipchoge says: ''No human is limited'', we should never give up. My political journey started while in campus in 2007. I ran for elections in 2013. In 2017, I came close to winning. Without losing enthusiasm, in 2022, I got elected overwhelmingly by the people of Kitutu Chache South. I want to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful people of Kitutu Chache South for electing me to serve them. I thank team Kibagendi, those are the people who were running the campaign and I hope we will continue working together. The President gave a short and inspiring Speech. I particularly appreciate his focus that he wants to work towards, namely, lowering the cost of living and aligning the NG-CDF with the Constitution since the Fund has been life-changing especially on matters to do with education and security in the countryside. On matters to do with the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), I have been a victim of being denied a loan because of a small default I had with a mobile loan and that injured my standing in society.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, the President spoke very much about food security, agriculture and various other issues like the universal health care. I want to confirm that Kitutu Chache South is the only constituency in the larger Gusii region that has no inch of tarmac other than the highway going to Kisumu. We are hoping that we will be considered this time round. I wish to also appreciate the former Member of Parliament Hon. Richard Onyonka, and the Constituency Fund Manager, Mr. Kimutai, for the wonderful job they did. We have great projects that have been done by the NG-CDF. I wish the Member for Garissa Township stayed longer. He is an excellent debater and I wish he could be with us. He should have turned down the opportunity to serve as a Cabinet Secretary and join us in the House, so that he can help us in checking the Executive because he does a very good job. Even today, he pushed our party chairman to buy a television and watch how His Excellency William Ruto will do his work. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I served as an advisor to our President while he was the Deputy President and I have no doubt he will do a wonderful job with the opportunity that he has been given. I hope the Opposition will be objective and focus on its role unlike what we witnessed in the past five years where we did not seem to have a proper opposition that was checking the excesses of the Executive. I hope the Executive will focus on its mandate and not open aggressive policies like we saw in the past where they failed to honour court orders. Finally, I hope the President and his Cabinet will instil discipline especially in the Civil Service. I thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity. I again want to thank the people of Kitutu Chache South for allowing me to serve them.

Hon. Members, you will all get an opportunity. Be patient with the clerks, we will get to you because we still have until 8.00 pm. Thank you. Member for Baringo County.

(Baringo CWR, UDA

Thank you, Member for Baringo. Let us have the Member for Kisumu Central. He is not here? Member for Starehe Constituency? Member for Mathare.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. From the outset, allow me to join fellow Members who have congratulated you on your election as Deputy Speaker. I have no doubt that you and Hon. Speaker, both distinguished lawyers and jurists, will take this House to heights higher than where you found it.

From the outset, I would like to say that I am a student of Hon. Deputy Speaker, a lawyer by profession. If I have turned out to be a poor or good lawyer, she would be responsible for it, but I am sure it is the latter. In my final year of school, I was among the top 10 students whom she took to Washington DC to the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. I am happy that we did a good job under her leadership and stewardship. I was in the 12th Parliament and saw the zeal and industry that she put in the committees she was in, especially the Select Committee on Delegated Legislation. I am sure that if she translates that zeal to the House, we will be so much the better. So, I congratulate you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, as I also congratulate the Speaker. This is my second term, but it is my third attempt at being a Member of Parliament. Way back in 2013 when I was still trying to cut my political teeth in the same constituency, Hon. Speaker, Moses Wetangula, was gracious enough to call and give me my first direct ticket as a member of the FORD-K Party. I returned with 8,000 votes and I am eternally grateful for that opportunity. I also thank the people of Mathare for electing me for a second time to represent them in a very diverse constituency - one that is the face of Kenya. If you come to Mathare Constituency, you will find every conceivable tribe there. If you think you will be elected in Mathare by your tribal majority or numeracy, you will be shocked because if I were to benchmark it against my tribe, I am actually third in terms of numerical numbers. I do not take it for granted. Secondly, there is a slang phrase they use in Mathare “ hapa unanawa mara moja. ” If you were to translate it, it simply means that you wash your hands once. Every Member of Parliament before me served for only one term and exited. So, I thank them. I will take my work seriously and diligently. We laid the foundation in the first term, and I will do everything possible to ensure that the trust and confidence that they have bestowed upon me as the people of Mathare shall not be disappointed. Lastly on that issue, before I go to the Speech, I thank my family for constantly and steadfastly standing behind me throughout the last campaigns and the previous ones. I thank them. I now want to go to the President’s Speech. I wanted to paraphrase the skirt principle that was alluded to by the Member for Kericho. My law professor, another one, not the current Speaker, used to say that when you are faced with a question in an exam paper, a good answer 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.

to a question is like a lady’s skirt. It is short enough to excite and long enough to cover the substance. Well, the jury is still out as to whether the President’s Speech excited the base enough. When I say “base”, I mean the election promises that were made under the Kenya Kwanza plan. The jury is still out, in my view, as to whether it was long enough to cover the substance. Listening to a number of Members, quite some ground was covered, but there are other issues that were not quite well-covered. Secondly, Hon. Deputy Speaker, I wanted to speak to the issue of the tone. In my view, the tone of the Speech was moderate. This was an opportunity for the President to try and bring together the more than 6.9 million Kenyans who still felt aggrieved, for one reason or the other, and those who did not vote for him. However, to my disappointment, looking at Paragraph 11, if I was to quickly glean through what the President said, it amounted to a trolling of his chief opponent, the Right Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga. In that paragraph, he said that it is only in Kenya where a sitting Deputy President becomes the candidate of the opposition, and the opposition leader becomes the candidate of the Government, and that the candidate of the opposition becomes the President. I thought that was an opportunity not to rub salt in the wounds of the 6.9 million people who he clearly stated at his inauguration that he will be President of, whether they voted for him or not. I thought that that was an opportunity to try and rally everybody together, both the seven million who voted for him, and those who did not. Going forward, I hope presidential speeches will be corrected. These include the ones that I witnessed at the burial of the Deputy President’s brother, where some of our Members still seemed to be in an election mood and were trying to pull back the President into rubbing salt in the wounds of the losers in a manner that suggested that while the people who lost have moved on and are trying to heal, the victors apparently seem to find pleasure in trying to bring those people back and rubbing salt in their wounds. Going forward, I hope the President will correct that. The first point that I noted that I want to speak to is on the issue of oversight. In Paragraph 16 of the Speech, the President indicated that he would try to ensure that institutions work, that Parliament provides oversight, and that members of the Cabinet are here to answer Questions as part of enhancing that oversight. I would like to go back to Paragraph 11 and paraphrase it. He said that it was only in Kenya where we have a sitting deputy elected as president, the opposition leader being the candidate of the Government, and opposition candidate being elected president. It is also true that it is only in Kenya where an elected President, in his first 30 days, makes it his business to implement one of the main campaign platforms and policies of the opposition leader. I thank him for this because when he says he wants to bring Cabinet Secretaries to Parliament, is that not the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that was shot down by the current President and his team? This is an attempt at implementing piecemeal some of what we proposed in the BBI.

I also want to speak on the issue of the independence of the Judiciary. I was in the Departmental Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs as well as the Select Committee on Implementation of the Constitution in the last Parliament. I support the President in terms of the Judiciary Fund, which he promised would be put in place. I also thank him that within the first few days, he swore in the judges who had not been sworn in. Those are good gestures, but I want to pose a question as to whether behind those good gestures, there is an attempt to do what we call a capture of the Judiciary in the same manner that we complain about Executive capture. Both are wrong. If the Judiciary gets into bed with the Executive, I will quote 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.

Alexander Hamilton who once said in his Treatise of 1889 that, while the Executive holds the sword and dispenses honours, and Parliament holds the purse-strings, the Judiciary dispenses justice. That is the last vanguard; the last place where members of the public would go if they were offended. It would be a big disservice to Kenyans if the Judiciary, in an attempt to give back to the Executive what it has extended to them, got into bed with it.

I see that my time has run shorter than the 10 minutes that…

Your time is up, wakili . Let us have Hon. Richard Yegon of Bomet East.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech as United Democratic Alliance Party Member of Parliament for Bomet East Constituency. I wish to take this earliest opportunity to congratulate you on being elected the Speaker of the National Assembly. I also congratulate the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Boss Shollei, and my colleagues who made it to the 13th Parliament. It has been a long and winding journey for me to be here having attempted twice to secure the party ticket for the final run in vain. In this year’s UDA party primaries and the subsequent general election, God and the voters were on my side. In what I take as payback for consistency and persistence to offer leadership to the great constituency, to my immediate and extended family members and friends who stood by me through a very difficult time, my campaign team that went an extra mile to deliver the win, I am forever indebted to you. Many thanks and respect go to the voters, the youth and the elderly, who woke up at dawn, braved the chill, the scorching sun and long queues to cast their votes. They waited for hours on end as the votes were counted, tallied by the IEBC clerks and results finally announced by the Returning Officer. The voters believed in my cause and ensured that we won. I will not let you down. To those who opposed my candidature and to my competitors, former area Member of Parliament, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) Secretary-General, Mr. Nick Salat, Dr. John Kalia of Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) Party, you were worthy competitors. We all engaged in issue-based politics devoid of tricks and character assassination. True to all tenets of multi-party democracy, the best candidate won. I wish to reiterate that it is time for us, the people, to tilt the coin in the way we operate in identification and implementation of development projects for the benefit of the residents. I am looking forward to working with the national and county governments, all stakeholders, donors and residents in finding a lasting solution to the socio-economic challenges facing the constituency. There is little footprint of development projects in Bomet East Constituency by the Jubilee administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta. The administration can only be remembered for the stalled upgrade to bitumen standard of the 75-kilometre Tenwek-Merigi- Tegat-Chemaner-Kimuchul-Matecha and the Chemaner-Kembu-Longisa-Kipreres-Kaparuso- Kembu-Koibeyon-Mulot roads. Hardly one kilometre was constructed before funding of the project was withdrawn a year ago for what is believed to have been a move by the then powers to punish the residents for their political affiliation. I am confident that the Kenya Kwanza Government, through the able leadership of President William Ruto, will prioritise completion of the projects which were starved of funds, including the Longisa-Kipreres-Sigor Road whose tender was awarded, but construction is yet to take off. Before being elected, it is on record that I was able to channel my own resources towards improving the 17-kilometre Tegat-Chemaner-Kembu Road in response to numerous appeals from residents. This was only a stop-gap measure. I am a firm believer in the saying by Woodrow Wilson that: “The ear of the leader must ring with the voice of the people”. Residents of the region are in the long-term looking forward to the upgrade of a number of roads to bitumen standard, including Kapkesiogo-Kiromwok- 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.

Silibwet-Kipyosit-Tegat Road. We should prioritise the Mulot-Mengit-Toronik-Kipreres- Cheboin-Merigi-Kongotik-Chepkitwal and Lekimbo-Cheboin-Chepkolon-Njerian roads. Despite the fact that water is a key enabler of development, Bomet East, which is highly agriculture-endowed, has eventually been faced with acute shortage of the precious commodity. Water shortage, for both domestic use and irrigation, affects all the five wards in the constituency, namely, Kembu, Merigi, Chemaner, Longisa and Kipreres. I wish to thank the African Development Bank (ADB) for funding the ongoing extension of water pipelines to Longisa and Mulot trading centres in a bid to ease the acute shortage of the precious commodity. As a long-term solution, I appeal to the national Government, under the Kenya Kwanza Coalition, to fast-track the implementation of Kibusto Water Project in Chemaner Ward. The project, identified in early 1980s, has the potential of supplying water by gravity to a larger part of Bomet East Constituency and is highly cost effective. To spur economic growth and improve people’s livelihoods, I will be engaging the national Government to connect electricity to households under the last-mile connectivity programme, even as we push for new lines to be rolled out. I am glad that in response to concerns raised by the people, the President set up a taskforce to review the Competency Based Curriculum education system, which will identify schools to be made centres of excellence in the constituency so that we can rally donors on their construction and equipping to accommodate bright but needy students. With agriculture being the driving engine of the Kenyan economy, it is noteworthy that growing tea by small-scale farmers and dairy farming are the main sources of livelihood for the residents following the collapse of the maize sector due to the maize lethal necrosis disease for more than 15 years, hence the negative impact on food security in the region. The uptake of avocado farming on subsistence and commercial scales has steadily risen in the last four years. We will walk with the stakeholders to construct a pack house for farmers to sell their produce through export to fetch higher prices. The recent move by the Government to set up an ICT centre in Mulot, specifically as a software development hub in the country, is highly appreciated. It is a welcome move that will go a long way in demonstrating that there is a huge potential for rural areas to drive Kenya’s industrial growth. We, men and women in the House, look up to you and the House leadership for guidance as we learn the ropes of legislation, which is what voters have sent us here to do.

Thank you, Hon. Members. I know we can vote on reduction of time, but with consensus, I see we have about 83 requests. Today is the last Allotted Day. If you agree, we can have five minutes per Member so that we can have as many of you as we possibly can to make your speeches on this Presidential Address. Is that agreeable?

Yes.

Excellent. If you make your points in less than five minutes, you will be even more appreciated. Hon. Joseph Kahangara. If you can make it in less than five minutes, you are excellent.

Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute. I will try to make it as short as possible to enable other Members to make their contributions. This being my first time to speak in the 13th Parliament, I take this opportunity first to thank the Almighty God for giving me favour among the people of Lari. They found me fit to represent them in the 13th Parliament for the second time. I thank the people of Kinare, Nyanduma, Kamburu, Kijabe and Lari/Kirenga Wards who voted for me overwhelmingly on 9th August to be their Member of Parliament. I also thank my family led by my wife and the entire team that worked tirelessly to ensure that I was elected. I will remain forever indebted to them for the work that they did for me. 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.

As I talk to the people of Lari, let me also take this opportunity to condemn the acts of arson that are taking place in our area. Two schools were burnt in as many weeks. I urge the teachers and the schools’ administration to work together to ensure that our schools remain safe. A lot of effort and resources are put together by parents to put up the schools. When they go up in smoke, it is very unfortunate. I will now go to the President’s Address. Our Kenya Kwanza Coalition Candidate, His Excellency the President, went around this country, into every corner and county, and collected views from Kenyans. He asked them what they would expect him to do when he forms the Government. He came up with what we called “The Plan”. This is what he explained in his Speech here. He explained what he would do for Kenyans. Let me just pick out a few issues that affect my people in Lari. I come from a rural constituency where over 90 per cent of my people depend on agriculture. His Excellency the President talked about value addition. Whenever we produce excess products, most of them go to waste because the market is saturated. The President talked about value addition. This means that we can keep our products longer, export the same, earn more money and create employment for our people. The other main challenge that we face in agriculture is that, sometimes, we are unable to get our products into the market because of poor infrastructure. It is my hope that the current Government will take up the ongoing projects, especially the Mau Mau roads, and ensure that they are completed. The Government should also come up with more road projects, so that our people can get their produce to the markets. On the same agriculture, the President talked about the reduction of the price of fertilizer from Kshs6,500 to Kshs3,500. We have already seen that some of that product has been taken to the people. However, the people of Kiambu County only have a store in Thika Town where we have the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). People from Lari cannot go there. We ask the Government of Kiambu County to devolve the same, so that the product can be taken to every sub-county. Among other things, the President spoke on the issue of NG-CDF. As another Member has said, people are now asking for bursary which we do not have. He said that he served as a Member when there was NG-CDF and when it was not there, and he knows what it means. We are happy because we now have goodwill from the Executive. Let us get NG-CDF back, so that we can serve our people better. Thank you, Hon. Speaker.

Thank you, Mheshimiwa . Woman Representative for Mombasa.

Ahsante sana, Mhe. Spika. Naitwa Mhe. Zamzam Chimba Mohammed. Ningependa kuchukua fursa hii kuwashukuru wakaazi wa Mombasa ambao walinipa kura zao kwa heshima na taadhima. Nawapongeza sana. Pia, nampongeza pia Kinara wangu wa Chama, kiongozi wangu, Mhe. Raila Amolo Odinga, kwa kuamini wanawake na kutupa nafasi mwafaka. Mwisho, pia tulikuwa hatujui tushike wapi lakini, alitusaidia tukafunga kazi na kupata ushindi. Ningependa pia kushukuru familia yangu yote ambayo ilinishika na kuniombea dua. Nawaambia wakaazi wa Mombasa kuwa nitawafanyia kazi. Nitahakikisha kuwa mtoto wa kike atapewa heshima katika jamii, na atapata nafasi ya pili ya kupata elimu na kuondoa tamaduni ambazo ni potofu. Katika Hotuba ya Rais, ningependa kwanza kumpongeza sana kwa kuturejeshea bandari yetu ya Mombasa. Lakini pia, nina wasiwasi kwa kuwa tetesi zimetoka nyingi kuwa hati miliki ya ile bandari si yetu. Ningependa kumwambia Mtukufu Rais kuwa, kwa hisani yake, heshima na taadhima, afuatilie jambo hili ili wakaazi wa Mombasa wasiwe wakutolewa kafara na bandari yetu ichukuliwe. Wakenya wote wachangie jambo hili. Tuchange pesa hizi tunazodaiwa na Mchina ili zilipwe na Wakenya wote. 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.

Ningependa pia kumwambia Rais kuwa tuna maliasili na rasilimali zetu, kama wakaazi wa Pwani, kama vile korosho na madini. Ningependa kumshawishi na kumuelezea kuwa aturahisishie barabara ya Dongo Kundu iweze kufunguliwa mapema, ili tuweze kupata ajira na kufungua viwanda ambavyo vitaleta ajira kwa vijana wetu wa Mombasa. Wengi wamepotea katika mihadarati. Wengine wanachukuliwa na ushawishi mkubwa kwenye mambo ya Al-Shabaab, kwa sababu ya ukosefu wa ajira. Kwa hivyo, namuomba Rais pia atufungulie viwanda. Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) ilikufa Mombasa, lakini inafanya kazi sehemu zingine. Haijafufuliwa Mombasa. Tuangalie viwanda vya korosho, miwa na Kenya Bixa. Vyote vifunguliwe ili wakaazi wa Mombasa na Pwani nzima waweze kupata ajira na kuuza rasilimali zao. Nataka kuzungumzia mambo ya afya. Sote tunaelewa kuwa National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) ililetwa ili kuboresha na kufanya wepesi wa watu kupata huduma za afya. Lakini, wengi wakienda kwenye hospitali, wanaambiwa kuwa NHIF inagharamia pesa ya kitanda na hakuna dawa na huduma zingine ambazo wanafanyiwa. Wazee wengi wamelalamika sana. Kwa hivyo, Serikali iangalie hali katika NHIF, ili tuweze kupata huduma ambayo inatibu maradhi mengi mazito. Kisha nikiangalia mgao wetu wa National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) kama akina mama wa kaunti 47, mgao wetu uko chini sana ukilinganisha na kuwa tunafanya siasa kaunti nzima. Ndio maana wengi hawarudi Bungeni. Kwa hivyo, namuomba Rais aangalie hilo kila atakapoangalia NG-CDF na yale mengine ya kaunti. Pia, sisi wanawake katika NGAAF, namuomba aangalie hali zetu ili tupate mgao ambao utatusaidia.

Nikirudi upande wa migration, watoto wetu wa Pwani na hasa Waislamu wanahangaishwa sana katika kila pembe. Kupata kitambulisho cha Kenya imekuwa ni donda ndugu. Wanaulizwa mpaka birth certificate za vilembwe na vilembwekeza wakati ambapo wao ni watoto waliozaliwa Kenya. Wamezaliwa katika hospitali zetu na wanajulikana. Ningeomba Rais aangalie hilo hasa kuhusu sisi Waislamu ili tusipate matatizo tunapotafuta pasipoti na vitambulisho .

Thank you, Mheshimiwa. Let us have the Member for Kitutu Masaba.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I congratulate you on your election as Speaker of this House. I thank the people of Kitutu Masaba for electing me to be their representative in this 13th Parliament. Hon. Speaker, I will go straight to the President’s Speech. I will look into the matters that mainly touch on my people. With regard to agriculture, the President and the new administration has released cheaper fertilizers than the ones that have been availed in previous months. This, however, does not favour all citizens of this country because not every farmer grows crops. Personally, I am a poultry keeper. The cost of feeds in this country is simply unaffordable. It is no longer cheap to keep any animal. Therefore, we get very stiff competition from imported goods, especially animal products. We urge the new administration to consider animal feeds while looking at agricultural inputs.

When we talk about infrastructure in this country, there is no balance. Infrastructure does not only relate to Nairobi and the surrounding environs. I come from a constituency where road coverage is at a dismal level. We urge this new Government to ensure that there is a balance and that, all the citizens and the people of Kitutu Masaba have their roads done and feel part of this nation. For example, we have two contracts in my constituency - the RWC586, which is a road meant to cover Gekano-Nyangori-Rigoma and Amabuko. That contract also covers Gekano-Girango-Moturumesi and Manga-Motemomwamu. You will be surprised to know that with 67 per cent of the time covered for that contract, only five per cent of the work has been done and yet, my people are suffering and nobody addresses this issue. We have another contract, RWC485, Kemera-Kiendege-Gachuba-Keumbu. This contract is 37 months 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.

behind schedule. There is neither a contractor nor equipment on site and yet, my people expect to feel like part of this country.

On the President’s Speech, there was not much that was touching on education. Education is the equaliser of all of us. I am a son of a watchman and I am here today because of education. We need to put more effort and resources into Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) colleges and polytechnics so that our youths can have a place to learn handicraft and any other skills that can help them be of importance to this country. As we have a country of hustlers led by the chief hustler himself, we need to get more skills for our youths so that they can fit in the society.

On the Uwezo Fund and the hustlers’ fund, these should be looked into so that they are complemented or merged. We do not need too many funds and duplications that end up not serving the intended goal.

On the NSSF, whoever put that paragraph in the President’s Speech should be called to order. It was a very casual statement whereby it was said it is 200 x 12 x 30 and yet, NSSF is a Fund where trustees are earning millions of shillings which they are meant to invest for the people. We should not be discussing the change of the contribution in this House. Instead, we should discuss the management of NSSF and people put to task to ensure that they deliver their responsibilities to the people of Kenya.

I thank the people of my constituency. I look forward to serving you in the next five years in this House.

Thank you, Hon. Member. Member for Bura.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute and make my maiden speech. I take this earliest opportunity to thank God Almighty for giving me the opportunity to represent the great people of Bura Constituency in this 13th Parliament. Secondly, I thank my parents, my family and my dear wife who really prayed for me and supported me throughout this journey. Thirdly, I thank my employers; the great people of Bura Constituency, who have shown confidence in me by giving me a landslide win against all other opponents. My great people of Bura Constituency, I really assure you that I will serve you with purpose and dedication. I will ensure that you get what you intended to get when you elected me to this august House. I specifically thank my teams in Bangale Ward, Madogo Ward, Sala Ward, Chewele Ward and Hirimani Ward for the dedication they had.

Fast forward, indeed, it is a dream come true for me to be contributing today in this august House. My election to this august House is a true testament that no human is limited and all dreams are valid. If you dream and pursue your dreams with dedication and purpose, you will achieve. My employers have sent me here to use all avenues and premiums available to air their concerns and grievances.

Because I have only five minutes, let me rush through the challenges within my constituency. The biggest challenge is the drought that is facing all the arid and semi-arid lands. In Bangale Ward today, a 20-litre jerrycan of water goes for Kshs80. If you quickly do your maths, this vital commodity is Kshs4 per litre. We do water trucking from as far as Garissa that is 90 kilometres away from Bangale Ward. Today, I am happy to report that I got a well-wisher who helped me with a 35,000-litre capacity water truck. This will be of great help to the people of Bangale Ward and Sala Ward which are the worst hit areas. I urge the Government, through the Ministry of Water, to come in handy and help alleviate this problem.

The second issue is about identity cards. As we know, this is a very important document. There is a student who secured a scholarship to pursue further studies in Turkey but is unable to travel because of lack of that vital document. Lastly, I want to highlight the issue of education. We have 13 secondary schools in Bura Constituency - 10 public schools and three private ones. The sorry state of affairs is that 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.

in the last Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, the best school got a mean grade of D (plain), and this is a private school. Hon. Speaker, because of time, I wish to request the new administration to help my constituency and to help farmers in my constituency so that, at least, we can help with food security. That is in line with the agenda of the Government. Thank you.

Thank you. Women Representative for Tharaka Nithi. Give her the microphone.

Thank you Hon. Speaker. I am delighted as I make my maiden speech and debate a little about the Presidential Speech that was made about two weeks ago. I wish to congratulate you for having been elected Speaker in this 13th Parliament. It is a great honour as I stand in this House as the second Woman Representative or rather the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tharaka Nithi County. I first wish to thank the people of Tharaka Nithi County for bestowing on me strength to lead them in the affirmative action. It was not easy being lifted from a Member of County Assembly (MCA) to an MP; being lifted from a County Assembly to a National Parliament; and, winning against all the strides and tides having been elected in a non-dominating party. I also wish to thank my party leader of The Service Party (TSP) whom I deputise, Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri, for holding my hand and helping me clinch the victory. I am here to affirm to the people of Tharaka Nithi County that I have not come here to make a career, but to make a difference in their lives. I have not come here to act in my own interest, but the interest of the people of Tharaka Nithi County. I wish to affirm to them that I will really hold hands with the MPs; that is, MP for Tharaka Hon. George Gitonga Murugara, MP for Maara Hon. Kareke Mbiuki and MP for Chuka/Igambang’ombe Hon. Patrick Munene, to ensure that we promote the issues of Tharaka Nithi County, especially the issues of the affirmative action. I know Tharaka Nithi County has really been marginalised and has faced a lot of historical injustices, but with the leadership of Kenya Kwanza Alliance under His Excellency William Samoei Ruto, we are assured that all these issues are going to be addressed. This has really been demonstrated by the fact that our President has gone to the most remote part of Tharaka Nithi County, Tharaka Constituency, and to the most remote part of Tharaka, Irunduni Village, where he has nominated a Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Prof. Kithure Kindiki. I wish to congratulate him and pray that this House will very soon move ahead and confirm Prof. Kithure Kindiki as the Cabinet Secretary. Hon. Speaker, we are really hopeful that it is just a matter of time that someone from the soil of Tharaka Nithi County is going to rule this country. I cannot end my maiden speech without commending my predecessor, Hon. Beatrice Nkatha, for having been elected twice as Woman Representative for Tharaka Nithi County. United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance are well aware of the role that Hon. Nkatha played in spearheading the campaigns for UDA party. In this regard, I pray that UDA and Kenya Kwanza Alliance will recognize the efforts by Hon. Nkatha. I also wish her well in all her endeavours. As pertains the President's Speech, it was brief and to the point. The Speech has reassured us that we are not to tear apart institutions but to nourish them and that, we are to nurture this nation. I wish to end it with a note: That the future of this nation does not belong to the faint-hearted, but to the brave. I thank you Hon. Speaker and this House.

Thank you Mheshimiwa . Member for Rabai. Rabai not Aldai. Your turn will come. 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.

(Rabai, PAA) Ahsante sana Mhe. Spika kwa kunipatia fursa hii nitoe maoni yangu. Kwanza nashukuru Mwenyezi Mungu kwa umbali ambao amenifikisha. Leo niko hapa katika Bunge letu tukufu. Naomba nichukue fursa hii ya kipekee kuwashukuru wakaazi wote wa Eneo Bunge la Rabai kwa kusimama nami. Siku ya kupiga kura walijitokeza kwa wingi kunichagua niwe mtumishi wao. Nataka kuchukua fursa hii kupongeza timu yote ya Kenga Mupe a.k.a Apewe, kutoka Mwawesa Ward, Ruruma, Kambe/Ribe na Rabai Kisurutini. Kwa hakika, walifanya kazi ya maana tena nzuri. Mimi kama mtumishi wao, Mhe. Anthony Kenga Mupe, nawahakikishia wakaazi wote wa Rabai kuwa nitawatumikia pasipo ubaguzi na pasipo kuangalia yule aliyenipigia kura na yule ambaye hakunipigia kura. Mhe. Spika, kuhusu Hotuba ya Rais, ilikuwa safi sana, fupi, nzuri, na ya kuaminika. Kwa sababu katika Hotuba hiyo, alizungumzia suala la maji. Kama tunavyojua, Katiba Ya Kenya katika Ibara 43(1)(d), inamhakikishia kila mtu haki ya kupata maji safi, salama na ya kutosha. Kwa hivyo, nampongeza sana Mhe. Rais kwa hotuba yake iliyoangazia suala la maji. Nikiwa Mbunge wa Rabai, najua tatizo kubwa sana ni ukosefu wa maji. Kwa hivyo, kupitia Hotuba ya Mhe. Rais, sekta ya umma na ya kibinafsi zitasambaza maji kwa Wakenya wote. Napongeza sana Hotuba ya Mhe. Rais. Pia katika Hotuba ya Mhe. Rais, alizungumzia hustlers’ fund. Kupitia hustlers’ fund, vijana wetu watapata nafasi ya kufanya biashara ndogo ndogo. Mama mboga, mama fagio na mama kuuza nazi kutoka Rabai atapata nafasi nzuri ya kujiinua katika maisha. Kwa hivyo, napongeza kikamilifu Hotuba ya Mhe. Rais na ninaiunga mkono kwa sababu imezungumzia zile shida za mtu wa chini hususan kutoka Rabai Sub County. Nikimalizia, nakushuru Mhe. Spika. Wewe ni kiongozi wa chama cha FORD-K na alama yako ni Simba. Ingawa hivyo, juzi wakati ulipokuwa unatoa mwongozo na uamuzi humu Bungeni kuhusu ni nani wengi katika Bunge hili, kwa hakika ulisimama imara kama simba na kuamua kwamba Kenya Kwanza ndiyo ina Wabunge wengi katika Bunge hili. Ahsante sana Mheshimiwa Spika. Nakupongeza wewe na Naibu wako. Mungu aibariki Kenya.

Ahsante Mheshimiwa. Anayefuata ni Mbunge wa Aldai.

Thank you, Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to make my maiden speech. I promise to make it short and sweet, just like the President’s Speech. First, let me congratulate you and the Hon. Deputy Speaker for your election to those positions in this House. Let me also congratulate the President for his election. Already, within the 30 days, he has done so much. Hon. Mbadi mentioned that the President has not done anything in the 30 days, but we know that the President has done so much. For instance, the Safaricom Fuliza interest rate has been reduced by 40 per cent. That is no mean feat. It has gone a long way in helping the Kenyan mwananchi to get credit at a cheaper rate. We also have seen him engage in many international activities in which he is getting many accolades and being saluted by leaders, including the President of the United States of America. So, who are we not to appreciate the work that he has done?

The work that he has done in 30 days is very meaningful, but it is being undermined by the Opposition.

He is trying to sort out the problems and messes that were created in the last 10 years. He has five years to deliver and we are sure that he will deliver. To the people of Aldai, I would like 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.

to thank you very much for having faith in me and electing me. You have done your bit and mine is to deliver.

I have a four-point agenda for the people of Aldai. The first one is road infrastructure. In the 10 years that the annuity programme was put in place, Aldai Constituency got zero kilometres of tarmac road. I would like to use the opportunity I have in this House to ensure that Aldai gets, at least, some tarmac roads in the next five years. The second agenda item is electricity. Many homes still lack electricity. I think we have 30 per cent connectivity in Aldai. We hope to have many more homes getting connected. The third agenda item is water. I am happy that the President, in his Speech, mentioned that water projects will be done on the basis of PPP. So, we will get water to our homesteads. Finally, it is on education. We have a big shortage of teachers in various schools in Aldai and, hence, the poor performance in schools. We hope that the Ministry of Education will send in more teachers. Kenya Kwanza promised to employ 160,000 teachers in the first and second year each. We hope that out of those teachers, majority of them will go to our schools to improve teaching standards.

On NG-CDF, we are happy that the President recognises that it has done a lot in our constituencies. I will ensure that the NG-CDF is used to improve the infrastructure in our schools. More than 25 schools in my constituency are still mud-walled in this day and age. I hope to ensure that by the time I am done with my term, there will be no mud-walled schools in Aldai Constituency. I will give priority to the 25 schools that are still mud-walled. The NG- CDF has been very successful. We hope that other Government development projects will be channelled through the same framework as the NG-CDF. Just like the way Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) has been functioning, we hope that other Government entities will do their projects in constituencies so that each and every constituency gets a pie of the development projects. There is a school in my constituency that went on strike, but I hope that it will be sorted out. Finally, on the issue of CBC, we want to …

Member for Kesses.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. Let me also take this opportunity to join my colleagues to congratulate you and Hon. Speaker for being given the opportunity to serve this honourable House. I thank my constituents of Kesses that saw an opportunity to have me sit in this House and prosecute matters that touch on their livelihoods. I believe that all of you know that whenever you mention Kesses, of course, something comes to your mind. It was not that simple, but I thank God that I made it to this House. The President’s Speech is one that was delivered in a very short time and yet, it carries weighty matters that touch on Kenyans. The President said and I quote: “I have news, and not very good news!” Indeed, this was a Speech that was made with openness, without fear and without hiding any issues that touch on Kenyans’ lives. It is a matter of fact that we must admit even in this House that Kenyans are facing very difficult times now. The cost of living is on the higher side. The debts that have been soiling our Kenyan economy are a reality. This Speech brings all our minds together to appreciate that we have a big role in this House to support the Government in transforming the economic lives of our people, so as to have a Kenya that we dreamt to have. Kenyans at the lower base shall enjoy the dream of being citizens of this country.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, on the aspect of healthcare, I want to confirm to this House that we have and are facing a lot of challenges as Kenyans right now. Over the weekend, I managed to attend two different funerals where families had lost their loved ones as a result of cancer, which is now ravaging families in the countryside. It is, indeed, an issue that we need to look into in this House. Do we need to legislate laws that are going to enable the NHIF to specifically 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.

take care of all those illnesses, especially the terminals ones? This is because, whenever they affect our families, they bring down our economic abilities.

Secondly, it is about enabling the bottom-up economic model, which the President used as his campaign tool. On the aspect of education, I come from a county that entirely depends on education and agriculture. In the higher education sector, there have lately been many cases where our universities are ageing and collapsing. I am privileged to have Moi University in my constituency. Right now, it requires serious attention from the national Government to revolutionise and re-organize it so that it can retain its glory of producing the human capital we require.

On the aspect of hustlers’ fund in Paragraph 28, I want to appreciate the President for recognising that we have a working nation and that Kenyans are very resilient. The challenges we are facing at the moment is access to cheap capital and funding that can fund their innovation. This is something we need to put together as a House of legislation and support the President. I believe that the incoming Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Chelugui, will consider this matter because Paragraph 28 is talking about the use of technology that will ensure that fund is managed well. I want to believe that he is going to consider giving an opportunity to the youth of this nation, especially those who can innovate in technology, to be the example of appreciating the bottom-up economic model. Hon. Speaker, lastly, I wish to appreciate the President for nominating to the Cabinet some Hon. Members of Parliament who have sat in this House before. These are the people who resonate well with people on ground and understand where the real issues are. I wish to congratulate them and tell them that time is on their side to prove that, indeed, we can articulate and prosecute matters that target the lives of Kenyans. Thank you and may God bless you.

Member for Karachuonyo.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I am happy for this opportunity. I have really waited. When I spoke to the Hon. Speaker, he told me to wait, which I have done. I wish to congratulate you and the Hon. Speaker for having been elected to your positions. I wish to thank my constituents, the Karachuonyo people, for electing me the second time to the 13th Parliament. I want to refer to the President’s Speech and, in particular, on the cost of living. When he removed the subsidy on fuel, it meant that the cost of living had to go up. As we speak, the cost of living has gone quite high and the fuel is reaching a level of unaffordability. It is the policy on subsidy production rather than consumption which may not work for Kenyans. For example, if you take the fuel which is imported, the production part is done in a country outside Kenya and, therefore, the policy of subsidising productivity cannot apply. That is because we cannot afford to give subsidy to a country outside ours. This is something that should be considered because when fuel price goes up, it gives rise to prices of almost every commodity. The one thing that I think the President ought to have mentioned - but he very much avoided it - is corruption. Much of our money goes there. When the President says that he wants to reduce the budget of Kshs3.3 trillion by Kshs0.3 trillion, he is trying to make ends meet. Reduction of a budget does not help anything because it depends on what the budget was meant to do. If you reduce it by Kshs300 billion, that money was supposed to do something for Kenyans! How is he going to fund that deficit? This is something that needs to be considered. Otherwise, we are going to have a problem. Maybe, he should have gained that Kshs300 billion by reducing corruption at a much higher figure than the figure that he wants to reduce with. The President visited my own county and I thank him very much for that. Some people have criticized us, we the elected leaders, that we did not join the President during his visit. Let me say it here and now that the criticism is not justified at all. We did not join the President because we did not even know that he was going to Homa Bay County. Therefore, saying that 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.

we avoided being with him there is just trying to criticize us for nothing. I want this to go on record because that is a very important thing. We do not want a negative reflection where we are not concerned. Of course, the President has a right to visit any place, anywhere at his own time either in the company of politicians or alone. He exercised his right. Why bring us into that problem that we did not want to be with him? No! That was not right. Hon. Deputy Speaker, my time is over. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I am happy for it.

Member for Moyale. Proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. As everybody else is doing, may I also take my chance to congratulate you and the Hon. Speaker for your election to lead this House. I also thank the great people of Moyale for giving me an opportunity to serve them in this august House. I also thank the people of Kenya for accepting to remain cohesive and peaceful during the uncomfortable election period. As the President said, the election was intensively contested and both sides had almost equal numbers. There is another 8 million people who did not vote. If they had voted, we do not know which side they would have voted for. However, the people of Kenya remained obedient and loyal to the law. Even the order of the leadership in this House was disputed and somehow settled in a very acrimonious way. There was no clear winner and that is why there was that contest. Africans like to refer to leadership as being God-given, and it is a choice. As leaders in this House, inside and outside here, we need to embrace humanity and try to bring the nation together. On the President’s Speech, I am happy that the President talked about UHC. This is a good thing, but I am of the opinion that we need to find out how to make NHIF cover a universal thing that every Kenyan is entitled to. Our neighbour, Rwanda, has 98 per cent NHIF coverage. There is no reason we cannot do it. There is also need for us to achieve that universal coverage to restructure the Ministry of Health. The Health Ministry was devolved, but that devolution has actually disadvantaged areas that were already disadvantaged. There is no reason why a doctor should not be moved from Kisumu to work in Garissa and vice versa . This business of putting people in counties actually restricts the movement and deployment of staff and, therefore, disadvantages areas which are already disadvantaged. It is my view that health facilities at Level of 4, 5 and 6 should be put under the national Government and Levels 3 and 2 put under the county governments. People said the President gave a short Speech. It was not short! It was actually 33 minutes of oral presentation. Somebody can cover a wide area at that time. I listened carefully to the issues of drought and insecurity in the country. Most Members have contributed to the issue of insecurity. Just a few days before the Address by His Excellency the President, 11 police officers were killed in Turkana. Last week, a police officer was killed. The Government of Kenya should take positive action to ensure that those tribal clashes, clashes between the police and clan clashes come to an end. Hon. Deputy Speaker, as I conclude, let me talk about drought. The lives and livelihoods of people from the North matter. We need to take positive steps to make sure that our lives are protected from recurring droughts. We should take measures to make sure that others do not die unnecessarily from the effects of drought every season. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Member for Murang’a County.

(Murang’a CWR, UDA)]: Thank you, Hon

That was brief, concise and good. Member for Marakwet.

Marakwet West, Independent): Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. My name is Kipchumba, the Member of Parliament for Marakwet West. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to make these remarks. One, I wish to thank the people of Marakwet West for electing me. I was elected under extremely exceptional circumstances. I allegedly lost the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) nomination and I went back to the ballot as an independent candidate. The people of Marakwet West elected me overwhelmingly through the independent ticket. I want to thank them so much. I wish to thank the people of Arror Ward, Kapsowar Ward, Moiben/Kuserwo Ward, Lelan Ward, Cherangany/Chebororwa Ward and the people of Sengwer Ward for electing me to this House. I came to this House when I was very young. I came to this House in the year 1996 when I was in Class Four in Kamasat Primary School. When I came at that time, it painted a picture and I told myself that one day, I will be in this House. I thank God because, indeed, today, I am in this House. Hon. Deputy Speaker, in so far as the Presidential Address is concerned, this time around, we have an exceptional President. If you read the book, “ Man of The People” by Chinua Achebe, there is a character known as Chief Nanga, who was described as a ‘man of 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.

the people.’ I think His Excellency the President fits that definition. He is truly a man of the people. I believe that when he settles down to work, we shall have a President of the people, by the people for the people. Hon. Deputy Speaker, what touched me in the President’s Speech was his commitment to the rule of law. For me, that is a cardinal principle that this country must be ruled upon. We must be a country that abides by the rule of law. I want to commend him because the first thing he did was to appoint the six judges who were held in abeyance by the other regime. I think that was a hallmark of obedience to the rule of law. The President also committed that he would implement bottom-up scaling of justice. I come from a constituency where we have one court of law serving four constituencies. The court is located in Iten. In Marakwet West, we have no court, Marakwet East has no court. Keiyo North and Keiyo South are only served by one court in Iten. Hon. Deputy Speaker, going forward, I believe that we shall have many courts at the local level. I also want to comment on an issue that the President said, that he would implore upon this House to amend the Standing Orders so that the Cabinet Secretaries appear on the Floor of the House so that they can be asked Questions. I am inclined to the school of thought that, as per the current constitutional dispensation, the CSs may not appear on the Floor of this House because the architecture of our Constitution is that one of a presidential system. That will call for a re-look into our constitutional architecture so that the CSs can appear on the Floor of this House. On the issue of NG-CDF, I personally think that without NG-CDF, there is nothing much that the Members of the National Assembly can achieve. Since we have the goodwill of the President, it will be good if the same is entrenched in the Constitution. Just like other funds, NG-CDF should be entrenched in the Constitution. On security matters, he never touched on it but I have confidence that the security along Kerio Valley Belt shall be dealt with accordingly by this Government. Finally, I want to thank the President for appointing our Senator, Kipchumba Murkomen, to be the CS for Roads, Transport and Infrastructure. Thank you so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity.

Nominated Member from Garissa, Hon. Harun.

Thank you, so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. My name is Hon. Umulkher Harun and it is with great honour and responsibility that I am able to serve in this 13th Parliament. I appreciate my party, Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), for believing in my capacity and allowing me to represent the interests of young people in this country. I also want to congratulate all Members who were elected and nominated from different political parties and wish them well as they discharge their mandate. President William Samoei Ruto in his inaugural session in this House outlined various issues which his administration would wish to undertake. One fundamental issue His Excellency touched on is immediate consideration of the current drought afflicting our people in the northern parts of our country. I urge the President to work closely with the Pastoralist Parliamentary Group (PPG) so as to address the immediate needs as well as stable long-term solutions. Arid and Semi-Arid Lands regions make up 89 per cent of land cover in this country. I would like to let the House know that the best lemons and watermelons come from Garissa County and northern Kenya at large. On the hustlers’ fund, it is my belief that the President will actualise his pledge to the youth who I represent in this House. I urge him to ensure the fund is immediately available to Kenyans on affordable interest rates, so, they can either expand or start their businesses. On Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), a country like Kenya is not having food shortage 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.

because it cannot produce enough. The food shortage is largely because we are not producing for subsistence use but for international markets whose economic policy does not favour the producers especially in the Third World countries. Kenya does not need GMOs to tackle food security. What we need are policies and universally available food preservation methods. We lose a lot of food to wastage due to rejection by international exporters. Using the drought as a reason to allow GMOs in Kenya without ensuring all the safeguards are in place is wrong. For example, Kenya has not ratified the Nagoya – Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol to Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The protocol provides international rules and procedures in the field of liability and redress relating to living modified organisms. The protocol requires that response measures are taken in the event of damages resulting from the living modified organisms or where there is sufficient likelihood that damage will result if timely response measures are not taken. My question then is: How do we open ourselves to this biotechnology without proper protection on measures in the name of food security? Instead, why not build dams and dispatch irrigation technologies to address the food security challenge? We should invest in organic foods instead of going to GMOs. We have plenty of arable land that if irrigated, we can feed ourselves and export food. It is interesting to note that when North Eastern Province counties are short of food, farmers in Molo are feeding fresh produce to their animals due to lack of market. The GMOs will have adverse effect on organic farming. My question is: Has the Government consulted the public? Was there any form of public participation before this decision was made? How can the Government arbitrarily make such decisions while being subservient to foreign interest? The decision has regional implications. For example, Tanzania has already braced itself for the possibility of our GMOs finding their way into the country. This will affect the harmony of freedom between neighbouring states of the East African Community (EAC). Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I look forward to representing the interests of young people in this House. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next is the Member for Trans Nzoia County. Is she here? Okay proceed.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance to represent the people of Trans Nzoia. My name is Lilian Siyoi, County Woman Representative (CWR) for Trans Nzoia County. I would like to thank the Almighty God for granting me this chance to be here today. My special thanks go to the people of Trans Nzoia County, men and women, for having elected me without looking at tribal or party affiliations. I am one of the people who were elected on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket. We had other candidates elected on other tickets. I appreciate the people of Trans Nzoia. Thank you, so much. I promise to serve you with diligence and fairness. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I also want to congratulate you for being elected as our Deputy Speaker. As women of Trans Nzoia and of this nation at large, we are so much proud of you and congratulations to you again. I want to go direct to the President’s Speech which he delivered in this House when he was here. He talked about the hustlers’ fund. I want to inform this House that the main concern we have in this country is access to credit. Our country has been having this problem for so long. It is important that our President thought it right to have the fund accessible to the people who cannot afford services like bank loans so that they can improve their lives. I want to thank my party leader for mentoring, trusting and giving me a ticket. Therefore, today, I am here representing the people of Trans Nzoia. I also wish to urge the men 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.

in the House, as we deliberate on the amounts to be given to the hustlers’ fund, we should also deliberate on the amounts given to women representatives through the NGAAF. The amount we have been given is very little, bearing in mind that we are representing the women, youth and people living with disability. They are most vulnerable in our country and highly populous. I urge you as we discuss on the disbursement of funds to the hustlers’ fund, let us increase funds given to NGAAF so we can give the women, youth and people living with disability in this country services that will serve them well. I know if we empower a woman, we will have empowered the whole community. Thank you, so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance.

Member for Loima.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to add my voice to the President’s Speech. For the record, my name is Hon. Protus Akujah, Member of Parliament for Loima Constituency in Turkana County. Before I make my comments on the President’s Speech, allow me to take this opportunity to thank the great people of Loima Constituency for recognising my commitment to work for them. Therefore, they have given me another chance to serve them and I do not take it for granted. According to me, the President’s Speech was concise and elaborate. However, I am quick to mention that I noted with utmost concern that he did not address the issue of insecurity as mentioned by a Member from Baringo County. I know there could be some relative peace in some parts of this country. But outstandingly, the external aggression Kenyans continue to face from Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia to the people of Turkana County is very loud. The Kenya Government has been silent on the daily killing of Turkana pastoralists in Lokichoggio, Lotere, Lorugum, Loyoro, Kibish and Todonyang, leave alone the internal insecurity within our country or inter- boundaries which has been happening in the form of livestock theft commonly known as cattle rustling. This longstanding threat has caused many losses of lives, destruction of property, loss of livelihoods, displacement of people and closure of social amenities such as health centres and schools among others and yet the Government has been quiet. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I urge the Government to bring to an end this barbaric and backward activity which for a long time has been commercialised. The cartels planning this are on the loose and nobody is apprehending them. The Government should deploy security forces including the National Police Reserves along our borders to check the run-away insecurity in these areas. There is need to have proper communication networks along these problematic borders for efficient reporting of any insecurity incidents. Some of these areas do not have Safaricom or Telkom networks and, therefore, atrocities are done to our people and there is no means to report to any government forces. Allow me to also comment on some of the projects that have stalled in my constituency, which I hope this Government will fast-track. First, is the completion of Lodwar-Lorugum- Loya-Nayopwang Road to ease movement of people, goods and services. Second, is the construction and operationalisation of Lokiriama Border Post to promote trade between Kenya and Uganda and ease movement of people, goods and services. Third, is the completion of Lodwar High Court which stalled in 2015. This will help scale up justice and adjudicate cases efficiently. Since this court stalled, cases are now referred to Kitale which is expensive for the Government and the people who have to travel to Kitale to get justice. Last, but not the least, is on the upscaling of agriculture productivity. Indeed, Kenya is an agricultural country and the sector contributes 20 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product and employs about 40 per cent of the total population. The sector also provides employment to 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.

70 per cent of the rural population. Scaling up this productivity, therefore, requires sufficient budget that will deliberately put our farmers into farming activities to produce more.

Point of order!

Hon. Member, I will not allow your point order. You should press the intervention button which you have repeatedly not done. Instead, you have been shouting from your seat. I call upon the Member for Tana River County to contribute.

Thank you very much, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. To begin, let me congratulate you on your election as the Deputy Speaker to the 13th Parliament. We believe that you will preside over the business of this House without fear or favor. I wish to also convey my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Tana River County for having given me the mandate to be their Woman Representative. For those of us who have been elected from the far-flung counties, we fully understand the enormity of the responsibilities placed on our shoulders by our people who constantly brave the extreme drought, insecurity and untold poverty. Therefore, our debut in the 13th Parliament is not, in itself, the change that we seek for our people. It is only an opportunity to make that change. In this regard, I wish to emphasise the sentiments made by my colleagues, especially those who hail from arid and semi-arid areas, in particular Tana River County, which is grappling with severe drought. It is disheartening that in this age and era, our women have to hit the road under the scorching heat and cover tens of kilometres in search of water. In his Address to the Joint Sitting of Parliament, the President announced that the Government had embarked on distribution of relief food to drought-stricken areas. While we welcome this move, I urge the relevant Government institutions, including the County Government of Tana River, to ensure that relief food reaches everyone facing drought across the County, especially areas of Wayu, Hirimani, Assa Kone and Bangale, which are really facing severe drought. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the President also spoke robustly about incentives through fertiliser-subsidy programmes. These subsidy programmes will drive up production for those engaging in crop farming such as maize. I challenge the Government to ensure that livestock farmers are also given the premium they deserve. Pastoralists significantly contribute to the GDP of this country but end up being overlooked or even accorded cosmetic policy intervention. As a daughter of a pastoralist who represents the people of Tana River in this House, I bear sacred responsibility to devise mechanisms and collaborate with the Government to escalate extensive services to livestock farmers, increase purchase of livestock products such as beef, and invest in value addition of livestock products such as beef and milk within our county. The value chain will provide employment to our people and increase their thresholds. Lastly, despite being elected on a KANU ticket, it is worth noting that Tana River County contributed to the President’s victory and is among the 39 counties that provided 25 per cent, actually 44 per cent of the votes – the legal threshold which won the presidency. However, during his announcement of Cabinet Secretaries, none came from Tana River County. I also urge the President to kindly consider the people of Tana River by appointing them as Principal Secretaries, Administrative Secretaries and heads of parastatals. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker.

Let us have the Member for Mandera.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity. I take this opportunity to congratulate you for your election as the Deputy Speaker of this august House. I thank the people of the great County of Mandera who overwhelmingly elected me. I cannot take that for granted. I thank the few that did not vote for 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.

me as well. I assure them that I will represent them well and ensure that services are delivered to them. I also thank the leadership of Kenya Kwanza who saw it fit to nominate me to the House Business Committee. As you know, HBC is a crucial committee that handles business that comes to this House. I want to tell Members that I will ensure that business will be prioritised and on time, God willing. Turning to the President’s Speech, it was generally good, precise and to the point. The point that caught my eye is when the President spoke about the youth. As you know, the youth are an integral part of this society. He said that he is going to tap their potential and nurture them in whatever they are good at. The Ksh50 billion hustlers’ fund is meant for hustlers. When we talk about hustlers, we mean women, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), the widowed and orphans. As the County Woman Member of Parliament for Mandera, and on behalf of all county women Members, the amount allocated to us is very little and cannot make much impact. I wish to urge the President to allocate us some amount from the hustlers’ fund so that we serve our people well. He expressed his good will on the NG-CDF. We wish that he also considers our Fund. The other point that has been echoed by many of my colleagues is the biting drought. I hope and pray that it does not escalate into famine. Unfortunately, Members of Parliament have not been included on the task force formed by the Deputy President to manage response to the drought. The notice says that we will be appearing before the task force on a need basis. We are the people’s representatives. We have been elected by the people to represent them. This is when they need us most. I wish and hope that the leadership of the country will think about that. The other point is the insecurity ravaging pastoral communities. For the last three weeks, we have been seeing in news what is happening in Baringo, Marsabit and Turkana. Militia and bandits are wreaking havoc and killing young, promising, gallant soldiers. In North Eastern, there are inter-county sporadic clan clashes because of border issues and conflicts over water and pasture. Inter-county, intra-county, inter-clan and intra-clan conflicts are issues close to our hearts, but the President did not speak about insecurity. But I know the President has the goodwill.

Member for Mogotio.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I take this moment to thank the great people of Mogotio and our Almighty God for enabling me to be here. The great people of Mogotio from Kisanana, Mogotio and Emining wards have special place in my heart for entrusting me with the leadership mantle. The Presidential Speech was short, precise, meticulous and very practical. To those who are saying the speech was short, one of the greatest speeches ever delivered to mankind was done in 1960 by JF Kennedy. The speech lasted 13 minutes. However, Hon. Deputy Speaker, up to date, we still remember the contents like: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.’ The President’s Speech talked about agriculture which is the main pillar and can change the economy of this country, especially for some of us who come from the rural parts of the country. He talked about it from production to manufacturing which will not only create food stability but will also create employment for our young people who are languishing in abject poverty, because of lack of employment. The President also talked about housing which is a source of employment for the young people in this nation. It will also solve the problems which are faced by the Kenyans who live in urban areas who lack housing and live in shanties. He also talked about the hustlers’ fund. I am a true image of a hustler and what he can achieve. The Fund can give potential to young people who are languishing back at home because they do not have capital to start businesses. 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.

If it is well implemented, it can change the lives of millions of young people who are not paying taxes because they do not have anything. This will create a tax base for this country. The President was very honest in his Speech by saying that the country does not have money. The country’s coffers were emptied by the previous regime. We need to do something to save, so that we can invest. He addressed our problems and offered the solutions going forward. I want to donate my time to my brother, Hon. Gideon, who has been waiting for a long time to say something. People back at home are waiting to listen to the speech of their new Member of Parliament in hotels and kiosks. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. God bless you.

Member for Keiyo South because the Member has donated his time…

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker and my brother, Hon. Kiborek. Before I give my speech, I want to inform you that I am a bit disappointed. I came to this House at 1.15 p.m.

Allow me to talk. I speak for many new Members of Parliament in this House who came here very early not only today but also for four days last week. We have been waiting to be given a chance to speak. It is unfair in all measure. We do not ask for any favour. Be fair to the new Members.

I am afraid if this is the going to be the order of business in this House, I will be in trouble with the Standing Orders because I will ask for a fair share of our time in this House. Congratulations Hon. Deputy Speaker on your election.

Give him the microphone. He can have two minutes.

Okay. I know that was Hon. Kiborek’s time. Thank you for giving me my time. I congratulate you and the Speaker on your election as the Deputy Speaker and the Speaker. I take this opportunity to thank the people of Keiyo South for electing me as their Member of Parliament. I thank all the wards and the people who campaigned for me. I thank the people of Kaptarakwa, Chepkorio, Soy North, Soy South, Metkei and Kabiemit wards. I also thank everybody who contributed in one way or another for me to be elected as a Member of Parliament. I also thank the President for nominating Waziri Kipchumba Murkomen to the Cabinet as the Minister for Roads and Infrastructure. He has been a father figure to us in Elgeyo Marakwet. I wish him well. Hon. Murkomen has led the way for us in Elgeyo Marakwet where all leaders are young, Hon. Murkomen being the eldest at 41 to 42 years. All Members of Parliament from Elgeyo Marakwet are young turks. Even the Governor, His Excellency Wesley, is around 35 years old. We say “thank you” to Hon. Murkomen for leading the way.

On the President’s Speech, I thank him for his commitment and his determination to lead this country in the right direction. The President promised a paradigm shift from the normal way of doing things—from the politics of tribalism, to the politics of inclusivity and the politics of issues; a shift from the politics of dynasties, to the politics of hustlers; a shift 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.

from an economic model of trickle down, to an economic model of bottom up; a shift from subsidising consumption, to subsidising production; a shift from an economy that relies on external debt, to an economy that relies on savings; and, finally, a shift from people being blacklisted on Credit Reference Bureau (CRB), to people accessing credit.

Finally, let me address the people of Keiyo South. I promise them that I will work on the opening of fluorspar, the construction of Kimwarer Dam that was stopped by the previous regime, and the issue of the shamba system that allows you to plant your maize in the forests at the same time conserve the forests. I will speak for construction of your roads in the constituency.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. God bless Kenya.

Let us have the Member for Thika Town.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I do not know whether I will be audible enough. I was under the ‘weather’ over the weekend, but something very interesting took place. My Arsenal team won the Liverpool match. At least that kept me going.

May I take this opportunity to congratulate you and all the leaders in this House for making it to the 13th Parliament. I also thank the people of Thika Town Constituency for giving me an opportunity to represent them in this Parliament. I thank everybody—those who prayed for us, those who prayed for Kenya Kwanza, team Mama that went around and worked hard every day to make sure that we won. I thank them very much because they made sure we won in every polling center in our constituency. I thank all the generals from Kiambu, led by our Leader of Majority Party, Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah. We criss-crossed the entire Kiambu County and the country in search of votes. Truly, God answered our prayers. That is why we are here today.

As we are aware, it was not an easy thing. We campaigned very hard. The yellow fever took over. The symptoms were detected across the entire country. Two weeks to 8th August 2022, the entire country’s momentum was unstoppable. It was like a Porsche with no brakes. Kenya Kwanza was leading in all real polls, not the fake polls from the establishment. We were leading all over. We swept the entire country in voter mobilisation and the readiness to vote. That is how we found ourselves the majority at the national level, in both Houses and at the county level. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the battle was not easy, but we endured. We made sure that with God on our side, we never agreed to surrender or to be intimidated. We knew all the setbacks were going to be our setup steps for our blessings. That is how we made it because our God took over and made sure that we were going to be living testimonies. Hon. Deputy Speaker, if someone ever asks you whether you have ever witnessed a miracle, tell them to look at Kenya Kwanza because we are a living testimony of what God can do when He is on your side.

I now want to add my contribution on the President’s Speech made on the opening day of this 13th Parliament. The President is a hardworking kind of a man and given a chance, he shall transform this country, restore it and elevate it to unimaginable levels. In his Speech, he affirmed that he was going to jealously protect our Constitution, guard our institutions by strengthening the existing ones and to ensure that we do not overrun them.

Hundreds of men and women in Kenya are going through hardships and the burden is too heavy for them to bear. As we speak, there are many homes that are going without food. We need to work extra hard and to go back to our basics where agriculture was the backbone of our nation’s economy. Provided with all the necessary equipment and produce, our country can go back to farming.

Member for Chuka/Igambang’ombe. 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.

Thank you Hon. Deputy Speaker. First, I wish to congratulate you for your election as the Deputy Speaker of this House. Having a female Deputy Speaker is a good thing and it shows what Kenya Kwanza stands for.

Secondly, I wish to thank the people of Chuka/Igambang’ombe Constituency who gave me a second chance to represent them in this House. This is a constituency that is known for not re-electing Members for a second time. I thank them because they made sure that I came back to this House again.

I come from a constituency that has very many stalled projects. Everyone in this House knows what happened during the last campaigns. Those who did not support the then Government had their projects sabotaged. We have a county headquarters in Tharaka Nithi with no access road. The road was assigned a contractor, but because we the people of Tharaka Nithi decided to unanimously support the then Deputy President, who is the President now, the project was sabotaged. We lobbied again but we got contractors who have never reported to site up to now. So, we have a non-existent county headquarters. The county headquarters lies in my constituency. I think it is the only county headquarters in this country that has no court, no Huduma Centre and no facilities at all just because we were punished for supporting the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. I wish to thank the President, William Ruto because he recognised all that pain and he has finally rewarded Tharaka Nithi with a Cabinet Secretary. I wish to tell this House that Tharaka Nithi is the only county, I think, that has never had a Cabinet Secretary since independence. Kithure Kindiki is the first Cabinet Secretary from Tharaka Nithi.

Being a health professional, I was very happy when the President talked about UHC. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we can discuss airports and loans but the greatest burden to the people of this country is in those sectors. I happened to be in the last Parliament and we travelled to Cuba to benchmark against their system. I want to tell this House that when I landed in Cuba I wondered what we are doing as a country. They did not have big hospitals or equipment but it was how they have organised healthcare. I felt so good when the President talked about primary healthcare, preventive and promotive health care. In this country, we treat our people when they are too sick. We normally talk theoretically about visiting a doctor for check up, but how many Kenyans can afford a check-up? While on my visit to Cuba with other Members we found a well organised health system. For example, in every village, we have a doctor, a clinical officer and a nurse who go house to house in a location checking on the people to ensure that they do not get extremely sick before they go to hospital. I really wish that will be the meaning of primary healthcare in this country. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I come from Tharaka Nithi where we have a bridge called Nithi. The President in his last Speech promised that he would work on this bridge. It has been a killer bridge in this country. It is not only the people of Tharaka Nithi who die along this bridge. It is really an issue that the people of Tharaka Nithi would wish the President worked on.

Additionally, we know that the President is so passionate about agriculture and until people can feed themselves they remain slaves. Agriculture is the backbone of the Kenyan economy. Today coffee, tea and milk farmers in Mount Kenya have been made paupers by cartels. When I talk about cartels I cannot forget about the milk sector which has the largest cartels and we know their quotas. The President also mentioned boda boda and I wish we can remove the high taxes we have placed on motorbikes so that our young people can, at least, afford to buy boda bodas for themselves. Most of them are currently working for rich people who can afford to buy them at that expensive price. Finally, Hon. Deputy Speaker, I was in my constituency yesterday…

Member for Bomet County also known as Toto.

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Hon. Member unless you press the intervention button I will not see you. Member for Bomet County!

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I take this opportunity to thank the Almighty Father for being with us all. I would like to congratulate you on your election as the Hon. Deputy Speaker. I also congratulate Hon. Moses Wetangula, for being elected as the Speaker of this House. I thank the people of Bomet County for believing in me. I thank them for voting me in and for their prayers. As you may know, I just graduated and went to vie for this particular seat. For the people of Bomet who assisted me, allow me to mention one person by the name Gideon Cheruiyot, who when I declared my ambition he came to my home and asked me whether I was serious about my ambitions. He then decided to assist me with his boda boda which he used to fuel using his own money. He took me to the campaign field in the morning and back home in the evening. Gideon wherever you are, may God bless you. You really impacted my campaign, not forgetting the people of Bomet who printed posters, prayed for me, supported me financially and finally voted me in. Thank you for believing in me despite my age and status. I want to affirm to you that we shall walk together and I will not let you down. I am here in the 13th Parliament to represent your interests. I also want to congratulate the people of Kenya for voting in our President, His Excellency Hon. (Dr.) William Samoei Ruto. I know that with this new Government, we will assist very many Kenyans. I thank him for introducing the hustlers’ fund. I am aware that in the 13th Parliament we have so many hustlers and in that regard, since it is the home of many people, everything is possible. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I am happy to stand in this House as the youngest Parliamentarian in this country. I never take that for granted. On the President’s Speech, the President talked about agriculture. I know he will improve on that sector and our people, especially in my County of Bomet, will be able to enhance income and food production.

There is also the issue of hustlers’ fund of Ksh50 billion in each financial year. I know very many hustlers will be able to be in a better position. We have the hawkers and the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) that will be able to enhance their business enterprises. With those few remarks, I thank you. May God bless us all.

Member for Mathira.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I must thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my first speech in this House. Secondly, I must congratulate you for having been elected as the Deputy Speaker for the 13th Parliament. My name is Erick Wamumbi, the Member for Mathira. My election was a miracle. I was not prepared for this until the former Member of Parliament for Mathira was elevated to become the second Deputy President of this Republic. That is how my election came by. For that reason, I must thank the people of Mathira for having trust in me, for believing in me and for electing me to represent them in this august House. I will not forget to thank my mentor, my friend, His Excellency Rigathi Gachagua who held my hand, who believed in me, and who believed in a young leader. I was agitated when the nominated Member, Hon. Mbadi, said that the Deputy President has been saying that it is their time to eat. I would like to tell Hon. Mbadi that His Excellency the Deputy President is not a petty man. He is consistent and he means what he says. He said that the Government which is led by President William Ruto and his deputy will work for all the people of this country — those who voted for them and those who did not vote for them. 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.

There are the two things that I took time to listen to in the President’s Speech. One is the hustlers’ fund. We have so many young people who are languishing in poverty and some of them end up seeking employment in foreign countries and they are being tortured in those countries. When that credit is availed we will make sure that young men and women of this country engage in business. They will no longer seek employment in countries that are torturing them. Finally, on agriculture, I am happy that the President has committed to revive irrigation- fed agriculture as compared to rain-fed agriculture. It is only through business and agriculture that we are going to revive the economy of this country. We have seen the President and his deputy have already started distribution of fertiliser to enable farmers engage in farming. Lastly, the most important thing they are going to do is to revive irrigation-fed agriculture so that our people can engage in farming, and that the coffee farmer, milk farmer and tea farmer will get their returns at the end of the season. With those few remarks, I thank you. God bless us all, and God bless Kenya.

Hon. Members, having completed the four days of debate of the Address of His Excellency the President, I now call upon the Mover to reply.

(Kikuyu, UDA)

Member of Kikuyu and the Leader of the Majority Party, you have already completed the reply. So, you cannot donate the time, you should have done that before.

Before I replied? Hon. Deputy Speaker, may I then continue.

We have less than four minutes to 8.00 p.m.

Hon. Deputy Speaker, with your indulgence, let me donate to Hon. Harrison Kombe, Hon. Kitilai and Hon. Mary Emaase one minute each, then I reply; if I can withdraw my earlier reply.

Asante Mheshimiwa Naibu Spika na Ndugu Ichung’wah. Nachukuwa nafasi hii kwa kifupi kuwashukuru watu wa Magarini na kumpongeza Rais kwa kuchaguliwa kuongoza Jamhuri ya Kenya. Vile vile, ningetaka kuguzia machache alioyazungumzia. Kwanza, nitazungumzia kuhusu zile hela za wachochole yani hustlers’ fund. Ikiwa hiyo itapatikana na iweze kuwekwa kwa njia ya uadilifu, hakika itawasaidia vijana, akina mama, na wale wasiojiweza kujiendeleza. Pia, swala la NG-CDF litasaidia ili tuweze kuliangazia katika Katiba haraka iwezekanavyo ili watoto wetu wasibaki manyumbani. Wengi saa hizi wako nyumbani kwa sababu ya…

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I want to thank the Leader of the Majority Party for giving me one minute. I will take it to first and foremost give honour and glory to God for having found favour in me to represent the people of Teso South for another term after having served in the 11th Parliament. I know I only have one minute, and I take this opportunity to appreciate the people of Teso South. Thank you so much for trusting, believing in me and giving me another term to serve you. I promise that I will work and serve you diligently without discrimination. For those who voted for me and those who did not, I assure you my commitment is to serve you. Thank you so much, Leader of the Majority Party for giving me this opportunity.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for this opportunity.

I would also like to say that Igembe North is a unique constituency. It is partially engulfed by Isiolo and currently, most of the population is highly ravaged by famine… 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.

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. First, I would like to congratulate you for being elected the Deputy Speaker. I would also like to thank the Leader of the Majority Party for giving me this opportunity. I sincerely appreciate and salute the people of Narok South Constituency for electing me as their Member of Parliament. Without any doubt, I promise the good people of Narok South that I shall work hard to fulfil pledges that I made during the campaign period, so that we can deal with the real and historical issues that have affected our people over the years. Like other parts of this Republic, Narok South Constituency has its share of challenges…

Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for your indulgence. I now beg to reply.

Hon. Members, the time being 8.00 p.m., this House stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, 12th October 2022, at 9.30 a.m.

The House rose at 8.00 p.m.

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Clerk of the National Assembly Parliament Buildings Nairobi 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.