verbatim report of constituency public hearings ... - ConstitutionNet

81Geoffrey Gakuo: Thank you. Kwanza ningetaka kusema kitu. I just want to comment on something. It appears…. I want tocomment on this scene. It appears some people are given more time than others. I would like us to have equal time please.Okay I go to my points.The first one is about elections. Kwa elections let us have an MP serving for two consecutive and co-current terms. Then weshould have a maximum amount of money to be used in elections by those standing as President, MPs and Councilors.The second point is on the immigration. One, the ID is a colonial legacy so it should be abolished. Second, we have so manyillegal immigrants in this country who do nothing. So, let us have… this immigration laws should be tightened. Then, thepeople… the indigenous people should be given preference when somebody like an entrepreneur comes to this country. Theentrepreneur should be bound to employ several people from this country instead of these bogus immigrant workers. Then Iwant to talk on the churches. We have been having a lot of churches and cults which have been mushrooming and this is a wayof enriching individuals. So, the state should control the number of churches we have. There should be taxation for all thechurches because they generate a lot of money and we just see the pastors driving huge cars.The next thing I want to talk about is brain drain. We realize that all the best Kenyan brains are either in Europe, U.S.A orSouth Africa. So, this means that the taxpayers money which go to educate this people, is just wastage. It is a kind of a slavetrade whereby our best labour go to those countries. So, the government should retain the professionals like doctors for three tofive years to cater for the public funds used by the government. Then, I want to talk about administration. The role of PC’s,Chiefs and DC has been duplicated. So, this administration branch should be abolished. It is obsolete and colonial.I want to talk about poverty in Kenya. We find that Kenya is the leading in the disparity between poor and rich. So, thegovernment has a moral responsibility to make sure that the low income brackets like the hawkers and the people who operatethese small kiosks and the cobblers – wale, shoe shiners. They don’t pay any taxes, but instead are given some emolument -They are given some money which can encourage them to keep business. Because most of the time they pay taxes and they aregiven no service.Then I want to talk about the youth, women and minority. As for the youth and the minority, they should have a Constituency inParliament. We should have a youth MP ,woman MP and an MP who takes care of the disabled.The land question: The land question has been talked about but I want to summarize one point. The land which remains in thehands of colonial era whites should be repossessed. For example, we have a lot of land in Laikipia owned by people who werehere during colonial times. That land was grabbed from our fathers. It should be grabbed from them like in Zimbabwe and givento squatters. We have so many in Kenya.