Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has expressed his displeasure with the government as President William Ruto marks his first year in office. https://bit.ly/3PlBGYc
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00:00 I want to tell you that under the doctrine of separation of powers, checks and balances,
00:04 it is the sole responsibility of opposition
00:08 to keep checks and balances on the government.
00:12 That which the government is not doing right, it is the work of the opposition
00:16 to provide and offer solution, to talk about it
00:20 so that it is in the public domain. And the only mistake
00:24 the opposition did was to fight for the cost of living.
00:28 And we know the cost of living is that amount of money
00:32 that an average Kenyan just needs
00:36 to buy basic needs, to pay for rent, to buy food,
00:40 to buy clothing, to afford education and to afford health care.
00:44 And that is too high. So as opposition,
00:48 if dialogue fails, and the way
00:52 it has failed, then the most appropriate avenue
00:56 to follow always is the streets, which is enshrined
01:00 in the constitution of Kenya. It is an
01:04 inherent right of every Kenyan to picket peaceably
01:08 as entrenched in our constitution.
01:12 Yes. - And let's talk about the street protests.
01:16 They were very violent. How do you describe it? - I can't say
01:20 that the protests were violent. Why? Because every Kenyan, and you
01:24 were present during these protests, you could see the way we could start
01:28 in a very peaceful way. When they were taking an oath, it was to protect
01:32 life and to protect property. This government seems
01:36 more interested in protection of property more than
01:40 protection of life. Those property shall be enjoyed by the lives.
01:44 Not enjoyed by any other thing, but they are being
01:48 protected for their lives. Therefore, protection of life is the fundamental
01:52 right of the government instead of taking life.
01:56 Look at for example the expressway, where
02:00 the flowerpots were more important than the lives that were being
02:04 lost. You cannot kill citizens that you are supposed to take care of
02:08 in the name of protecting a flowerpot. You cannot say
02:12 that the Chinese government came to find out why
02:16 the expressway, the flowerpots were destroyed. While
02:20 you as the president, you are not going even for one funeral
02:24 of the Kenyan citizens that were killed by the police officers
02:28 that are serving under you, that were taking orders from your government.
02:32 Stephen, this was very unfortunate because these are
02:36 the dark days that we are back in. Actually, one year in office
02:40 what we can celebrate is the many travels that this government
02:44 has made abroad, but nothing else. The other day I was seeing
02:48 you were airing Uto's government in one year, one year in office.
02:52 But I'm so saddened because look at
02:56 the health sector. The health
03:00 sector itself is sick. Health is sick. Why is health sick?
03:04 Increment of payment
03:08 of NHIF is burdening the common
03:12 monarchy. Why would you increase NHIF on them? Why would you introduce
03:16 you divide NHIF into three? That is the social health
03:20 insurance fund and you say that after dividing that into three
03:24 then the social health insurance fund shall be managed by
03:28 a private sector. So you literally saying as a president that
03:32 public fund should be managed by private individuals.
03:36 That is completely out. The primary health sector number two. And the third one
03:40 is the emergency and the chronic funds.
03:44 With these three you are literally increasing the administrative cost.
03:48 When you increase the administrative cost what are you doing to the government? You are overburdening
03:52 the common monarchy because that is a recurrent expenditure. It cannot lead to
03:56 growth of an economy. Number two, in the education
04:00 sector. It is so sad. Why not for education? I would not be
04:04 a member of parliament. Why not for education? Even Uto himself
04:08 who was a beneficiary of boom would not be where
04:12 he is today. Rigathi would not be where he is today. And I can tell you for sure
04:16 that during Moi's time there used to be boom
04:20 where they were getting free funding for university. All the students
04:24 who qualified for university were being admitted at a hundred percent. They were getting
04:28 boom. They were getting loans. During Kibaki's time there was introduction
04:32 of the HELB, the Higher Education Loans Board, where people were getting
04:36 HELB and there was also bursaries and there was also
04:40 extra loans in addition to that. During Uro's time HELB was maintained.
04:44 During these three regimes
04:48 there was a hundred percent transition. Students were moving from
04:52 high school in tunes of hundreds of thousands
04:56 joining university to pursue education. During Uto's time
05:00 is the only time where students are not joining university. There is
05:04 no difference between a student who scored an A with a student who scored
05:08 an E because the student who scored an A cannot proceed because they cannot
05:12 afford university fees. During Uto's time is the only period where
05:16 hundreds of thousands of students cannot join university. We are killing
05:20 the education sector in this country. And we know the role of education in
05:24 the economic growth of a nation by provision of skilled labourers.
05:28 And in any place you go to in agriculture there are skilled labourers. In health there are skilled labourers.
05:32 In the industries there are skilled labourers. In every other
05:36 place there are skilled labourers. You are expecting little where you come from in Narok,
05:40 where I come from in Kisumu Nyalenda, you expect a parent
05:44 who is selling vegetables, the mamamboga, the border rider,
05:48 the person who wakes up in the morning to go from Djengo, you expect that
05:52 person little. To part with 300,000 per year
05:56 to pay for a social science course, the minimum cost, for four years
06:00 that person should part with 1.2 million Kenya shillings.
06:04 You expect a mamamboga who makes a profit of 50 shillings per day, or even
06:08 100 shillings only, in a month that is only 3,000 Kenya shillings.
06:12 In a whole year 3,000 by 12 is 36,000 Kenya shillings.
06:16 So 36,000 Kenya shillings as a profit, where will you get 1.2 million
06:21 to pay for four years? Stephen Leto. This is quite
06:25 unfortunate. We are killing the education in this nation. An education that has
06:29 made Ruto who he is, education that has made Rigadi who he is, education that has
06:33 made Stephen Leto and Babu Oweno who they are. So I can say
06:37 that we've destroyed completely education in this country.
06:42 Then we go to agriculture. Today if you go to the universities
06:47 you will find the students are not in a position to join. We are told that there are only
06:51 45,000 students who will benefit, who will be given scholarship. And of these
06:55 45,000 students, Leto, there is no money for
06:59 accommodation. How will they get it? While help is to provide for that.
07:03 They used to get money from help, they pay fee, the little amount remaining
07:07 they used to buy food, they get accommodation. Where will they get food?
07:11 How will they move from their villages to town? So literally we've just said that
07:15 we don't want an educated nation. In agriculture we are being told that
07:19 fertilizer is being subsidized. My brother, as you
07:23 subsidize fertilizer and you increase the tax
07:27 on fuel. If you increase the tax on fuel, anything that is capable of being
07:31 transported, the value will increase. So therefore even the cost of transporting
07:35 fertilizer from one destination to the other, the value increases.
07:39 And if the value increases, that farmer will ensure
07:43 that that cost, the farmer will get it back from the farm produce.
07:47 So which means that there is nothing, you are doing a zero work. So by the end of the day
07:51 you will increase the fuel cost, you increase the cost of transport
07:55 and you lie to Kenyans that you are subsidizing the cost of fertilizer
07:59 but by the end of the day, the farm produce, that flour, that maize cost
08:03 will still be high. So you are not solving the cost of living. So by the
08:07 end of the day, I'm a disappointed man on Ruto.
08:11 A person who is educated, who is a doctor, who has advanced
08:15 his education, who does not value the importance of education, having known that
08:19 it is education that has brought him where he is. A person who was a minister for agriculture
08:23 having known the worth and the importance of agriculture, who walks
08:27 in a farm to take photos with maize
08:31 that is not ripe for harvest and telling us that this is
08:35 the direction. Yes, farming is the direction, but why destroy that farming
08:39 if we know that the cost of those food that is being produced will not go down.
08:43 go down.
08:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]