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    "id": 587579,
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    "content": "an obscenely rich person because of meanness striding into a borstal home to benefit from free things when he has billions of shillings. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I remember a friend of mine whom we served with in the Seventh Parliament and an immensely wealthy man. One time he invited me for lunch and so we agreed to meet at the Serena Hotel. At that time, I was sitting on the Chair like you do because I was a Member of the Speaker’s Panel. We happened to sit until 1.00 p.m. instead of 12.30 p.m. The tycoon went to Serena Hotel, sat there, but he could not buy himself even a bottle of water. He was a billionaire and I was a young lawyer with nothing. He waited until I went there and asked him: “ Mzee, why did you not have lunch?” He answered: “But you are the one buying lunch!” Such a man who is so mean to the extent of self-denial will want to go to the homes to get free things. Therefore, we require clear criteria on that. With the kind of corruption that we have in Kenya, you will find that it is people with capacity and ability who will end up in those homes and the poor will be left out. We have asked the Government to show us how money for Social Safety Net Programmes was used. I can see the distinguished Senator nodding. When you go to the counties, you will find district commissioners, county commissioners and governors have put their relatives on the list of people who cannot afford a life. They get the money and deny the poorest of the poor access to the offices, entry into the data and getting the money. That level of corruption is likely to crop into this programme. I would not be surprised to see some rich fellows dropping their parents in the morning to have breakfast, lunch and dinner and then picking them to go home. We do not want to create a society with a syndrome where people live like that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I was talking about Mji wa Huruma . When the late distinguished Cardinal Otunga – whose beatification is being awaited and I believe he will be the first Kenyan born saint in due course – retired, he went to live in Mji waHuruma in Kasarani. We used to visit him there. One time, I asked him: “Mzee, why did you come to live here?” He said that it was by choice because he came from a very large family. Some of his brothers are very well off. In fact, there is a 50 acre parcel of land in my constituency then that his father left for him. However, he bequeathed it to the church. He told me: “My son, I came to live here by choice. I led a life of serving God and I have come to live here with these elderly people because we want to share a communion of service to God.” Most of them were retired priests and so on. You can understand that if he decided to live differently. There are very many bishops who have retired into wealth, busy driving big cars and with beautiful homes. Some have even ended up in Parliament. You have seen bishops who rent television stations every morning. As you enter the church, they will tell you; “Bahasha iko mlangoni.” This is a matter of choice. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we want such homes to be rare. They should be set up for a very clear purpose, where not just anybody above 65 years is perceived to be a senior citizen. In fact, we must redefine what a senior citizen is. I do not believe 65 year olds are senior citizens. There are some 65 year olds whose thinking is like that of 18 year olds. We must also look at the distinction of what you have done in life, what you The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}