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{
    "id": 805988,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/805988/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 51,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "attended the Committee on Health when we were interrogating the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) on expired drugs. I remember the late Sen. Okello used to sit on the left side of this House. I can only say that he was a humble man. For all the time I knew him, he was indeed a dignified man. I was also privileged to have met the late Sen. Okello sometimes last year before he was elected as a Senator. We were just looking for a master of ceremony to preside in a funeral in Kisumu. The people of Kisumu, though knew that Sen. Okello hailed from Migori, they wanted to import him all the way from Migori to Kisumu to preside as a master of ceremony. That tells you how talented Sen. Okello was in the area of communication. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we mourn our colleague whom we have reliably been informed died of cancer, we should also reflect as a country what steps we are taking to take care of Kenyans who are suffering from cancer. If we were to follow the history of Sen. Ben Oluoch Okello, he has travelled all the way to India in search of good medical attention for cancer. He has spent several days admitted at M.P. Shah Hospital. That should tell us as Honorable Members of this House that treating cancer can be expensive. It can drain and cripple families financially. This should be the time for this country to reflect on what we can do as a nation to cushion families that have people suffering from cancer. It is sad that this country has got no policy in place to assist families that have patients suffering from cancer to have access to free medical attention. If you are not privileged to have a good medical cover or you are not financially stable, and you are diagnosed with cancer, chances are that you will be facing death in painful circumstances. There are many people suffering from throat cancer who have had early diagnosis. With good medical attention, they have received treatment and recovered. What that should tell us is that as a country, we are doing poorly in terms of early diagnosis of cancer. As people who are supposed to protect the interests of the counties, this is an issue that should be of great priority to us as Senators, so that most counties can have mechanism for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. As I conclude, on behalf of myself, my family and the people of the great County of Nyamira, I say pole to the family of the late Sen. Okello. I leave the widows and the children with words of comfort from the Book of Jeremiah 29:11 that God indeed has good plans for the future of the family that has been left behind."
}