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{
"id": 1555592,
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"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Loud consultations)"
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"id": 1555593,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555593/?format=api",
"text_counter": 453,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "(Sen. Mumma). Order, Sen. Omatatah and team. Let that Kamukunji consult in low tones."
},
{
"id": 1555594,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555594/?format=api",
"text_counter": 454,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I urge that Sen. Orwoba soldiers on and fellow Senators to support this Bill. There is only thing by way of improvement of this Bill that I would like my colleague to think about. I am reading a provision about the structure of the administration of the Bill. It says that she intends to set up a committee through this Bill that would have a cooperate entity. It is an inter-ministerial committee on provision of sanitary towels. I have been through a lot of legislation. How do we create and inter-ministerial committee and give it corporate entity? Would it not have been better to set up a proper parastatal in charge of this? I say this because it has a corporate seal, it can sue and be sued. It does purchasing and all these things like a proper corporate entity. The inter- ministerial committee has a chairperson and Principal Secretary (PS) responsible for gender, the PS for education or their representative designate. You also have the PS for correctional services, for higher education and for vocational education. There are so many principal secretaries. Apart from these many PSs or their designates, there is the Attorney-General. I have been in Government for a while and also Chair of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). I know how boards are supposed to work. At least for a board one is sure who the member is. They are given their allowances and they know whenever they sit, there is a certain benefit attached to it. For these ministerial things, the officer who comes one day may not be the one in the next meeting. One day the gender or even correctional person does not come. It is a different person every time. It becomes impossible to make a decision as a corporate because maybe the other officer from the Ministry of Gender is not there. It becomes so The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1555595,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555595/?format=api",
"text_counter": 455,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "difficult. The Attorney-General has many lawyers and state counsel who will keep exchanging. Making one decision such as where to place money becomes very difficult. I see a situation where my colleague might want to think about setting up a proper parastatal that is charged with this; we give the money and support the initiative to the end. I am very worried about the current setup that is carried all the way to the counties. At the county there are inter-ministerial departments’ setup. There is the argument that if the money is located in one particular department or one place, it can be subject to misuse. It is better we legislate how that money will be operationalized and we achieve the goal where there is unified decision-making. However, if we have three departments or three ministries then the beautiful thoughts of my colleague, Sen. Orwoba, will be frustrated by people. She will not get the results because Government works in a very strange way. One needs to be in there for them to know what I am talking about. I am urging to look for a more efficient way for this money to flow to our people. That is the only point I wanted to make. This is a wonderful idea whose time has come. I urge the men who are listening to support the girl child. I am referring to men who are traditional like myself, who come from counties that still believe and practice our traditions. I am referring to men who cannot even say some words because those words do not even exist in our mother tongues. I urge them that it is time we change and support the girl child. We should support this Bill. With all those many words, I beg to support. Thank you."
},
{
"id": 1555596,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555596/?format=api",
"text_counter": 456,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity. This is a very good Bill for all intents and purposes. It is an open secret that Kenya is going through a lot of period poverty. Period poverty is defined as the inability to access period products, clean water and a hygienic environment during the period. The main cause of period poverty is not the lack of water, period stigma or lack of sanitation. The main cause of period poverty is the high cost of period products. Statistics show that 65 per cent of women and girls in Kenya cannot afford sanitary products. About 95 per cent of our menstruating girls have to miss school for a day or two days when they are on their period. We cannot continue to normalise such alarming statistics and the effect that they have on the education of a girl child. One might ask, how have we managed all this time? We have been filling the gap through donations. We have had an NGO here and a philanthropist there. The women representatives can also donate some sanitary pads, but they do not meet the entire needs that we have in our schools and our prisons. So, why not adopt this legislative proposal and the legal structure that Sen. Orwoba is proposing and fine-tune? Everyone here represents people and we all know the dire need on the ground."
},
{
"id": 1555597,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555597/?format=api",
"text_counter": 457,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The intent of this Bill is sacred. We need to support it and guide it to ensure that our girls eventually get free sanitary towels, if not for anything, but for their dignity. There is no dignity in donations. We need to give them the sanitary pads so as to end the stigma. We should give our girls dignity by having a system where they will be guaranteed sanitary products. They should also be guaranteed to attend all the days in school. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1555598,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555598/?format=api",
"text_counter": 458,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The amendment I would propose to this Bill is to include a shelf life, perhaps 20 years, to allow the Government to develop solutions for affordable sanitary products. These solutions could include zero-rating raw materials, ensuring access to cheap labor for production, subsidizing the sector and establishing domestic manufacturing of sanitary products. Another proposal I would suggest to Sen. Gloria to include in the Bill is the introduction of period education. This would help girls understand what is normal during their period, recognize when something might be abnormal and know how to manage pain. It would also expose them to the variety of period products available, as sanitary towels are not the only option. Girls should have the freedom to choose what is most comfortable for them. Madam Temporary Speaker, tampons are an excellent option. I do not know if you can bear me witness on that. Speaking from personal experience, I can attest to their comfort and convenience. They allow you to almost forget you are on your period. There is often a misconception about tampons being a significant or intimidating choice, but the mini tampon, for instance, is much smaller and is designed to absorb effectively. Those are my remarks on this Bill. I support The Provision of Sanitary Towels Bill (Senate Bills No.7 of 2024) with amendments. Thank you."
},
{
"id": 1555599,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555599/?format=api",
"text_counter": 459,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " I call upon the Mover to reply."
},
{
"id": 1555600,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555600/?format=api",
"text_counter": 460,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Orwoba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I beg to reply by thanking the Senators who have demonstrated their support for this piece of legislation today. I extend my thanks to my seconder, Sen. Cherarkey, for interrogating and highlighting the key aspects of the Bill. I also wish to thank Sen. Eddy Oketch for pointing out some issues that I will clarify in due course. My appreciation goes to Sen. Chimera for stepping in and ensuring that no critical points have been overlooked. I thank Sen. Karen Nyamu for enlightening us on alternative options and emphasizing sustainability, particularly with her suggestion to include a shelf life. Lastly, I thank Sen. Danson Mungatana, who has given us his insights on period poverty and how he got sensitised on this pandemic of period poverty. As I reply, I would like to highlight that there is indeed an amendment under the Education Act. If you refer to point 23 of my proposed Bill, you will see that Section 18 of the Basic Education Act is amended in sub-section (1) by inserting the words \"in consultation with the inter-ministerial committee on provision of sanitary towels established under The Provision of Sanitary Towels Act,\" immediately before the words \"prepare and submit\" appearing in paragraph (k). I also wish to inform those who have contributed, particularly Sen. Eddy Oketch, that I am aware of existing legislation that touches on the provision of sanitary towels. However, I would like to clarify that this legislation has not been implemented. It lacks timelines, does not stipulate frequencies, fails to address the quantity or quality of the sanitary towels and does not clearly assign responsibilities. Moreover, it does not allocate a specific budget or provide any repercussions for non-compliance in subsequent years if the provision of sanitary towels is not upheld. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1555601,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555601/?format=api",
"text_counter": 461,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Orwoba",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "My proposed Bill seeks to cure these legal loopholes, which have been misused, thereby denying women and girls in Kenya access to sanitary towels."
}
]
}