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{
    "id": 1008359,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1008359/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 317,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": "better than the local communities. This Bill, after being refined, should address those challenges and fears, so that refugees are not seen as a nuisance, but as part and parcel of the problems that we, as members of the national community, must bear for the purpose of offering humanity. The Bill is gender administrative in nature. It provides administrative institutions to manage refugee affairs from handling applications all the way to integration of refugees. However, there are a few issues in the Bill that need to be addressed. First, is Clause 20 that deals with women and children. I hope the Committee will take note of this at the Committee of the whole House. On the issue of protection of children, children who are refugees and reside in Kenya should be subjected to the same requirements as Kenyan children under the children Act. They are here not by choice, but by circumstances beyond their control. They are no longer enjoying their youth and their years are running by, unless they are given the same protection like Kenyan children as provided in the Children Act. In the event they are integrated in the society, there will be a mismatch between the Kenyan children and the refugee children. Once we accept refugees to come, we must accept that we are going to live with them for many years to come. Part VII of the Bill is on integration, repatriation and resettlement of refugees. In this country, we have many refugees who have been, in one way or the other, integrated into the society, but they have never been considered as useful members of the society. When we go to the Committee of the whole House, we need to address that issue. What happens to refugee women who get married to Kenyan men? Do they comply with the requirements of relevant laws in terms of migration and are denied documents like IDs to justify their citizenship? What happens to refugee children who come when they are still toddlers, go through our education system and continue to offer services to this country yet there are no provisions on how they can be integrated in the society? Those are some of the areas that we need to refine, so that the Bill that we will come up with will allow integration. Countries like the United States of America (USA) have developed because of immigrants. They have been good at adopting immigrants. For us, we might have to follow the same, so that we can accommodate refugees. With those few remarks, I support."
}