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{
    "id": 1013869,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1013869/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, they will be told you have employed people here. You have new cadre of workers in the county and you are not paying them minimum wages. You have not allowed them to join trade unions. That will create a major problem. In fact, it will be a messy affair than what we have currently. Let us also be careful that we do not overburden counties. In my county, the request from the department of health, the County Executive Committee Member (CEC) of Health requires about Ksh211 million for adequate supply of medicine to hospitals. We are only able to give him Kshs26 million. If we again take a lot of money from the health budget, we will be doing a big disservice to our counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, finally, we have an existing structure within our counties where the person that is the boss in matters dealing with health is the CEC for Health. If you create another office of director of community workers, you have totally changed the existing structure within the counties. That will create problems within the counties. There will be somebody who will come in, get a new title and then get on a higher position than the existing positions within the county then report direct to the CEC. If we address some of these concerns, this is a fantastic Bill. I am happy to note that the Senate Majority Leader here was raised by a community health worker. Therefore, these are people that we need to recognize and appreciate them for the good work that they are doing within the counties. We must do this in a manner that we do not kill this Bill once it goes to the National Assembly and we do not create a financial burden from our counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is another issue. When you create an office of a worker, as you know, the national values under our Constitution, these are positions that you must recruit competitively. There is no way you can call people workers within the county and then you do not give equal opportunity for people to apply. The qualification for you to be a community health worker, you need some minimum academic qualification. The moment you call these people workers, you must advertise those positions and give equal opportunity to anybody within the community who feels that they are qualified to apply for those positions. They should be interviewed and recruited into those positions. If we do not do that, you will face problems. Remember Article 27 in our Constitution says you cannot discriminate."
}