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{
    "id": 1024165,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1024165/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 255,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Homa Bay Town, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1565,
        "legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
        "slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
    },
    "content": "such as the Ninth and Tenth Parliaments, Members were getting gratuity at the end of their terms. Those who qualified for pension are also getting their pension today. So, I have a problem. Hon. Mbadi, has confirmed that he got his. So, my problem with this Bill is that it seeks to merge two labour-based entitlements that deal with separate things. Social security is not a thankyou for having served in a House of Parliament. It is something that the team which has brought this Bill, assisted by Hon. Mwadime, Hon. Wanga and others, must help us define. Members need to look at the Gazette Notice that defines the terms of service when we came here in 2013. The 31 per cent gratuity is available to all public servants in the Executive and the Judiciary, and it is still the same today. It is available to all commissioners and independent office holders. It is still provided for in the Gazette Notice. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you will remember that when the Gazette Notice that provided for Members’ gratuity was amended and all the benefits maliciously removed, Members went to court, through the Parliamentary Service Commission. I thank them for that. The court nullified the Gazette Notice that removed those entitlements. It means the entitlement for gratuity still remains at 31 per cent. The entitlement for pension under the Parliamentary Pensions Act also remains intact. So, it would be a mistake for us to merge the two. This is something we are going to propose to look at afresh because the two deal with separate things. I am one person who never shies away from the law and the truth. For those of us who are in the 12th Parliament and are entitled to gratuity, which we have not been given, whether people like or not, I will be instituting my own action to seek our gratuity because it was a gazetted entitlement and it is a lawful entitlement. Two things have been said by the Leader of the Majority Party and the Leader of the Minority Party, which we also need to look at. Can we define what we are going to apply for, whether it is gratuity and pension? It is very sad to see a person who has served in this House, making great contributions to Bills, being unable to meet his medical bills in old age. Many are sad times when you read in newspapers that a former Member of Parliament cannot sustain kidney dialysis and diabetes treatment."
}