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{
    "id": 1029545,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1029545/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 273,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "must scale up testing if we are going to tell the true story and paint the right picture of the COVID-19 situation in this country. Globally, 47.5 million people have been infected, the global economy is in recession and the entire world is in shock. Nobody seems to have understood what has hit us. Far greater economies are shutting down again. They shut down in March when we had the first wave, and just this week, we have had the United Kingdom shutting down again. We have had Germany, Spain and Italy shutting down. We are sure that the United States, once they are done with the elections, they will go back to the key issue and the elephant in the room, which is the COVID-19 situation. This Committee has been working in unchartered waters because they are dealing with a situation that is fluid. Somebody described it as flying an aeroplane and building it at the same time. Every day we send them out to carry out an investigation, they are dealing with things that are unprecedented and issues that do not have ready answers; issues that nobody else in the world is able to deal with. Seven months down the line, there are several lessons we have learned, which have been laid out in the report of the Committee. I know that we are discussing the Ninth Report of the Committee. One thing I was impressed about it is that in its report the Committee took a thematic approach. If you look at the Eighth Report, it did not just paint an entire story about COVID-19, but focused on issues to do with access to food, water and essential commodities. The Committee has helped this House to understand this pandemic. Out of the 13 terms of reference we had set out for them, they have reported consistently to them to ensure that they remain relevant. There are certain crosscutting issues and observations that I wish to raise as I support the Report of this Committee. Initially, as a legislature we focus of legislative interventions so we proposed the Pandemic Management Bill which generated a lot of excitement across the nation. You remember that tenants had an array of hope knowing that the Senate and Parliament would come to their rescue so that they will not be compelled to pay rent if their incomes were not guaranteed. People who were holding credit in banking and financial institutions had the belief that Parliament was coming to their rescue. Unfortunately, due to the sibling rivalry between the two Houses the Pandemic Management Bill has not been processed with the speed that it required. There is no point coming up with a Pandemic Management Bill one year or two years later when pandemic has ceased to be and is now an epidemic. This was a golden moment for Parliament to act collectively to come up with a legislative framework that would shield the vulnerable in society."
}