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{
    "id": 1034907,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1034907/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 385,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Murang’a CWR, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Sabina Chege",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 884,
        "legal_name": "Sabina Wanjiru Chege",
        "slug": "sabina-wanjiru-chege"
    },
    "content": "on social media and they want now to put their colleagues to shame. It is a shame and I want to say that my Committee did a lot of work. We received a lot of documents and out of those documents we met with the suppliers and KEMSA. There were some that had contradicting information and we even had to recall the Ministry and KEMSA to come back and give their second submissions. There is this whole thing called retrogressive procurement, if you read our Report. It is something we said we want to know how to handle it or just to have clarity on the same. When we called the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), they said they were not sure about how it should work. Yes, it was an emergency and a lot of managers from KEMSA who came said they acted out of goodwill. Panic was in the whole Republic of Kenya and for the first one month even for Members of this House, finding a mask in shops was hard. We know how much it was costing. It was not even available. You could not even find masks in pharmacies. So, they were difficult times and that is why we have given agencies that have all what it takes to investigate and come out and tell Kenyans whether the money was lost or not. We have talked about consultations. The KEMSA Board took a back seat when the management of KEMSA decided to overspend the money that they had in their own budget. So, I am very happy for the Members who have supported this Report. We need to take care of our health workers. We allocated money for 30 beds for frontline health workers at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Right now, doctors are sick and we have recommended – it was not part of these recommendations, but in the meetings with KMPDU – that every county should have a center so that they can take care of their health workers. If these health workers are sick, who is going to take care of Kenyans? We also had candid discussions because of the goodwill between the SRC, Ministry of Health and NHIF on the final recommendation that we have done. We agreed with KMPDU that, if there is goodwill, they can also have mercy on Kenyans and call off the strike. These are conversations that are ongoing. Next week we will meet to make sure that our health workers are at least cushioned because these are special times. Kenya is not the only country that has struggled with COVID-19. I think the Ministry also did a very good job in the beginning and that is why we flattened the curve, but what happened when we reopened? Again the numbers went up. So, I would want to urge Members that even as we go back to our constituencies, we should check. I want to tell the Senate Committee to wake up because oversight of the counties is under the Senate. You have seen a stalemate in Laikipia and Kirinyaga counties. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I thank you and the House. I urge that we support the Report so that we have a way forward. I also urge the department that we have given work to do to make sure that everything is handled well."
}