HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1062777,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1062777/?format=api",
"text_counter": 427,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
"slug": "aden-duale"
},
"content": "The Member for Mwea is talking about including me. It is me who is talking unless you are not seeing me. You will have your time. It is very sad. This House should have had a session to discuss the many Kenyans who lost their livelihoods and jobs following the announcement made by the President. All the restaurants in this city have been closed. There are people who have lost jobs. What is this legislature doing as a budget-making process, as a law making House? We must discuss that. We must discuss the status of the economy and stand with the Executive. These are the issues that, as we go and you may call a special sitting, we must discuss as a House. The people who lost jobs, the people who are losing their livelihoods are the people who brought us to this august House. So, looking at the Calendar, despite asking us to go on recess, and I agree with the Leader of the Majority Party that we were to go on recess in the whole month of May, if we bring it earlier, so be it. Today, in our counties, and let us say it, there are no ICU beds. In our counties, there is no oxygen. The Cabinet Secretary for Health was on television last night saying that Kenya is facing a shortage of oxygen. That is a national crisis. How many Kenyans are brought all the way from Garissa, Migori, Homa Bay and Nakuru to Nairobi looking for ICU beds? They are brought because there are no oxygen facilities and cylinders in our counties. The country and the citizens are faced with a myriad of problems. The Executive and the Legislature must rise to the occasion and find solutions to the basic challenges, be they health, livelihood or security, that our people are facing. The five counties that have been locked down contribute to about 60 per cent of the economy of our country. When you lock down the five counties, you have locked down the whole country. The epicenter of business is Nairobi. Everybody comes to Nairobi to either buy or sell. When you close restaurants, you affect waiters, cooks and vegetable, food and meat suppliers. As much as we support the Motion, this House should have a definite special sitting to make sure that we discuss how to cushion the economy and deal with the jobs and livelihoods that have been lost by our people. Finally, let me come to the issue of the vaccine. I have not taken the vaccine because I am waiting for the Russian one. Today, I saw that my good friend, Ahmednassir and his other friend, took the vaccine. So, I will find out from them where the Russian vaccine called Sputnik V is found. That is an individual decision. Let us not have another vaccine scandal. Last night, I did some mathematics. If somebody imports five million doses of a vaccine and sells it to Kenyans at Kshs10,000 each, he will make a whopping Kshs50 billion. The vaccine must be made available for free to all Kenyans. Even if it means that this House will allocate resources, we should not allow Kenyans to buy the vaccine. Ninety-nine per cent of our people cannot buy the vaccine against the backdrop of this pandemic where they have lost their livelihoods. I urge my colleagues that desperate times call for desperate measures. Committees will be in place as the Speaker documented through the Order Paper. I ask the House that as we go on recess, we must put in place measures to save our economy, the livelihood and jobs of our people."
}