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{
    "id": 1071308,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1071308/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 252,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "had told me that he wanted to second this Bill has had triplets through assisted reproductive technology. That is the reality. However, not all the stories are rosy. When I brought this Bill, a young woman who is only 38 years old sent me a text message and told me that she had been divorced because she could not have children. I have even seen younger women aged 25 and 26 years who are being threatened with divorce because they have been married for two to three years, but they do not have children. I am here to say that God has made us fearfully and wonderfully because the Bible says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made with or without children. Having said so, I am here so that a woman who may not have the level of confidence that I have – I do not care what you brand or do not brand her – and who may go to her early grave because of branding, may get a chance to be able to get children through assisted reproduction. The Hon. Member that I am talking about is now in the House. She introduced me to a group of young women. They are different women who have now formed a support group of young women who are not able to have children. I went to their group. One of them also happened to be my relative. Many of them were in tears as they narrated their stories to me. Some of them have gone through this process five or six times. The average cost at that time was between Kshs500,000 and Kshs600,000, just for the hospital fee alone. If you were to put all other costs, it goes even much higher. When the process fails, you pay exactly the same amount. So, there are people who have paid up to Kshs5 million in trying to have children. I am here speaking for them. I urge Members that we pass this Bill so that we give those people opportunities, and we may save their marriages. There is also an element of gender dynamics in relation to this issue. For the medics who are here, they will let you know that sometimes it is not just the fault of the woman. Sometimes it is also the fault of the man. However, the society does not care about that. If you read the poem titled A Leopard Lives in a Muu Tree, by Jonathan Kariara, it speaks to this issue. It speaks to a man who is not able to have children. He turns his face away so that his brother can sneak in and sire children with the wife and he says the children are born with stripes which resemble his brother. That is what he calls a leopard that lives in a Muu tree. The leopard is basically helping so that he can have children. It is different in our traditional societies. The last time we were here, a lot of people were saying this is un-African. Those of us who think that it is un-African probably they do not know their tradition. I have researched amongst several of our communities. This process was there. This process was allowed in a lot of communities in varying forms. I can tell you, for instance, amongst the Luo community, if a woman was not able to have a child, what the woman would do is to get a relative of hers – either a younger sister or a niece – to have children with the husband. Those children are not considered the children of her sister or her niece. They would be considered her own. The other woman would be there not as a wife but for purposes of procreation. After that they would be treated as house girls or housemaids who are sent here and there. We are in a different world where we do not need to raise conflicts like that of Sarah in the Bible. Through technology, we can now help. If you look at the original version of this Bill, it was written “In-Vitro Fertilisation”. I just want to thank Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal. He, through his own initiative and several other doctors and The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}