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{
    "id": 1087301,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1087301/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 78,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": ".: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support. Rumour has it that – may be Sen. Kasanga can confirm - all of us suffer mental illness and it is only the degree that varies. You do not have to run at night like they do in Homa County to be a mental health patient. All of us are mental health patients. So, it is a pandemic of its own nature. Recently, I was reading an article of a good friend of mine of a young person who committed suicide for earning a salary of Kshs18,000. Every other time I receive reports from my team in Makueni County, I get to hear that one person has committed suicide or killed their parents and so on. At the time Sen. Kasanga was proposing the amendments to the Mental Health Bill, there was a lot of opposition from many people out there, who thought we should not touch this matter. At some point, some people thought that Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital was a hospital for mentally ill patients in Nairobi City. It is now apparent that we need a mental health facility in all 47 county hospitals so that people can receive psychological assistance as Sen. M. Kajwang said. Mr. Speaker, Sir, statistics show that many Members of Parliament (MPs) have suffered from COVID-19, which is also a cause for mental illness. This is a serious issue because the after effects of COVID-19 is some element of derangement. I think the Bill by Sen. Kasanga must be given priority. For now, we must insist and include it in the Bill that mental health facilities must be added in all county and referral hospitals. In the case of Nairobi City County, we must expand Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital and remove the stigma associated with mental illness. As I have said before, doctors have said that all of us, including you here, are suffering from some form of mental illness. It is only a trigger that is left and we discover that you are suffering from some illness. It is part of us and we must live with it. The faster we tackle it the better. I support."
}