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{
    "id": 1102729,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1102729/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 298,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "We need to now establish a fund that is consistent with the law and complies with the current government policy that all national public funds should be established under Section 24(4) of the Public Finance Management Act of 2012, which is anchored on the provisions of the Constitution. The fact is that the social assistance Act of 2013 is not harmonised with the existing national policy on social protection. Also, it has some inherent flaws which were assigned in terms of the roles or regulation policy formulation standards to an authority, yet those roles are already assigned to the sector ministry. Because of all these inconsistencies, it becomes prudent that the best thing to do is, first of all, to remove this law from our statute books to cure the inconsistencies that are there and the conflicts that it is creating. It is not adding any value anyway because it is inconsistent with the other laws! So, this Bill seeks to basically do a very simple yet very important exercise which is to repeal that law that was created with a good intention of facilitating the social systems programme, but, perhaps, without a lot of thinking in terms of what should have been done. No blame for those who did it. However, in trying to create the vehicle for propagating social assistance, we seem to have hit more headwinds than what we were supposed to do. Hence, when we repeal this one, we then end up continuing with what is happening with partial operalisation through regulation of money flowing through in accordance with the PFM Act and the other issues that will continue through the Ministry. So, we actually do not need a social assistance authority because since 2004 to now, everything is working. It is said that if it is working, do not fix it. Let us not create more barriers though some bureaucracies that basically stifle the progress of the delivery of the social assistance programme. We are, therefore, urging that we pass this law, which in effect repeals the Social Assistance Act of 2013. The Bill also provides for the transitional mechanism to ensure that the repeal does not leave any legal gap. Again, it is a really straightforward matter. It identifies that this issue is a matter for the national Government, so we do not have to consult the counties. It does not occasion any additional expenditure because we are basically repealing the law. In fact, it should lead to savings because we do not need an authority when the ministry can do all the work that is being done. Most importantly, we will not have a situation where laws passed by this House conflict with each other especially on matters finance."
}