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{
    "id": 1102732,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1102732/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwea, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Josphat Kabinga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13441,
        "legal_name": "Josphat Kabinga Wachira",
        "slug": "josphat-kabinga-wachira-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I beg to second the Second Reading of the Social Assistance (Repeal) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.16 of 2020) sponsored by the Leader of the Majority Party. As stated by the Leader of the Majority Party, this particular Bill simply seeks to repeal the Social Assistance Act that is currently in existence to pave way for the creation of an Assistance Fund as advised by the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury. The Leader of the Majority Party alluded to the fact that there have been many challenges in the implementation of the Social Assistance Act. In fact, it has never been implemented since it was put in place. This particular Act was sponsored by the late Hon. Joyce Laboso and it has not been implemented since then due to various challenges, some of which I would like to highlight. First, it was realised that the Social Assistance Act was not aligned to the broad policy recommendation and encapsulated in the National Social Protection Policy. Secondly, Section 34 of the Act does not provide for the National Social Assistance Fund to receive funds from Exchequer. Therefore, the Fund has not been operationalised since its passing. Third, there have been inherent challenges in operationalising the Board of Management as it has both functions of oversight and implementation. The mandate of the Social Assistance Authority Board of Management established in Section 3 of the Act is not clear. It is not known whether it should be involved in the direct provision of social assistance or whether it would only be the regulator of the social assistance programme. That negates the spirit of good governance which recognises that an institution cannot oversee its actions since accountability would not be ensured. For those three reasons, the Social Assistance Act has not been implemented. Because of that, there has not been any framework that could have provided assistance to the current Social Assistance Authority, especially to the elderly through the Inua Jamii Programme which has been implemented successfully but with a lot of challenges. Some of the challenges include the budget. Currently, the budget for the Inua Jamii Programme is about Ksh28 billion. They require about Ksh32 billion. That is a deficit of Ksh4 billion which means that there are many elderly people out there who are over 70 years old and qualify to be supported but cannot because of budget constraints. The creation of the Fund is meant to address some of those challenges by opening it up to other players, including donors, who would then be able to find a legal framework through which they can also make contributions to support the elderly. Listening to Members around, nearly all constituency Members have challenges back home where they have elders who may not be currently registered as Inua Jamii beneficiaries or are registered but are not receiving assistance. It is for that reason that as a Committee, we moved out there, listened to various stakeholders and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and felt that there was an urgent need for the creation of the Fund. By repealing this Act, the Ministry will then be able to prepare regulations that can find their way into this House. Once approved, the regulations will pave the way for the creation of the Fund. Under the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, the two cannot go together. You cannot have an existing Act and then you come up with regulations that are independent of that Act yet the Act itself is active. That is why the Ministry, through the Leader of the Majority Party, had to come up with this very simple Bill to repeal the current Act, so that the Fund can be created. I urge Members to move with speed to approve this Bill, so that we give a chance to the Ministry that has occasionally 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."
}