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{
    "id": 1120056,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1120056/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 324,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Each of us in this House belongs to at least one committee. As we begin to think about wrapping up our work for this session of Parliament, perhaps it is time to think about what will be said of our signature achievement as committees. I say this because I serve in the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and know the amounts of money that we budget that goes to committee work in Parliament. Actually, it is the largest vote head in our Parliament books. For the billions that we consume, we need to justify the same with similar amount of work, where Kenyans will look back and say it was worth having a Parliament, if we are able to solve issues as they arise. To the specifics of this particular report, I want to virtually agree with almost every recommendation that has been made by this particular Committee. The gold standards in terms of taking care of migrant workers is Philippines. If you do a detailed study, 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Philippines comes from remittances by migrant workers. Their GDP is USD361 billion, while ours is a paltry USD100 billion. Almost half of their GDP is because of them organising that sector so well and ensuring that every Filipino that works in every part of the world is protected, not just by the laws of the countries they work in, but even their own domestic laws. How do they achieve this? In 1995, they passed the Migrant Worker and Overseas Filipinos Act that lists all these things that this Committee is challenging the Executive to first put in place before we continue with the business of ensuring that we have Kenyans working outside, especially in this particular part of the world. We do not have to worry a lot about, say, Kenyans who went to work in the United Kingdom (UK) and other parts of the world. However, there is a specific reason which, out of respect for our diplomatic friends, I would not wish to delve much into. We all live in this world and know that there are certain regions of this world where, before you send your citizens to go and work, you must have a clear understanding with their governments on how they will be taken care of, the rights they will be guaranteed and the freedoms they will lose. This is so that by the time somebody boards a plane at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), they fully understand, first of all, what is expected of them and know they will be protected as they work. By the way, let us face it. Much as we are discussing and talking about producing human resource, why do people go outside the country to look for work? It is because we failed as a leadership. Otherwise, everybody would wish to work at home; forget about outside the country. Probably, people would have wished to work here in Nairobi. If I am assured of a well-paying job in Kericho, good schools for my children and good healthcare system, the same can be said of the workers that we are talking about. They say East or West, home is best. It is not their wish to leave infants to go and toil in the stifling heat of the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Circumstances force them. I think it was Sen, Kihika who spoke about this issue. I remember on my last travel out of this country, for a minute, I felt embarrassed as a leader. The entire economy class of the flight we were taking was filled with young Kenyans, most of them young"
}