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"id": 1126035,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1126035/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Likoni, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mishi Mboko",
"speaker": {
"id": 874,
"legal_name": "Mishi Juma Khamisi",
"slug": "mishi-juma-khamisi"
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"content": "have some funds which come from the National Government Affirmative Action Fund, which the women representatives from the 47 counties are the patrons. These funds come from the Government coffers and go to community groups and there is need to audit the finances which are distributed to the groups. We have seen some challenges. Sometimes a group is formed and after receiving some funds from any Fund, whether the Women Enterprise Fund or the Youth Enterprise Fund, the leadership of that group, namely, the chairperson, the secretary and the treasurer, in certain circumstances, use that money without the rest of the members knowing what kind of business has been done using the money. There are many conflicts and when they arise, sometimes members make a decision to dissolve the groups. It even reaches a time where relevant Government authorities decide that they want to suspend, cancel or dissolve the group. There are many reasons why the Government sometimes will just decide to do that. A group will do some illegal activities which are not the activities which were proposed when they were doing the registration of the group. So, having a framework will be a platform to ensure that whatever proposal has been made regarding the group are the same things being implemented rather than implementing illegal activities. The process of dispute resolution is very important and if you do not have a legal framework, sometimes it becomes very difficult. It leads to conflict among the members. As a country, we need to have some records on what the funding has done to ensure there is empowerment to our women, the youth, people with disability and all other groups. If we do not have this kind of a framework, it becomes difficult. Sometimes as Parliament, the role of oversight becomes difficult. You will ask: How do we oversight when we do not have a legal framework to ensure we have the records of all the funds which have come from Government coffers? I want to agree on the creation of the position of Director of Social Development and the committee. These people will ensure there is regulation, processes, operations and management of the groups. I was once a Woman Representative for Mombasa County, and some groups were given some funds intended for a certain project, but after some time, the group died and there was nothing going on. Some people say that they are going to open a SACCO, which will never be, not even table banking. It becomes very difficult. So, having a certain framework, the director and committee members will ensure that the groups have projects that will impact the society, and help the people living with disability, the youth and women. Are we progressing as a country? We cannot live blankly like that yet every time we prepare the budget in this Parliament, we do not have positive feedback. Anything which is initiated must have a legal framework since we are being governed by the rule of law. We have our Constitution, which we should follow. The issue of confidentiality of the members is very important. Even in the Constitution, there is what we call privacy. So, privacy of Kenyans is paramount. This Bill talks about confidentiality. I want to agree because as members of that organisation, that confidentiality is very important, so that each member has their own privacy as guaranteed in the Constitution. Having said that, recently we heard that we are going to have the Biashara Fund. They stated that they are going to amalgamate all the funds, namely, the Youth Enterprise Fund, the Women Enterprise Fund and other funds into one big fund called the Biashara Fund. If we have this big fund without a framework which to regulate how people will get the funds, and how they will utilise them, it will be difficult. If this Bill is passed, it will be good and it will be in tandem with the other proposal of having a Biashara Fund. It will enable Kenyans to get big funding rather than just getting small funding from the Youth Enterprise Fund, which gives about Kshs100,000 progressively to a maximum of Kshs1 million. The Biashara Fund is going to give more funds to Kenyans groups. Having a director and a committee is going to ensure there is good governance and smooth 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."
}