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"id": 1135163,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1135163/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
"speaker": {
"id": 174,
"legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
"slug": "amos-kimunya"
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"content": "contributions by the youth to contributions by all unemployed persons, age not being a factor, whether you are young or old, as long as you are unemployed. Therefore, we have not lost on the mandatory contribution aspect. Everything is still mandatory. It is up to the Board to look at the different categories and how they contribute to the Fund. This is in noting that we still have the provision that the State will still provide for all the indigenes and all the people who cannot provide for themselves. We have not lost anything from that rearrangement. That was probably the only concern. The other fundamental issue that they have changed is that we had provided for private employers to top up their contribution, so that it is at par with what the self-employed contributors contribute. The Senate has provided that the amount that will be earned from the top up, say from Kshs300 to Kshs500, may not be enough for the kind of money we need. If the county governments and the national Government are mandated by law to match the contributions, it will be discriminatory for the public sector to do so while the private sector does not do the same, yet both are employers. Therefore, for equity purposes, every employer should match up the contributions, with the proviso that where an employer has a medical insurance that is better than NHIF, then they will be exempted from the double contribution. I think that is a fair argument that the Committee has also agreed with. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the rest of the amendments are in terms of rationalising the fines. Clause 20 rationalises the fine from Kshs1 million to Kshs500,000. Clause 21 looks at who bears the burden. Like I said, Clause 23 removes the youth and covers the broader picture of all the unemployed. One new innovation that has come in is in Clause 26, where the Senate has added the range of benefits of emergency treatments to cover some of the rare conditions such as primary angioplasty, thrombolysis, rescue angioplasty and such other treatment as the Board may determine. This broadens the scope of coverage for the Kenyan people. The only other bit that one would want to highlight is that the Board will not just revoke a body that has been empanelled without notifying them of that intended revocation. Again, it is in line with our Constitution on fair treatment and the fair administration of justice, which we had not provided for. It creates a situation of how that revocation will be processed to its final conclusion. I believe most of these other amendments are minor, just to tidy up. There is also a fundamentally new clause by the Senate in Clause 26, which is the provision that the Board shall not withdraw the benefits of a person who is undergoing treatment for a chronic illness because that would be so unfortunate; one is already in a chronic condition. If the Board was to withdraw the benefits immediately that sickness sets in, it would be a death sentence on the person. I have, as the Mover of the Bill, looked through these amendments and I have had consultations with all the stakeholders. Various stakeholders also appeared before the Departmental Committee on Health. The Departmental Committee on Health will also be giving us their views. I have no reservations on what the Committee and the Senate have done. I recommend to this House that we agree with the amendments by the Senate, so that we can take this Bill to the next level of assent. Hopefully, at beginning of the year, we can start getting the benefits of universal health coverage to our people, who now have to sell their land and auction their property to pay simple medical bills, whereas we have the means to provide that cover to them. We have the means to insulate them from poverty and the indignity of having to suffer from sickness and being forever impoverished because a family member has become sick. So, I plead with the House that we take this Bill to the next level. Let us agree with the Senate, then we can go to the Committee of the Whole House, which is the next Order, so that we 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."
}