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{
    "id": 1139272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1139272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 174,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherargei",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity. I want to support this amendment and the KEMSA amendment Bill 2021. I also congratulate Sen. Shiyonga, my neighbor and the next Women Representative of Kakamega County, and wish her well. From the onset, I want to thank her because out of the 24 legislations that we presented before the High Court, one of the key issues we contested was the passage of this Bill without the concurrence of the Senate and these were among the 24 legislations. This was part of the 24 legislations that were declared illegal and unconstitutional by the High Court of Kenya. What we are simply doing is complying with the Constitution of Kenya and the ruling of the High Court of Kenya. This should go to the National Assembly that they need to be very careful because the concurrence of Bills from both Houses is very critical and it is constitutional. The non-concurrence will meet its waterloo in the courts of law. Therefore, we are just abiding with the law. I want to thank Sen. Shiyonga for bringing this amendment because we are just complying with the ruling of the High Court and also the Constitution. When you look at the section that needs to be amended or deleted, it is that word “shall”. They should have used the word “may” so that we give the counties an option. We do not want to create a monster called KEMSA. We have seen that KEMSA is a monopoly just like Kenya Power and other institutions that are monopolies. We should open up and ensure that any person who will want to sell drugs, pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals to our county governments goes through rigorous vetting. The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) must ensure that they comply with the standards and then we give the counties an opportunity to buy these drugs. Everywhere you go, governors and everybody are complaining that they do not have drugs and that KEMSA has failed to supply drugs. When you go to KEMSA, they say some drugs have very short"
}