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{
    "id": 1144686,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1144686/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 205,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to support the Pensions (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.26 of 2020) by Hon. Didmus Mutua Barasa, Member for Kimilili. This is a good amendment because it is reducing the number of days used to process pension to 90 days. I think we might have to bring another amendment because once somebody has served the Government up to the age of 60 years, or even more and retires, many people go home and start languishing in poverty because their salaries are stopped. I think a way should be found so that they continue receiving their salaries and once the pension starts reflecting, then the salary is stopped. Normally, it is very easy and fast for the various Government departments to immediately stop the salaries of these civil servants who have served the nation diligently. But to have them put in the system so they start getting pension takes many months or years. As you leave the Chamber after debate to go to your office, you find many of them out there. You meet civil servants, chiefs, assistant chiefs, teachers, and others who tell you they have come to follow up on their pension. Some of them do not even have fare to enable them to follow up. A way should be found so that it becomes automatic that when the salary is stopped, then immediately that person is put on pension. If you have not put them on pension, then they should continue earning a salary as they wait for the process to take effect. They should be converted from receiving a salary to pension. We have been very unfair because when you visit other countries which we try to follow like the United Kingdom (UK) and other places, you find the retirees actually enjoy their lives after serving their countries. In the United States of America (USA) there are veterans’ hospitals, for those who served in the military. When they are unwell, they go to those hospitals and are treated. Even here, a way needs to be found so that those who served in the military, after they go home and fall sick, veterans’ hospital or even the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital (DFMH) takes care of their health needs. These are Kenyans who have given their lives to serve this country and some of them end up with serious injuries like fractures and gunshot wounds. I have a neighbour back home called John Moiben who suffered a hip dislocation. You will find this guy who served in the military for a long-time suffering at home because he cannot access the Defence Forces Memorial Hospital for treatment. We need to look for ways of taking care of our veterans and retirees. We should have this pension in such a way that those who have served the country diligently are well taken care of in their retirement. More often than not, a person looks at retirement as a condemned place where you are destined to die. You may find that many of them who did not invest well lead very miserable lives once they retire. Some will even try to add more months by seeking an extension by arguing that their age was not properly stated or they have been retired earlier. This kind of cycle is actually what promotes corruption because people want to steal so that when they go on retirement, they have enough money to take care of them yet they had many years of serving the Government. You can serve honourably by doing the job that you are supposed to do and when The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}