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{
    "id": 1156728,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1156728/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kathiani, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Mbui",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1750,
        "legal_name": "Robert Mbui",
        "slug": "robert-mbui"
    },
    "content": "because you have a bill of Ksh50,000 or Ksh20,000 or Ksh10,000 or Ksh5,000. Patients are detained. You turn sick people into prisoners. The medical problem now becomes a mental issue. Can you imagine the anguish of struggling with a medical condition while figuring out where to get money from? That is a problem that starts affecting the mind. You have seen cases where people go and sneak out with their loved ones from hospitals. We need to figure out how to protect hospitals and how to protect patients. I support the proposal that anyone found culpable should be punished severely. But we must also figure out how to protect hospitals so that people do not go in, refuse to make payments after treatment and walk out because the law says they do not have to pay. We need to marry these proposals with the NHIF Act so that we are sure that whatever happens in every hospital is safe for Kenyans. We legislate for posterity. There was a proposal in this House to cushion oil marketers. We set aside some money from the levies to cushion oil marketers. Suddenly, it has become a problem because it is not sustainable. In the next one or two months, if prices of fuel keep going up, it will be impossible to cushion the marketers. Kenyans will have to pay much more for fuel. Clearly, when we come up with legislation, let us think far ahead. Let us look at the worst case scenario, so that we do not come up with legislation that becomes impossible to implement. There is also the issue of detaining dead bodies. People say that dead bodies have no value. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, you mentioned that Africans have a way of valuing dead bodies. In fact, some communities value people more when they are dead than when alive. I have gone to funerals where the dead is dressed up in a brand new suit, brand new shoes, brand new socks and brand new underwear. But when they were alive, the family never even gave them food to eat. That is the reality. We have also seen places where when someone passes on, their relatives rush home to put up a house so that the deceased can be buried where there is a house yet the dead had nowhere to call home before. It is a fact that Africans have a way of dealing with dead bodies. Let us find a way of protecting them. Those are our voters. How do we protect them? Once a person is deceased, detaining the body is a problem. Eventually, the bodies are disposed of in mass graves. Why keep the body and deny the family opportunity to bury their dead and then throw away the body? Let us come up with a way of releasing such bodies for decent burials to appease families. If there is a debt, just like any other debt, we can pursue it into the future. Can you imagine a body as collateral for a bank loan? That is incredible. We need to figure out how to get the money paid and what can be written off. In government hospitals, some of these are our money. We should write them off so that we do not have to struggle. Members will tell you what they go through. The Mover has just confessed that he has sent funeral money. I want to tell him he should not say that on The Hansard . This is not the right time to send any money. The law says we should not make contributions. We can send money after the election. Be careful not to be seen to be sending money because it might be construed to mean you are inducing a voter to support you. Other than that, it is important to note that this is something we need to figure and sort out once and for all. I support the hefty penalties. With those few remarks, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I support and thank the Mover."
}