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{
    "id": 1161904,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1161904/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 241,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "This Bill is extremely progressive. It seeks to domesticate the constitutional rights of the PwDs as per Article 2(3) of the Constitution which expressly states that if you have an international treaty that the country has acceded to, it automatically becomes part of our municipal law. Recently, there has been a rollback on the gains in terms of protection of PwDs in the society. Increasingly, people are normalizing the idea that PwDs can be attacked on the basis of disability, and that they are objects of pity rather that real and true inclusion in society. While we have been able to get the rhetoric of political participation, if you look at real and substantive inclusion, you will agree with me that we are yet to move far in ensuring that PwDs are included. This Bill is progressive; I urge the House to support it fully. It is late in the day. I know for sure that in the next four months, we shall have finished our term of the Twelfth Parliament. It is important that this Bill is passed by the Senate and the National Assembly before the end of the term of this Parliament, so that PwDs can have this. Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve said that a similar Bill had been passed and it is already in the National Assembly. I have had to go through a lot of challenges in ensuring that this Bill sees the light of day. I started working on it in 2013. It was an omnibus Bill that combined 22 amendments. It had over 300 pages condensed into a repeal Act. It went for the First Reading in the National Assembly, but then Hon. Susan Mochache wrote to me formally to allow it to be taken to Cabinet to become a Government Bill. Then they delayed it and brought it to Parliament in 2018 after the Cabinet had approved. Now they want to bring the same Bill, but they told me to step it down twice. That was the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. Honestly, that is not fair because people want to make money through this Bill by hiring consultants or going to workshops. This must come to an end because PwDs have suffered too long. A law that was made nearly 20 year ago, that was in 2003, cannot be relevant right now to resolve the issues that are emerging with regard to PwDs."
}