Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1193399,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1193399/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 124,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Gilgil, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Martha Wangari",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "On the issue of the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), I know that from the 11th to 12th Parliaments, where I sat, this Fund was a fight between Members representing single member constituencies and Members representing counties. It felt like it was a competition. What affirmative seats have done, including the woman representative position and nominated position, is to incubate leaders. Today we have a woman governor for Meru County who was a county woman representative. I stand here having benefited from a nomination. The Governor of Homa Bay was once a county woman representative. Today we have Hon. Mishi Mboko, who was a county woman representative; and we have Hon. Ruweida from Lamu, who was a county woman representative. Affirmative action seats have become fertile incubation grounds to get Members to run for other seats and be able to compete out there. However, they have challenges. When you talk about Ksh100 million for NG-CDF, you are talking of Ksh7 million for a constituency and billions of shillings for county governments. Women have had a hard time keeping up and delivering on their mandates. So, putting this in law will give more women power and the push they need to run for other seats. What that means is that more women will be governors from the county woman representative positions and representatives of single member constituencies, senators and deputy governors from county women representatives. What I have learnt over time from the last three Parliaments is that we have gone a full cycle. We have people here who sat in the 11th Parliament. I sat in the Senate and they sat in the National Assembly and they bashed the Senate. In the 12th Parliament, they ended up being Senators and others who were Senators like myself, Hon. Elachi and Hon. Lesuuda have ended up in the National Assembly. I hope we can have this proposed legislation for posterity. It is not a personal issue. The Speaker of the National Assembly was a Senator. We have governors who were Senators. We now have Senators who were governors. We have people who served in the Executive and the Judiciary, like the Deputy Speaker, who are now in this House. So, I hope we can look at the proposal from a posterity viewpoint – that we are not making the law for ourselves but for years to come. That said, I hope we will look at the constitutional issues so that they do not hamper the implementation of this proposed law. I hope the drafters of the envisaged law will pick the issues. Personally, I like the idea of separating the funds because one may have an issue with one fund and get the Bill shot down as being unconstitutional and it will affect the other funds. I hope our legal team will look at the best way to get the two Houses working together and we will learn from experience. We have third generation county governments that will ensure all of us, the Senate and the National Assembly, are on the same table doing things to achieve the same goal. I hope we will fast-track this legislation and get it to the Senate to pass it so that the issues that we are grappling with right now can be resolved. If a girl does not get a chance to sit for Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) or Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) – because they are unable to access the sponsorship from the NG-CDF – within a year, that girl will be a parent whether she is a baby or not. I hope the proposed constitutional amendment will be fast-tracked so that we get to the end of it. With those remarks, I support."
}