Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1211202,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1211202/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Narok North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Agnes Mantaine",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 420,
        "legal_name": "Richard Moitalel ole Kenta",
        "slug": "richard-moitalel-ole-kenta"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the ongoing debate on the Memorandum from the President. In that Memorandum, there were about four issues. One of them is the NG-CDF and NGAAF. This issue has been here for a long time. We have debated a lot and we even had a caucus that was dealing with it. I remember when we went to Mombasa for two days, we did not do anything because we were trying to force the National Treasury to put money into our accounts. Anchoring it in the Constitution will solve the problem and nobody else will ever interfere with NG-CDF and NGAAF. This is money that is known to everybody. This is not money that is meant for Members of Parliament. This is money whose effect you can see when you go to the ground. This is money that can be left behind even when a Member of Parliament has gone home. Students whose school fees has been paid will always appreciate the NG-CDF. Everybody knows about the NG-CDF. I support it being anchored into the Constitution. The other issue is the two-thirds gender rule. The Member from Ruaraka contributed and he has not given us a solution. He says that there is no way we can force women to be elected and yet, he is not giving us a solution. The two-thirds gender rule is reflected in the Constitution. How else can we run away from it? It is there and that is why the 12th Parliament was pronounced unconstitutional by the former Chief Justice David Maraga. To avoid that, we have to deal with this issue. I agree with the Member who said that we cannot force electorates to elect a woman. However, as a woman, I know what we go through to get into these positions. One, a woman has to have her own money and property so that she can achieve an elective position in Kenya. If Members are serious, then let us come up with an affirmative action that can facilitate women to vie for elective positions. I also want to urge male Members not to look at the gender issue like a women issue. Tomorrow, they will be the ones crying. As we fight for this, more women will try hard to vie and a day is coming when you men will be the ones crying. So, let us face this issue to avoid this House being pronounced unconstitutional again. That ruling is still at the President’s desk and that is why he had to bring it up in the Memorandum. On the issue of bringing the Cabinet Secretaries to this House, yesterday I watched TV and saw that there is a problem in the education sector. The junior secondary school students have not yet reported to schools. If we had a Cabinet Secretary amongst us, he would be here to answer questions as to why those students have not reported to school. I know that there is a problem there because some schools are charging a lot of money in terms of fees. Some are forcing the students to change their uniform and some are selling uniforms in their schools. I do not know whether the Government is aware of this. We should have Cabinet Secretaries to answer to these questions here. I know we have the Committees. We are not saying that all Cabinet Secretaries must be here. However, when we have issues that we need answers, we should be calling a specific Cabinet Secretary to address issues of interest – like education currently. I support that we, Members of Parliament, must address the two-thirds gender rule by coming up with a solution. We should not run away from it because it will always be there and it The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}