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{
    "id": 1272190,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1272190/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, even as we plan to implement this Motion, the Mover should require that the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), which has a specific mandate in relation to the minority, brings a policy. I support because equality and equalisation have sometimes been narrowed to the issue of women, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and the youth. We must find a policy that specifically addresses issues of ethnic minorities as persons who are also discriminated in this country. As we do so, Wakili, I request that we stay faithful to the interpretation of Article 260 about ethnic minorities. I come from the Luhya Community. If 10 of us buy land and settle in a neighbourhood in Murang’a, I doubt that the law requires that we be treated as an ethnic minority in a similar manner as the Ilchamus and that we will ask for our own infrastructure, having gone there and knowing that Luhyas are among the big communities. As we define the meaning of ethnic communities, we should stick to the interpretation provided for in the Constitution. In my view, unless, it is in policy and we have put a measure for performance, it will not happen. That is why it has not happened since 1963. That is why it is not happening even though we have a Constitution with guidelines. I propose that you go further to require that we put in place a few indicators for the national Government and county governments, so that every year during the State of the Nation Address, the President should tell us how the national Government and different Ministries, in the execution of their mandates, have incorporated the needs of marginalised ethnic communities. If we do that, it will be easy to know that, for example, in 2023, the national Government employed many Ilchamus in parastatals. In that policy, we need to identify ethnic communities we feel have been marginalised historically so that they are brought on board. If we put it that way, they will go out of their way to find persons from the ethnic minorities who are qualified to be employed. I suggest a similar standard be required for the county governments. When we get reports from county governments, we will know how they are implementing this obligation of the Constitution and the evidence they have to show that they are implementing this particular responsibility. If we go about it that way, it will be possible to pick tangible evidence of real inclusion of these people. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I finalise, I caution against the use of the words “mainstreaming and integration”. Mainstreaming and integration might mean assimilation. We have had in the Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights an instance where a community was complaining about being integrated and given identification numbers that put them together with another community. As an ethnic community, it meant they were being assimilated and identified as the other community and not themselves."
}