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{
    "id": 1276536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1276536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 147,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Busia County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Catherine Omanyo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This Motion is close to my heart. For instance, I basically raised myself. The absenteeism of parents has a negative impact on a child. It is not easy for the child if their parent is incarcerated or in conflict with the law where they are either suspects, victims or convicts. All these cannot allow one to be a good parent at that time. I fully support this Motion by the Member of Parliament, whom I respect. The sponsor of this Motion speaks for many people who are suffering in silence. In such situations, children need a lot of assessment and monitoring. Parents in prisons need the freedom to go and see their children any time. A child who is born in prison, or lives in prison with the parent is not a prisoner. It is only the parent who is the prisoner. Many children who find themselves in prisons or with their parents in prison live in fear. They also have anger outbursts because they cannot do anything about their situation. Being left alone with nowhere to go makes them anxious and bitter. Psychologists can easily pick this up. The rest of us give such children names. I have been called names before, but very few people who care and matter to me took time to understand why some of these things happened to me. Children raised with the fear of losing a parent to prison, or with limited access to their parents live in a very difficult environment. Sometimes they do not even understand what is going on. It is the Government’s responsibility to build an establishment for parents in prison. We are mostly looking at mothers, but we also have fathers who are left with children and can be imprisoned. We must have an establishment that ensures that those imprisoned with their children can still have space to be parents and for the children to interact with them. We have treated or seen people in prison as rogue, unapproachable and as people who should be feared. If the children see how prison wardens treat prisoners, they grow up missing something. If not well-counseled, such children grow up very rebellious because this is what they see. They find it difficult to even fit in outside prison life. We should have schools, social amenities and a home away from home for children living in prisons. We should keep in mind the fact that a child who is in prison because they were arrested with the mother or father…"
}