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{
    "id": 1336647,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1336647/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 111,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nairobi City County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Esther Passaris",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this Statement. The last time we had a transparent and effective but dysfunctional distribution of sanitary towels was in 2018. I was elected into office in 2017. In 2018, sanitary towels were distributed under the Ministry of Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage. They had procured sanitary towels and promised to also give us money for distribution, but we never received anything. When we met with the Government officials, we realised that there was a big disparity on how the Government handled this noble cause of providing sanitary towels to our girls. First, they only provide sanitary towels to children in Standard V to VIII in public schools. They are ignorant that we have girls who go to mission and community-based schools. All those girls require sanitary towels. During the tenure of the late Prof. George Magoha, we invited him to Parliament to answer questions about what happened to the distribution of sanitary towels, considering that the girl-child was not at school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said all the girls had received sanitary towels for the entire year in the first two months of 2020. But a fact-check around Nairobi showed that most schools had not received the sanitary towels. If there is a decision to provide sanitary towels, the Government should ensure they are provided to all children, that is, children in community-based, mission, faith- based and public schools. This whole idea that we do not have statistics is not correct. The Government knows the number of students in all schools. The second thing is this: We said that we cannot provide sanitary towels for girls in secondary schools. Those are the same destitute children that transition from primary school. This country has lost a lot of money through corruption. If we decide to focus, providing sanitary towels is not an area for us to cut budgets. This is where we need a transparent budget allocation to cater to every child. The Constitution does not allow us to discriminate against any child in Kenya. When we met the President, as 47 County Woman Representatives, in his wisdom, he voluntarily talked to us about teenage pregnancies. This is because he is aware there is a relationship between teenage pregnancies and sanitary towels. He suggested that every County Woman Representative should be empowered to find localised solutions to the issue of sanitary towels, even if it is about manufacturing reusable pads or anything else. He understood that when a woman wants to be assisted with sanitary towels for her child, she will not look for her male Member of Parliament but Mama Kaunti . That is why the President said MamaKaunti should be tasked with distributing and sourcing for sanitary towels. 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."
}