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{
    "id": 1341672,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1341672/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nairobi City County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Esther Passaris",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "any case, we do make laws for Kenyans. Whereas public participation is called for in newspapers and people write memoranda, I feel that we are lacking when we come to the House and straightaway debate the Bills on the Floor of the House. We do not involve as many Kenyans as possible. This could be a way for us to consider sensitising the public when it comes to various amendments. There are very good amendments that have been proposed on the Floor. It is important that we generate activity and buzz in the public domain. We realised during deliberations on the Finance Bill, that the public was really active. Members of the public got involved and we realised that they understood what Parliament does. As representatives of the people, whenever we bring Bills we fail in that we do not involve the public in understanding what exactly the proposed laws seek to do. I have seen the Bill on the KRB where you are trying to reduce the number of Board members to be in line with all the other Bills. When it comes to increasing the Court of Appeal Judges, it is said that justice delayed is justice denied. There are too many people whose cases remain unheard and will, probably, not be heard in their lifetime. I believe that in trying to get the courts to be efficient, we should provide a good number of judges. In the same light, we hope that soon we will come up with amendments to increase the number of police officers in line with the population that they serve. When you say that you have one policeman for 30,000 people, it is impossible to provide justice. When it comes to Gender Based Violence (GBV), as Nairobi County, we have put containers in every police station. The reason we have done that… We are also building the first safe house in the county. The ugly face of COVID-19 showed us that GBV is rife. We need to make sure that while we provide such services, we also make sure that we provide personnel and the necessary training. While we make all these amendments, it has to be backed by budgets that are targeted to make sure that the amendments to various laws are meant to serve the people better. Sometimes you have legislation and then you do not provide a budget. One that comes to my mind as I speak right now is the Psychology and Counsellors Act. We passed that Act in 2014. When matters mental health were a big issue in the country, I walked into the office of the Principal Secretary for Health during the last Parliament and asked that we implement the Psychologists and Counsellors Act. Unfortunately, they did not even know that the Act had been passed in 2014. They finally created the body that would have the mandate to put counsellors in place, whether in schools, police institutions or medical facilities. If we have all these Acts and we do not have a budget for them, we will not be able to serve the people better. I feel that the Kenyan public is very vibrant when it comes to politics and sometimes they look at us, parliamentarians, and wonder what we do. We do a lot, that is, from the committees that we serve in, to playing an oversight role on amendments and legislation. We need to focus on how we can take public participation live to Kenyans to enable them participate online. Not everybody is aware of or can come to Parliament during public participation. All in all, I commend the Leader of the Majority Party and the Government for looking into all the gaps in all these laws that they have brought together. I hope that we will back it up with the necessary budget to enable implementation. There is need for training in the various ministries so that, as a whole, we can make legislation that works and serve the people of Kenya. I stand to support and commend the Leader of the Majority Party for all these amendments to the various statutes. Thank you."
}