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{
    "id": 1344164,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1344164/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 347,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugenya, MDG",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Ochieng",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "I was very happy yesterday when I saw the President launching the Health Promotion Framework. That is the way to go. Most of our monies go into treating ailments that could have been prevented much earlier. I request Members of Parliament, the Ministry of Health and county governments to invest more in prevention of diseases and promotion of health. That is the way to go. People in our villages die from simple ailments that could be dealt with through civic education on lifestyle and how to deal with basic healthcare. I have been looking at the issue of transitioning the NHIF. We cannot declare the workers guilty. No one has charged them, put them under any microscope, and said that they are not fit. We cannot leave their fate to a new Board that will come in tomorrow, and which has instructions to clean up the Fund. What are they cleaning? No one has been judged to be corrupt or bankrupt. No one has been charged with malfeasance. We must give them a fair hearing before we ask them to leave. We must also start reducing the wage bill by reducing the sizes of the boards that we set up. This Board has 11 members. Why do we need 11 members? We just need four or five members for quorum. Why do we need to disaggregate and apportion positions by stating that the Central Organisation of Trade Unions-Kenya ( COTU) and the Kenya Medical Association (KMA) will be on the Board? Why should they be on the Board? I will also want Parliament and the LSK to be on that Board. Why not have lean boards that can do the work in the bodies that we will create going forward? When we have bigger boards, politics come in and we are unable to move. I request the Leader of the Majority Party to only propose five members for the Board. If the Principal Secretary for Health is on the Board, why do we need the Director- General for Health? Why do we need the Attorney-General on this Board? The Attorney- General always provides legal services to all Government institutions. If we were to come up with provisions to reduce the size of the Board, I would be very happy. Finally, we have given the Cabinet Secretary a lot of powers in this Bill. Almost every clause talks about the Cabinet Secretary doing this or that. The Cabinet Secretary cannot tell us the benefits that we will get from an insurance scheme that we are paying for. Parliament should set up the benefits that we will get. Kenyans should know early enough that if they are paying, this is what they will get. We cannot leave regulations that have very far-reaching implications to the Cabinet Secretary. Going forward, we will come up with proposals to make the Bill all-encompassing with serious surgical provisions that will make healthcare as good as it can be."
}