Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1376072,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1376072/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 206,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Alego Usonga, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Samuel Atandi",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much. I would have opposed this Bill if it were not for the fact that it is here because of my colleague and friend, Hon. Mejjadonk Gathiru. Ideally, retirement age is not something that should be fixed in law. It should exist only in policy documents of the Government so that every government that comes into place can easily tamper with the retirement age of its population. I say this because I believe that the retirement age should be determined by the factors that I am going to cite. One of the factors to be used is the demographic trends of a country. For example, in our country right now, we have a more youthful population. It is about 70 per cent. The people I call seniors constitute 20 per cent of our population. If you have a trend like what we have now, the retirement age should be lowered so that we address the needs of the demographics of our country. If you ask me about the retirement age today, I would say that it should be brought down to 55 years or 50 years of age. The people that we need to take care of are more in the lower bracket than in the higher bracket. If you go to countries like the USA, they have a problem with the ageing population. Older people are more than young people. The retirement age in those countries is higher. I think the retirement age in the United States (US) is 67 years or 70 years of age. This is to say that this cannot be set in law. If today we pass a law that the retirement age is 60 years, then the next year we have a majority of the population as older people, we will need to increase that age to 70 years. If the majority of the population in a country is elderly and the retirement age is lower, then the maintenance of the older people will be higher. This will affect the performance of our country’s economy. I sincerely feel that my colleague should look at this law in line with the demographic status of our country. 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"
}