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{
    "id": 1402197,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402197/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "been no further meeting between the Ministry and the doctors. This is because the Ministry insists that the doctors must give up that one right that they have, to enforce their rights; the right to go on strike, so that a conversation can be heard. As Sen. Mumma has said, the Government today must understand that CBAs do not expire unless and until a new one is registered in the Labour and Employment Court. When a Government comes in and finds an agreement in place, it is the responsibility of that Government to honour that agreement. In fact, in the morning, you heard the Cabinet Secretary for Defence saying that he continued with the work at Uhuru Park because he found that arrangement in place. This is even though he admitted that he knows that, that was an illegal move. So, this Government is very happy to continue with the illegal ones. However, for the ones that make sense, the legal ones, registered even in accordance to the law, they decide that they are not going to execute them. In the morning, I wanted to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health whether the Government understands the sanctity of a CBA. It is an agreement that you enter into on your own volition. Nobody has forced you. Once you sign a document, the law is that you cannot run away from agreements you enter into by yourself. That is why some communities do not believe in divorce. Once you have paid dowry, you remain. I think that is something that your friend, the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development, understands very well. There is also something I heard from the Government that really broke my heart; that, in fact, an Inspector General (IG) of Police, who I have publicly said that I have serious doubts to his capacity to hold public office, does not seem to understand the Bill of Rights. That, in fact, people have the right to freely assembly. I have seen doctors in the streets. They come dressed in their white coats. They do not look threatening at all. However, when an IG of Police says that he is going to bludgeon doctors who are on strike, this is somebody who has no idea of what he is doing in the Office of IG. Then, you have the Ministry saying that they are aware that the civil protests are being sponsored by cartels; that, they are the ones financing this industrial action. I would have loved for the Cabinet Secretary to name before this House these cartels that are financing and encouraging industrial action. The industrial action stems from the lack of respect for agreements that have been entered into by Government and the doctors. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also heard her say in the morning that these doctors must respect court orders. I wanted to know from Cabinet Secretary where she gets the moral authority to lecture anyone about respect for court orders. Was it not the same Government that told us that court orders do not have to be respected? I heard the President talking about the Ihithe-Ndunyu Njeru Road, where the Environment and Land Court ruled that a road should not be built through the Aberdare Forest. He instructed the Permanent Secretary telling him that “ wewe jenga hiibarabara .” I saw it with my eyes. Why is the President not doing the same because it is the Government that sets the pace for respect of court orders? They have no moral authority to tell doctors that until and unless--- The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}