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{
"id": 1440408,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1440408/?format=api",
"text_counter": 233,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona",
"speaker": null,
"content": "and made smaller as a chapter in the Children’s Act because as a policy, the Government had agreed to collapse all children matters into one. It appears that there is no longer any policy relating to children matters because if you look at our budget for instance, right now, you will realise we are putting a lot of money into institutionalising children and yet, the Government policy has been against institutionalisation. What are we doing? We are building centres to institutionalise children. It means we have no clue what our policy as a Government is in relation to institutionalisation of children. That is also appearing here. I encourage the President that, as soon as he is done with the challenges relating to the Finance Bill, 2024 and his Deputy, he can then work on the issue of ensuring that there is a clear policy that emanates from the Executive on legislation. I have said this in this House and it might be taken lightly. But in reality, that speaks to a dysfunctional Government. The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Even when it is a Private Members' Bill, it must follow the Government policy of the day. That is why for me, for instance, even though I wanted my Child Justice Bill, the Government policy of H.E Uhuru Kenyatta at that time was towards one Bill. I let mine die. So, that is a reality we have to deal with. Other than that, Hon. Deputy Speaker, I encourage Members…Sometimes, when I am listening to what Members are saying, I feel very sad. I hear Members saying that in their culture, girls get married at 17 years of age. My brother from Kibra - and it seems he has already left… However, I will invite him to the Parliamentary Caucus on Children and Parliamentarians for Global Action, which are human rights organisations for parliamentarians globally. I chair both networks in Kenya. As a country, we have progressed over the years. We have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We have raised the standards for protecting our children. We cannot talk about lowering the age for our children because of men's libido. Hon. Deputy Speaker, in fact, nowadays, it is the opposite. People are amused that I am sharing that in this Finance Bill. There is a young man who has written to me when people are writing and telling me to make sure that the Finance Bill does not pass. A young man, instead, is writing to me that I am young, but I have inches. So, it is the reverse since young men are now very keen on looking for retirees like me. I do not mean that I have retired in my work, but in that other sector. Telling me about inches, what do I do with inches? However, I am saying that even for those young men, we must protect our young boys from such people. I think we call them cougars. They may be older, but may want to take advantage of young boys who are poor and want to take advantage by giving them money. In this instance, when a girl or boy is below 18 years of age, we presume that legally, they cannot have sex. The only challenge we have under the Sexual Offences Act is ensuring that when they have sex with each other, we treat them as children in need of care and protection. However, this is dealing with a civil issue that is emanating from a criminal act. So, because of the Hon. Member who has put in so much effort, I will support it. However, I would wish that the architecture was done better. I would have spoken more but, because of time, just ask some of us who are experts in those areas. We can help you and support you. I support it, but I wish we would change the architecture and bring amendments in relation to some of the issues I have seen here. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker."
}