Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1440414,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1440414/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 239,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Homa Bay Town, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. It is in very rare occasions that we agree with Hon. Millie Odhiambo, who is my niece. However, today, I agree with Hon. Millie Odhiambo, except where she says I purport to know a lot about children matters. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I had intervened because, unknown to Hon. Millie, I was taught by the Hon. Deputy Speaker law. The one area of law you specialised in at the University of Nairobi and you taught me was the subject of children and the law. Hon. Millie does not know that, inspired by the depth of your teaching, I went ahead and did my master’s degree specialising on, among others, the law relating to the protection of children. That is what I would dis-account from Hon. Millie. The idea that she was besmirching not just my knowledge, but also the expertise of the best expert on matters of children, who happens to be our Hon. Deputy Speaker now. But we forgive her because she has spoken the language I desire to speak to. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I had a meeting with our First Lady a while back. The meeting lasted for over three hours. I was touched by the passion of the First Lady on matters of children. I want to confirm to the House that we have a First Lady who is looking at how we can deal with matters of children and adequately protect them. For the first time, it may have passed the notice of Hon. Members here, but there is a budget-line under what we call “Children of the Nation”, which is a new program of the National Government to be implemented by the First Lady. Initially, we focused on women and others. However, the First Lady is now focused on matters concerning children. I can confirm to the House that the “Children of the Nation” Programme’ is a budget line in the Budget under the Office of the First Lady. Matters concerning children also concern the leadership of our nation and, more so, our current Mother of the Nation. You would also remember the President’s Speech at Safari Park during the launch of the G7 to G16 Caucus. The President requested that we focus on the matter of teenage pregnancies, early marriages and female genital mutilation (FGM). I am happy the First Lady picked it up. I also thank Parliament for budgeting for it so that we can take it seriously. Hon. Deputy Speaker, that aside, let me now speak to the matter as you taught me. This Bill is good in substance, and I am happy that we have a clear framework on how to establish the child care centres, both at the county and national level, and how they should be supervised. A while back, a person claiming to be a philanthropist opened a children's care centre in Bomet. Unfortunately, our children were being sodomised there. This is not an isolated incident, as similar abuses happen in many other institutions. The Cabinet Secretary in charge of children affairs has repeatedly emphasised the need to re-evaluate the necessity of privately run childcare institutions and consider abolishing them in favour of Government-established ones. In fact, she has recommended the abolition of privately run institutions altogether. 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."
}