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{
    "id": 1440439,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1440439/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 264,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kilifi North, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Owen Baya",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon Deputy Speaker. Issues and matters of children are very delicate and complicated. Therefore, they must be handled that way. When we bring many pieces of legislation on matters children, we continue to expound the problems that bedevil them. That said, I want to thank the Mover of this Motion who is also the co-sponsor, Hon. Beatrice Kemei. I also want to congratulate her for being one of the very few Members of Parliament to bring a fresh Bill to Parliament. Many of us have just brought amendments, but she is presenting a whole Bill in the National Assembly. I congratulate you for that effort. As we speak here and many people contribute, I would like to ask you to, please, take note so that you can improve on that. Congratulations on that feat. Sometimes, we might handle simple situations in a more complicated manner, and complicated ones in a simpler way. I am saying this because some of these issues have already been legislated upon. Some of them are even policies that are out there. For example, it has already been legislated that when a girl gets pregnant, she can go back to school after she delivers. That is given. It is practical and it is happening. Do we need to legislate on that? Hon. Deputy Speaker, many things that are in this Bill are those that parents should do. Do we want to legislate on what a parent must do or must not do? Are we not becoming superfluous in legislation? I know the Deputy Speaker is a renowned professor of law and, therefore, when we speak on matters of law in the House, we must be very careful. That is what I am trying to do so that I do not offend a lot of knowledge that is out there. I refer to a message that a lady called Kasichana Lewa sent to me, which said: “Hon. Member of Parliament, when a girl gets pregnant in school, she is sent away. But the boy remains in school and continues to study and yet, it took the two to make the pregnancy. Because it is the girl who carries the pregnancy, she is seen as a bad person, and the boy is seen as innocent.” We say this child must go home. When this child comes back to school, she still has the burden of taking care of that child. Those are contradictions. They are things that we must look into. I have only one issue. When we legislate and make the Bill law, what are we telling girls? Are we telling them that it is legal to get pregnant at school? I do not know whether that is okay. I am a proud father of daughters. When you are a father of daughters and you say, “Hey, please, take care of yourselves. Do not get pregnant at school.” My daughter, being clever, will tell me: “But you see, dad, the law provides that if I get pregnant, I can still continue with school. So why are you stopping me from getting pregnant?” Those are some of the interesting things that we need to look into. Issues of morality and legality are things that we must look into as we legislate on matters to do with children. I associate myself with the sentiment of Hon. Millie Odhiambo. There are very many confusing pieces of legislation. We need to bring them together. Although I have congratulated Hon. Beatrice for the attempt to introduce a legislation proposal like this one, I would rather we make amendments to the Children’s Act. This will ensure that we amalgamate a lot of issues in 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."
}