HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1444367,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1444367/?format=api",
"text_counter": 177,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mandago",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13577,
"legal_name": "Kiplagat Jackson Mandago",
"slug": "kiplagat-jackson-mandago"
},
"content": "reminiscing about his days at Moi University. You know, university students engage in so many activities. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to thank Sen. Veronica Maina for bringing this subject matter, which touches on daily living in all our communities in this country. The matter of succession has been very emotive. Most importantly is the process of succession that sometimes takes so long. As I speak today, a lot of assets and resources for families are held in abeyance. They cannot be accessed or used. They run to billions of money that would have positively contributed to the economy of this country and to the individual lives of those families that are involved. Unfortunately, because of succession matters, disputes and so forth, you find their would-be beneficiaries suffer for even more than 10, 15 or 20 years. By the time the matters are resolved, all those are meaningless because some would have died in the process and complicate even the matter further. Especially on death, the issue of disposal of assets, the rush to grab, and so forth, has been witnessed on many occasions in several families. However, what worries me, and I want to thank Sen. Veronica Maina for bringing this up, is that we have so many young widows in this country who probably have just been married and have a child or two. I do not know what is happening to our beliefs as communities, because we, Africans and Africa is our business, have our African cultures of addressing the matters. In the community I come from, once a woman is married, whether she has a child or many children, she has some entitlements. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what we have witnessed in the recent past is quite unfortunate. Very young widows with one or two children, probably they have not even gone to school, being ejected from that family with nothing. They are sent away with the children to take care of, yet the husband had assets and resources that would have been used to bring them up. This debate is timely. I would want to encourage Sen. Veronica Maina, particularly during public participation, to give adequate time and publicity. These amendments could help this country now unlock the many resources families are not able to access because of the disputes that have come. On the issues of surviving children vis-à-vis children, I think we need to define. Sometimes I hear people say children born out of wedlock. For me, I think children are children. I would want to later engage Sen. Veronica Maina to see how these amendments can also be linked to the rights of children even in the determination of land matters. I know the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technology and others just came in recently. However, we know the issue of single mothers has been with us for quite some time. I hope part of these amendments will encourage men to take responsibility for their children. Yes, a lady can be single and unmarried, but let those children know their father. This is how also it will help, you know, when it comes to succession in solving some of the matters. This is opposed to a situation like what the Senator for Makueni was 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."
}