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{
    "id": 1444368,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1444368/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mandago",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13577,
        "legal_name": "Kiplagat Jackson Mandago",
        "slug": "kiplagat-jackson-mandago"
    },
    "content": "saying, that you arrive at a funeral, then you look across the tents, and you find a brigade of people who resemble one another and have never met. You do not know what would happen next. We should encourage openness and responsibility. All children should be allowed to know their identity. Women should be encouraged not to hide the identity of the fathers of their children, which would contribute to resolving some of these matters. There is a situation where one of the parents dies, or one spouse dies, and the other decides to remarry. I encourage Sen. Veronica Maina that it is an area that needs critical thought about how the resources that were left behind will either be shared or used to bring up the children that have been left behind. We have seen on several occasions a situation where when a mother with children dies, the man is left. After one year or so, he gets married. What follows is that the children whose mother died are mistreated. Some are battered. We have witnessed situations where children have been beaten using hot iron to put marks on their backs. Finally, those children lead very distressful lives. I think even as we consider this Bill and amendments proposed by Sen. Veronica Maina, we also have to put into consideration such situations. If one is to remarry, we should consider that as a fresh marriage. We can see how then, at that point, the resources that were available for that family and those children would be used to make sure that their welfare is well taken care of. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are also living in interesting times. Particularly for those of us who have led an urban life, probably for quite a longer period and for one reason or another. We have either decided to do away with our cultural beliefs and norms or forgotten all about them. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with regard to disputes of succession, let me use myself as an example. If I have sisters who are married, during discussions on succession, sons-in-law could be part of it. That makes it extremely difficult to resolve some of the family disputes that may arise out of succession matters. It complicates matters further. I encourage Sen. Veronica Maina to also consider who can be engaged, so that it is not an open field for everyone. For instance, you are just a neighbor, but you want to be part of the process of a succession. We need to look into this deeply. Sen. Veronica Maina said earlier on that public participation on these amendments should be given a considerable amount of time, so that we can have an opportunity to engage and reach out to various communities. Other than the law that we will come up with, we have norms, cultures and customs of communities in this country. Some of them are very rich and have helped to resolve most of the issues, particularly when we talk about Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms. Most of the time, it involves a sitting of elders to consider matters as per their culture and cultural norms. We have witnessed very fair decisions when our cultures and our norms are applied. We do not have many communities. In this country, we have less than 50 communities. We have councils of elders, which I would encourage Sen. Veronica Maina 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."
}