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{
    "id": 1460321,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1460321/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir West, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Yussuf Farah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "about mental health itself. That clearly shows the stigma and fear that we have that we will be labelled by society. If people are mentioned or identified as suffering from mental health issues, they will be stigmatised, isolated and even suffer more. What we need to have in this country is to provide mental health training to experts, doctors and nurses and have clinics in every health centre in this country. If we cannot avoid that, we might create one mental health centre in each county for people to realise and understand their problems. We must also provide a mental workplace environment by solving the challenges in the workplace. The workplace environment in this country is so polarised and bureaucratic that nobody cares about who is sick and who is not sick. Not even on mental health. If a person has a mental health disorder, he might not perform as required. But when a senior, or a person in charge of a particular institution finds out that a person is not performing, instead of finding out what is the cause, he tries to write show cause letters and disciplinary actions, and eventually people are sacked. I have been following up since I came into this Parliament, that several police officers and prison officers have deserted their duties because of mental health disorders. They were sick, they just left their work, went home, stayed there and never reported to work. Then what happens? The prison and police officers in charge sack those people and when they regain their mental health and are treated and come to their senses, they tell you they were suffering and want to be reinstated. This mental health issue is real and we need to provide a mental health day, an open day in this country, for all Kenyans to go and check the status of how they are feeling. If we do not do that, we will not achieve any substantial or positive feedback from this mental health issue. What we need to do is to have a comprehensive overhaul and re-evaluation of the Mental Health Policy in this country. That will allow every person in this country to understand his status. With those few remarks and recommendations, I beg to support. Thank you."
}