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{
    "id": 1460353,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1460353/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 249,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Lang’ata, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Phelix Odiwuor",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion brought by my senior, Hon. Mishi Mboko. It is very sad that we are having a conversation on an issue that already has too many policies that are not being implemented. This weekend, I will bury a very young girl who passed on due to mental health issues. Just the other day, we were in Langata Cemetery burying a very close friend who also died through suicide. May God rest their souls in peace. I will be going to bury a very young girl this weekend. She also passed on due to mental health issues. Just the other day we were burying a very close friend at Langata Cemetery. The friend also died through suicide. The number of suicide cases we see every day tell you what the country is going through on matters mental health. We must continuously regard mental health conversation as a very important issue in this country. Definitely, stigma is the problem that comes with mental health. Even worse, men are told, “Be a man, man up!” They cannot even open up on the issues they are going through. It is even more sad that we have friends, groups and people we call our close relatives. However, they never see what somebody is going through. When the worst happens through suicide, you will hear somebody wondering, “Why did they not talk? Why could he not even open up?” When they open up to you as a person, you tell them “Man up, kuwa mwanaume.” You cannot be mwanaume when nobody wants to hear or even help you understand the things you are going through. There was a men’s mental walk organised by Oga Obina just over the weekend. You saw the high number of men who stood in to this event. They were too many. This tells you how many men or women out there go through issues that they continuously want to talk about but there is no one to listen to them. Our health facilities do not even have mental healthcare facilities where people can be attended to. It is mostly because of stigma. Nobody wants to come out and talk about what he or she is going through. I urge Members of Parliament, if possible, to even try to organise constituency mental health days in an effort to mitigate the issues we are going through. I support my senior, Hon. Mishi Mboko. This Motion is timely. Mental health is a conversation that must be continuous. This Government must take it as a serious issue. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. 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."
}