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{
    "id": 1496908,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1496908/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 130,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ogola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "groups. Some of us are not able to be in all those WhatsApp groups because it would not be easy to manage. However, we still find a way of supporting these bereaved families. Some of them are people who have died after being terminally ill for so many years. A number of them are cancer patients here in Nairobi, liver problems, and all the medical problems that we have. So, by the time somebody loses their life, the family already is financially down. Therefore, this is an initiative that has supported families. The support has not only been limited to funerals. There are even medical appeals. If we look at our phones, we will find every other person is involved in some medical appeal, if not three, four, five; some even more than that. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what options do we have? These families are needy. People have said that they went to school through this harambee. Harambee is not necessarily going somewhere to physically give money. Harambee is about voluntary support. A number of people even pay school fee for university students. Right where I was seated this afternoon, I have just been supporting a university student at the University of Nairobi, who has not had a hostel since the beginning of the semester. They are not able to pay for accommodation, food and fees. That is also a form of giving. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, therefore, we cannot ban the spirit of harambee that has supported our people in different ways. I say this because we cannot create a problem as leaders and then find ways to solve it. How did we come to this conversation? We had leaders, some of them favoured, a number of them political, who abused this process. Just last year, we saw a number of us flying in choppers with bags of money; some of them carrying money in sacks and bags. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I remember one video of a leader who was even dancing with money, saying Kshs1 million, Kshs2 million, Kshs3 million, Kshs10 million, I do not know up to which level. That is how we came to the conversation that we have here. However, the most desperate situation that they created for us is that they were flying money on the face of hungry and angry Kenyans. You could see leaders dangling money and the crowds they were dangling money to. The crowds comprised of parents who are not even able to pay school fees; who were hungry and had not fed their children. They were both hungry and angry. 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."
}