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{
    "id": 1499793,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1499793/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 250,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "who finish their terms and are not re-elected back do not have businesses or professional training. They are not engineers, lawyers, or doctors. They do not have something to fall back to in terms of their sustainable income. It has been a problem. Back in Tana River County, when you meet the old MCAs and members of the former Tana River County Council, you feel bad because you want to help them but you can only do so much. This Bill is critical and it must be supported by the people of Kenya and by this Senate. I say this because of the people who have given service to this nation and taken their time. Some even left their careers to come and offer service to the people who elected them yet afterwards, they have difficulties in going back to their careers. It is practical and I keep going back to this; that after having served 10 years as an MP, you go back to your practice and you find your old clients have moved on because when you took up public office, you did not have time to give them all the attention they required. So, they have moved on to other practitioners of the law. If you are an engineer or a consultant in a certain field, say, economics, if you left the National Assembly, the Senate or the County Assembly and you go back, you will find your clients have left. It is like beginning afresh. You will find you are competing with much younger people who have gone into the field. There is need for us to plan ahead for our MCAs. There is need for us to give them dignity when they retire from active politics or when they lose their position as MCAs. For MPs, we have done something and many MCAs have asked this question, what about us? Therefore, it is a good law that we have brought before this House that people will now know that when they are in these positions, they will be saving some money through some deductions in their salaries. When they retire, that money will become available for them for purposes of their existence, even as they supplement from whatever other business they do. This is critical. I know of a particular retired councillor who had a home and was married. When the term ended, he stayed with his wife. Financial difficulties came and they separated because he could not manage his family affairs any more. He had to even sell the house that he had built to somebody else. This man started living at the mercy of brothers and sisters, who used at some point to look upon him as their leader. We need this kind of planning for our MCAs. We do not want them to be in the position that the former councillors have been subjected to. We do not want them to be in the same position like former MPs, what they used to be subjected to before we had our provident scheme. Serving the public is serving the public, whether you are an MCA, a Member of the National Assembly, a Senator, a governor, or a President. When you look at the law that we formulated for Presidents and former Presidents, you will see that a retired President continues to draw 75 per cent of the salary that he used to earn when in active service. Whichever way you look at it, that man or woman would be entitled to a decent life when they retire. When you come to MCAs, that has not been looked into at all. 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."
}