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{
    "id": 1506369,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1506369/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 140,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John Mutunga Kanyuithia",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "You could have been anything before. You are not valued as such when you go out there as a former Member of Parliament. If you were a professional, you end up becoming a politician. You will not fit in any other profession. I do not want to say that you become useless even though that is not very far from the truth. The second issue is that communities always recognise you as an honourable Member wherever you go; be it at a funeral preparation function, church function or wedding function. You will always be on the list of honourable Members. In fact, you will be the chairperson of those events most of the time. If you decide to live in town and not in the village, you will be expected to be a member of Club ‘X’ and associate with a certain development group ‘Y’ and other significant people. It is still a costly process. Let me go back to how one becomes a Member of Parliament. Politics is very expensive in Kenya. It does not become expensive just during the electioneering period or the political competition process. It continues to be expensive even when you are a Member of Parliament. It remains expensive whether you have the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) or not. Some people imagine that the NG-CDF supports us to do what we do. Any Kenyan out there thinks that a Member of Parliament has to have extra resources from wherever place. You may be responding to needs you never planned for. You can have a sound strategic plan. However, you never implement it to the letter because there will be other pressing issues. Therefore, a retired Member of Parliament is an endangered species. It is not good not to have proper mechanisms to care for them. We are living under the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. The old law was not updated to take cognisance of the Constitution. That is why this Bill came at this particular time. The other reason, and to the naysayers who really hate Members of Parliament, it is not a money Bill. It has not come in during the budget-making process. It is not recognised by the budget-making process of this country. Even if it is being discussed in the National Assembly, it does not have any implications on public coffers. This is money that is paid to Members of Parliament. They contribute to the pension fund. Hon. Temporary Speaker, there are several aspects of the amendments that are laudable. There is the aspect of bringing in widows and widowers. We laud the girl-child a lot in this country. I am a supporter of girls and boys. I have them in my house. The boy-child is largely discriminated against in this country. Even when men grow old, they are also discriminated against. So, it is good for the widower to benefit."
}