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{
"id": 1511539,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1511539/?format=api",
"text_counter": 615,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Thika Town, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Alice Nga’ng’a",
"speaker": null,
"content": "to submit memoranda on the Bill. The Committee received memoranda from the following stakeholders: (a) The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. (b) The National Council for Persons with Disabilities in conjunction with the Light for the World, Sight Savers and Christian Blind Mission International. (c) Democracy and Legal Aid Centre in conjunction with Nairobi Waldorf School. (d) Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs. (e) The mover of the Bill, Senator Crystal Asige, Member of Parliament. (f) The National Disability Forum composed of the Kenya National Association for the Deaf, Action for Children with Disability, Kenya Union of the Blind, Kenya Association of Intellectually Handicapped, Sight of Relief Organisation, United Disabled Persons of Kenya, Youth on the Movement Kenya, Northern Nomadic Disabled Persons Organisation, and the National Democratic Institute. The Committee also invited and held meetings with various stakeholders including the Mover of this Bill. In aligning the function of the Council with the Constitution of Kenya, the Bill seeks to enhance the powers and functions of the National Council for Persons with Disability by requiring the Council to liase and consult with the county governments and other relevant agencies. Given the current technological development, the Council is further required to undertake research and recommend development of new technology, including assistive devices suitable for use by persons with disability. In addition, the Bill provides the realisation of various rights for persons with disability which includes rights to equality and non- discrimination, rights to legal capacity, rights to marriage and form a family, rights to privacy, rights to education, rights to work, and rights to health. In order to encourage compliance, the Bill proposes incentives and penalties. Some of the proposed incentives include financial aid and tax exemption from taxable income of employers of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). It further makes a provision against harmful practices, torture and cruel treatment against PWDs, and provides for penalties which include Ksh1 million shillings or imprisonment not exceeding years upon conviction. If the Bill is enacted, it would have the following outcomes: The National Council for Persons with Disabilities shall be established as a corporate body. There will be a legal framework to promote the rights of PWDs as enshrined under Article 54 of the Constitution. The obligation will be imposed on both the national and county governments to address the needs of PWDs. As for the national Government, this obligation will include developing policies on the protection of PWDs, promoting their integration in schools, inclusion in the public service, implementing their procurement measures or entities managed by them. For the county governments, this obligation will include implementing the national policy and strategy on PWDs, allocating adequate resources to programmes targeting them, promoting their inclusion in the county and public service and promoting mechanisms for their identification for those who are residing within the country. At this juncture, allow me to make a useful comparison of Kenya with the United States of America on registration disability. The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) protects citizens with disabilities from discrimination having been signed into law by President George Bush in 1990. Their disability inclusion journey began in 1993 with Section 504 of the 1973, Rehabilitation Act which banned discrimination on the basis of disability by recipient. Recipients of federal funds was passed, and this marked the beginning of the longest legislative battle that culminated in the passage of the Americans with Disability Act in 1990. The Act guarantees that people with disability have the same opportunities as everyone else to enjoy"
}