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{
    "id": 1517536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1517536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I thank you for allowing me to make some brief comments. I am going to start with a Statement by the distinguished Senator from Nairobi County. It is sad that the Senate does not participate in approving the budget. Although we spend time and focus on the budget-making process in terms of giving ideas, a Statement like this is something that I hope all Senators will really take a keen interest in. Social Health Authority (SHA) alone has been allocated about Kshs25 billion in the 2024/2025 Financial Year. Sen. Sifuna's Statement that Community Health Practitioners (CHPs) are not getting their money shocks me. Why should we give a new entity such a huge budget, yet people down there who are supposed to be doing the registration are not getting the money? They are not being paid. Before these estimates were reviewed, SHA had been allocated Kshs13 billion. An additional Kshs12 billion is being allocated to them, bringing their total to Kshs25 billion. I really hope that all of us can now start focusing on health care. We introduced and passed a Bill in this House on Community Health Practitioners. However, we did not think about their training. We did not ask ourselves the questions as to, hypothetically, if they encounter people with mental challenges, how do they deal with them without that training? Now, we are requiring these people to go and register members to be deducted. Every Member here is deducted, I think, an estimate of about Kshs33,000 shillings every month for sure. The housing levy is the one from which Kshs18,000 is deducted from the payslip, yet we cannot take this money to train, support and pay them their money. So, I am glad that all of us are now aware of the fact that these are challenges that we must, as the Senate of the Republic of Kenya, think twice about. Health is devolved; each one of us, all the delegation of the 47 counties, as the Committee on Health, is looking at these issues or this Statement raised by Sen. Sifuna; we should ask ourselves in our own county how many Community Health Practitioners have not been paid their money. Even in Nairobi County, which is close to the headquarters where the money is, they wait for about four months. What about in our rural areas? How do you expect these people to register members of SHA, yet you have not even given them their stipend? 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."
}