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{
"id": 1544843,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544843/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Orwoba",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I would like to comment on Sen. Hamida Kibwana's Statement about the shutdown of the Kenya Health Information System owing to the departure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from the country. It is unfortunate that we are living in difficult times. This is an example to show that as much as we are accepting aid, and saying that it is okay to have donors and all these international organizations supporting us in one way or another, as you are aware, this is a very vital system. The Kenya Health Information System is a system that was holding medical or health data of Kenyans. It is that same system that is used to even have a foresight or focus on outbreaks and all sorts of sensitive things. Owing to the departure of USAID, you can see now the system has been shut down. The questions that Sen. Hamida Kibwana is asking should actually open our eyes in terms of who are we trusting, our systems or some of our development projects with, even if it is international organizations. One of the questions that is being asked, and that is why I want to highlight this so that Kenyans can understand, is that she is seeking to find out whether the Ministry of Health had an exit strategy or a handover process to ensure the continuity of the health data management. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have always spoken about resilience plans in terms of our programmes, systems, Information Technology (IT) or otherwise. Right now, we are in a situation where we do not even know if our health data has been accessed by third parties. We are in a situation where we do not have a resiliencee plan. That can only mean that, God forbid, if we have an outbreak today, we might not even be able to do what is necessary to curb that outbreak and put in measures to ensure that Kenyans are safe. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as we are seeking to find out what is happening with that system now that USAID has left, it is also imperative that our Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy ensures that we are in control of some of these sensitive dockets, programmes or projects, as much as we accept the funding. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I would like to also add my voice on Sen. Richard Onyonka's Statement in terms of the policy on the decision to remove Mathematics as a compulsory subject. We all say and joke that we never use algebra in life. We are always saying that some of the mathematics that we learned all the way to high school has never been applicable to our day-to-day life. However, we have to appreciate that as we are moving to CBC, mathematics is an essential part of our lives. For us to even start this session here, we always have to count if we have quorum. As much as we are saying that at one point we do not need mathematics, this decision has been hasty and a lot has not been put into real thought in terms of what we are removing. Furthermore, it has never hurt anyone to study mathematics all the way, even to college. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I did not like mathematics, I have never liked it, but once in a while, I start to appreciate why I was in some of those very complicated classes. This is because, sometimes you never get to appreciate the applications of the basis and"
}