Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1547714,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547714/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. First, I would like to congratulate Sen. Crystal for the passion with which she drives the agenda of PWDs in this House. Thank you, Sen. Crystal. You motivate all of us to want to be part of what you are doing. I also thank Members of the committee for the good work that they did. I also thank Members of the National Assembly for the additional amendments. I will refer to two of them because Sen. Sifuna has combed through most of them, touching on what I wanted to say. The first issue I want to comment is on Clause 26 which provides that every PWD has a right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. The right to access information on an equal basis like others in a timely manner without additional cost. This describes part of what Sen. Sifuna said and what Sen. Crystal took us through when she began making her remarks. She insisted until we discovered that there are ways of doing things. What is clear is that it is not PWDs who need to change. We need to change ourselves by doing things the right way. We need to know that we are all in the same house called Kenya and we must accommodate each other in whatever we do. So, we need to prepare ourselves more. I am excited and looking forward to having the Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) where there is a Bill that I am co-sponsoring with Sen. Asige because it will be transformative. Requiring people to know KSL to accommodate others is something powerful. When we say that every PWD has a right to freedom of expression, we must facilitate and enable that freedom of expression. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you are a lawyer. When we have court cases, whether the proceedings are online or physical, sometimes PWDs do not hear anything when we have inheritance cases from their own parents. It could be a case about inheriting something from a parent. However, when you go to court, if you have a hearing impairment, you cannot even hear what they are talking about and nobody is even bothered to tell you what is going on. We need to change and prepare this country to be an equal society. To be equal, it means we must communicate with everybody, notwithstanding the fact that in our own Constitution, we have three recognised languages. The KSL is one of the languages in the Constitution. However, when we learn English, we are not taught that one. Why are we ignoring it? We should learn it at the same time, so that all of us can sign. I think this is a powerful amendment that will make us think on how to enable everybody in the society to express themselves. 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."
}