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{
"id": 1547724,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547724/?format=api",
"text_counter": 258,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13162,
"legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
"slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
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"content": "framework was being established through the National Council for Persons with Disabilities to oversee the implementations of the provisions of the Bill. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, when we commented on this Bill, we were happy that it provided certain tax reliefs and fiscal incentives to encourage employment and support of persons with disabilities. I am happy that the National Assembly did not object to the main principles that were espoused in that Bill. The basic structure of the Bill has remained the same. The National Assembly has brought back more or less editing and slight corrections that would further enrich the Bill. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am talking to the report because to repeat my earlier contributions on the concept of the Bill would probably be a violation of the Standing Orders. However, this Bill was published on 20th February, 2023. We are now on the 2nd of April, the year 2025. It tells you the average time it takes to process a private Member's Bill. I do not know whether it is that way because of robust public participation, or it is that way because of internal bureaucracy. I hope that in the two years that have lapsed between the introduction of this Bill to today, when we are adopting the report of the committee, most of that time has been spent in public participation and stakeholder engagement. I would like to encourage office of the clerk, particularly committees, to take a purposive approach to public participation. Purposive in the sense that if you are dealing with a Bill on persons with disabilities, you are able to list the stakeholders which you feel are relevant and who can provide positive or critical feedback on the proposed Bill. In the past, or traditionally as Parliament, we could publish a notice in the newspapers and hope that someone will read that notice and respond. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have seen situations where on a serious Bill, you would only get four or five responses from the usual suspects, like the Council of Governors (CoG), County Assemblies Forum (CAF), a ministry, yet there are so many other stakeholders. So, I would like to encourage a purposive approach, where the clerks can sit with the sponsor of a Bill, scan the landscape and say, within this space of persons with disabilities, who are the people whose response and whose participation and feedback we would get? We were dealing with the Addressing and Street Numbering Bill that was sponsored by Sen. Dullo, a very comprehensive framework that will change the way we number and name our streets in the cities, municipalities, towns across the country. When we looked at the public participation matrix, we had no response from any institution of urban planners, institution of architects and from people who are subject matter experts. However, we had responses from Nairobi City County. We had just about four or five responses. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if it has taken two years to incubate this Bill, we hope that no one will run to court and allege that there was inadequate public participation as has happened in many other legislations. I hope that now that we have just two more years to the closure of this Parliament and I know that Members still have Bills. We still have Bills coming in for First Reading. If this progressive Bill by Sen. Asige has taken two years, it sounds like bad news for anyone who is bringing a Bill right now. If that is the average time taken to process, 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."
}