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{
    "id": 1558919,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558919/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 159,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "healthcare are all elements of social protection. Kenya has a lot of ongoing social protection programmes. This Bill will help to organise and coordinate all of them. A working social protection programme will be a huge relief to politicians and Members of Parliament. We contribute to all social ventures in families. A proper social protection programme will address some of them. We have many ongoing social protection programmes in this country. However, most of us think of the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC), Older Persons Cash Transfer (OPCT) Programme and the Persons with Severe Disability Cash Transfer (PWSD-CT) Programme. However, school feeding programmes, agricultural subsidies and social health insurance like SHA are also forms of social protection and security. They have challenges because they lack a legal framework to take care of them. For example, a challenge that affects the cash transfers is the disbursement. We have never gone through a Session without a Member raising an issue on OPCT Programme citing irregular disbursement. Despite trying direct payments through mobile money, we still have a problem with the disbursement. Lack of coordination is the other challenge affecting these social protection programmes. When there is no proper coordination, a lot of double-dipping happens. You will find one family benefiting from multiple social protection programmes. Therefore, there is need for some coordination. Pure theft or graft is another challenge that presents as an outcome of poor organisation. Beneficiaries of the cash transfer programmes lose their allocation from the very people who help them, including the officers running the programmes. Some monies even get lost in the banks. Another challenge is lack of exit programmes. These are useful for change in circumstances. Orphans and vulnerable children should exit upon attaining a certain age. Income-generating programmes can also be used to absorb families which benefit from cash transfer programmes. I was involved in programmes where mothers and women groups which were beneficiaries of social protection programmes started their businesses, and they did not need assistance. We do not have these exit programmes. Our beneficiaries become perennial beneficiaries without exiting these programmes. We need to look at this. We also do not have the systems of responding to socio-economic changes. As a Member said earlier, we started with Ksh1,500, and this House moved it to Ksh2,000 through a Motion. Maybe, we need to make it even higher. We do not respond to the socio-economic changes like inflation. We need a system that will take care of this. I support this Bill because it addresses the very important issues that I have been talking about. Clause 5 of the Bill addresses Article 43 of the Constitution. It says that the implementation of the Bill shall be guided by equity, social justice, inclusiveness, non- discrimination, rights-based approach, and accessibility and sustainability of social protection interventions. Therefore, this Bill is very appropriate. Clause 7 of the Bill establishes a Board. Its functions are listed in Clause 8 of the Bill. It will design, implement, monitor and evaluate social protection interventions and programmes. It will also establish and maintain a social protection registry, and ensure continuous collection and dis-aggregation of data. We must appeal to our colleagues to support this Bill. When it comes to the Committee of the whole House, we will move amendments. We need to anchor our social protection programmes in this Bill. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}