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{
    "id": 1558940,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558940/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 180,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nakuru Town East, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Gikaria",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "how to handle fraud and misinformation, it is important to look at the penalties seriously. How is a member delisted from the Fund? It gives criteria on how a name of a beneficiary is removed, either by voluntary leaving or by being out of the country for over 12 months. We really need to look at that area so that we do not benefit people improperly. Even dead beneficiaries who are already long gone are still on the list and their beneficiaries are still claiming that money and not putting it to proper use. When I was looking at definitions in the Bill, it defines old persons as those from the age of 60 years. We had a discussion this morning when taking tea there. They said one must be 70 years old or more to benefit. I am glad the Bill has now clarified that older persons will benefit because they are this programme’s most targeted population. Using 60 years to define older persons as beneficiaries of this scheme will go along. Implementation is key and well explained in the Bill where it talks about equity, and social justice. These things have always been forgotten. Officers in provisional administration, particularly chiefs, were in the past given the responsibility to identify people only for them to bring people who did not deserve. Therefore, implementing this goes towards people who should benefit. We now have inclusiveness, non-discrimination, and a participatory approach. It is key for us to identify the right people. Clause 6 talks about involvement of county governments. For example, we have a place called Alms House in Nakuru where the county government takes care of elderly people. It talks about how we bring county governments on board in this programme. The clause talks about how best different county governments can ride on this Bill to come up with their legislation to handle social protection matters. Alms House used to be very vibrant in Nakuru when we had municipalities. As we are talking, you could find only three or four wazees there. Sometimes there is none. It is important to involve county governments by including them as representatives in the board. I think we have one vacancy left for county governors to bring their representatives in the board to be part of this very important issue. We, as Parliament, need to look critically at the nine board members. We have been talking about the number of people who should be in boards. Must we have nine? Can we have fewer but very effective? It is understandable to bring a Principal Secretary of the Ministry concerned, and the National Treasury because of money disbursement. However, it is important to be keen as we give the Cabinet Secretary an opportunity to pick the other four outside Government so that we do not pass bad legislation and have litigation. An example is with the Climate Change Council. We were saying that we would get a representative from a certain organisation that deals with a specific specialisation then they end up taking themselves. They go to court if you pick from this association and not from the other. The Climate Change Council never worked for five years. We vetted people and were unable to give names to the President to pick because they went back to court. It is important to be clear on how the Cabinet Secretary must pick so that we avoid litigation. We should give direct appointments so that we do not end up having a board that will never work because of claims that we did not pick a member associated with the board. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) is only one body. They easily give you people when you ask them to. These other setups have different small bodies here and there and they bring problems. I have something on the experience aspect of board members. I had an opportunity to accompany the President when students visited State House during the Kenya National School Drama Festivals that happened in Nakuru. A play by one school here in Nairobi won in the 2025 drama festivals. It was talking about how life generally is. At one point it talked about experience before work. A student who had just finished college with First Class Honours could not be employed just for lacking experience. Experience is something that we need to look into. The 10-year experience requirement is improper in my thinking. I hope that we will bring some The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}