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{
    "id": 1559875,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1559875/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 866,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Marakwet West, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Timothy Kipchumba",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I rise to support the letter, intent and purpose of this progressive piece of legislation. This Bill collapses the Social Assistance Act. It says that when it is passed, it repeals the Social Assistance Act which, in my opinion had a lot of loopholes. Therefore, this is a very progressive piece of legislation that we should support as a House. It addresses the issue of second generation rights - social and economic rights. Those are rights that are provided for by the Constitution and, therefore, we cannot ignore them as a nation. Clause 28(3) of this Bill widens the scope of those who are entitled to social and financial assistance at the age that they attain. It expands that scope to include orphans and vulnerable children, poor old members of society, persons with disabilities, persons in extreme poverty and persons affected by shocks. That category of persons was not assisted under the Social Assistance Act which will be repealed once this progressive piece of legislation is passed. Apart from that, if you read Clause 30 of this Bill, it also includes a special category of non-Kenyan citizens in an emergency situation. There has been a challenge on how to handle non-citizens who have an emergency in this country. I believe that once this Bill is passed, that category of people will be provided for and, therefore, would be subject to assistance. Of great importance is in Part IV, on the issue of offences. For the first time, many vulnerable people have been a subject of fraud by those who collect money on their behalf pretending that they are the ones entitled to it. I have read Clause 35 on the issue of fraud which provides that any person who defrauds the board, conspires, aides or abets another person to defraud the board, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Ksh2 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. That provision was not there under the current Social Assistance Act. Therefore, for me it is a progressive provision under this particular statute which will assist or curb the issue of fraud. Finally, in terms of transition under Part VI, there is a provision on repeal savings and transition provisions. Since we are repealing the Social Assistance Act and replacing it with this Social Protection Bill of 2025, it provides very clearly that any person who immediately before the coming into force of this Act was an officer or member of staff of the Directorate of Social Assistance of the National Social Protection Secretariat, not being under a notice of dismissal or resignation, shall, upon commencement of this Act, become an officer of the board. Hon. Speaker, many are the times, as a House, we have passed legislations that have ignored the issue of transition. I remember the issue of the Social Health Authority (SHA). We passed a Bill here, but we were not very clear on the issue of transition, such that officers from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) would have been taken to work under SHA. The officers who were under the NHIF were not transitioned to the Social Health Authority (SHA) since there was no clear transition provision. This is progressive because the officers or any 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."
}