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{
    "id": 1580570,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1580570/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 474,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Navakholo, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Emmanuel Wangwe",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "calibrated assistive devices that ensure better suitability and longevity, as well as appropriateness to the local terrains, as opposed to the imported devices which may not work for some disability cases which require specialised equipment that are manufactured locally. When Buy Kenya, Build Kenya Initiative was enforced, it also applied to assistive devices. You could only get the items that were being made by our brothers from Gikomba and industrial areas in Kenya. How about those who have spine conditions whose wheeling require some kind of technically assembled equipment? That part disadvantaged the programme. The second issue that the Auditor-General observed was that the Council did not issue most of the persons with disabilities with the devices during the period they had applied for. When you go to Westlands, at the headquarters of the Council, you will get a list of those who have queued to get these devices which are not available. They are not enough to fill the population that is living with disabilities. The third issue that the Auditor-General observed is that the Council did not collaborate with the professional medical assessment reports before issuing the assistive devices to the beneficiaries. A person does not wake up and gets assistive devices. They are like lenses. You must get a doctor's prescription for what your eyes require, and then you go to the shop and procure the lenses depending on how you have been assessed. There was no collaboration. According to the Auditor-General, the Council wakes up today and feels they need to procure enough wheelchairs. Since they have enough people to use them, they buy them. Not all persons living with disabilities, who require wheelchairs, have similar conditions. There are medical challenges. A medical doctor needs to examine and advise the Council on what is required to be used. Finally, the last observation that the Auditor-General made was that the Education Assistance Programme did not enhance the retention and continuity of education for persons with disabilities. Did the programme retain enough persons with disabilities in school? It did not. Did it support the improvement of persons with disabilities? We need to do more. More needs to be done so that we retain these people in school, enhance and move forward, so that persons with disabilities also get the right education. I will state a case, in time, in my constituency. I had a sponsor who gave me enough wheelchairs for persons with disabilities. Some of them leave them at home. They want to strain as they walk to the market. Why do they do that? You cannot understand. A young person whom you have given a wheelchair to use feels better not to use it when he is coming to see you, so that you sympathise and support them with instant little amount of money. I feel that the education programme also faces the same challenge. These persons do not seem to see that they need to be enlightened and educated. Instead, they go to schools and drop out on their own volition. It has not achieved that much. That situation makes the Auditor- General call on all of us to support the Council so that public funds support all the institutions to run their reason. Why did the Auditor-General take trouble to ensure she comes up with this Report? Somehow, it looks obvious yet it is not obvious. It is detailing what is happening in this institution, why we should all as a House support this institution, and raise it to another level. It has the monetary and evaluation position. It has the financial trajectory that we should look at. It has a governance aspect that we should look at as a House when we move and approve this Report. In advance and according to my opening remarks, the Ministry has already moved the Persons with Disability Bill that we passed in this House in May. Most recommendations in the Bill align with this audit. We tabled its Report in July 2024. That means that this House is the saviour in the challenges the Auditor-General has moved on her own motion. I seek that we approve this Report. 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."
}