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{
"id": 1592280,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1592280/?format=api",
"text_counter": 637,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support this very important Bill that has emanated from the Senate. I must commend the Senate. For the first time, we are debating something serious from that House. Most of the time they have been grousing over their Bills, most of which do not see the light of day when they come here. This is an important Bill. Children and adults living with disabilities are sometimes taken to be a curse to society. Most of the African societies, especially pre-colonial, did not treat these people with any dignity at all. They thought it was a curse. So, the easiest thing to do was to cast them out and possibly end their lives. Fortunately, we have moved from that today to embracing the differently abled persons. It is not that they got disability per se; it is the enabling that is different. If we looked at all human beings, most of them have a disability of one type or the other, only that some are not pronounced, some are not visible, and some of them we do not want to talk about, but they are disabilities. I always look upon Hon. David Sankok, a Member of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), who is a person who has lived with a disability since he was a young boy. He took it with a stride, and he has made every possible good thing out of it. He has taken it as an advantage and not a disadvantage. Differently abled people have advantages which they can exploit to make their lives better. Therefore, as we debate how we should educate our children with disabilities, we must look at this Bill with our two eyes and focus on the children to ensure that they get education equal to any other child whom we treat as a normal child. Hon. Temporary Speaker, kindly, allow me to gloss over this Bill quickly. It is important. Clause 3 of the Bill has the objects, which are good enough. Clause 4 of the Bill is on guiding principles. Part II of the Bill has Clause 5, which has the rights and responsibilities regarding learners with disabilities. Clause 5(g) of the Bill is where Hon. Temporary Speaker has posed a question as to what exactly we mean by these learners being given equal treatment with other learners. Treatment does not apply to facilities and benefits. It is how you approach the learners, so that they do not feel less. They should feel complete, in spite of the fact they do not have some parts of the body or some parts of the body are weakened and not useful in the circumstances of that instance. This means that if the children go for physical education, you do not tell those who are disabled to sit down and watch those who are normal play. It should be open to all of them to play whichever way, in a manner that is satisfying. Even if it means running, we should assist these learners to run within their capabilities. We should not limit them. This is what it means to have equal treatment with the other learners. They do not feel they are lesser human beings or those who are normal are proper persons, while these other ones are abnormal. What is the responsibility of the parent, National Government and the county governments? The National Government has tried because, even as we debate today, we have special schools for these people. However, they are not well-run, well-furnished and endowed for this particular learning. The net effect is that we have to allocate more resources, and make these schools able to accommodate these special learners. The county governments, as usual, do not play their role. We keep on complaining day in, day out that we give them resources. Instead of using them for the proper use, we have bloated employment in the counties and wanton stealing of public resources. The governors do not want to be held accountable. When the Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) try to hold them accountable, there is hue and cry that they have been funded to ruin their government or 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."
}