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{
    "id": 184902,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184902/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 184,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Maj. Sugow",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Public Service",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 142,
        "legal_name": "Aden Ahmed Sugow",
        "slug": "aden-sugow"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for that protection. Other than being a Member of the Government, I am also a Member of this House and, therefore, I am entitled to my contribution. I believe it is time for the Government to respond and I hope that the official responder will come in due course of the debate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Mr. Wamalwa for presenting this Motion. It is very important. We know very well that in our African set up, the structure of the elders is very important. It is high time we respected and included them in our structures. We need to respect and honour them. We should reward them for the work they are doing. In this age when times are very hard, these people sacrifice a lot of their personal time to do community work. When you request these people to continue offering these services, a time will eventually come when the economic difficulties they face will force them to provide partial services. This is what we want them protected against, by giving them due remuneration structures from the Exchequer. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are some unofficial structures in some of the districts. They are called Peace Committees. These are essentially made up of local elders. They hold their own October 8, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2545 elections to determine who becomes an official in those structures. These people are not remunerated in any way. They are under the mercy of the DCs who give them handouts every now and then. In most cases, these people are biased simply because they do not have a regular income from the Government yet they need to provide these services. Ever since time immemorial, the structure of elders was the backbone to solving myriad problems in the society. The elders are still doing that job today. Forty years down the line, we have made a lot of legislation shifting from the old English system to bringing the African culture and customs to our mainstream legislation. It is high time we adopted this as well to ensure that these people are remunerated accordingly. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Motion."
}