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"id": 197260,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197260/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Ms. Mathenge",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Nyeri Town",
"speaker": {
"id": 77,
"legal_name": "Esther Murugi Mathenge",
"slug": "esther-murugi"
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"content": "We want that requirement to be removed from the recruitment exercise. China - where I think most of the people are of my height - has the best army and police! So, I do not think height is a first requirement of making a good soldier. So, I would really want us to work on that issue, so that we can have it removed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have talked about women and youth. When I go home, the men ask me: \"What about us? Why do we also not have a fund that we can benefit from? Some of us have not been employed, but our men have forgotten us\". I am putting a plea to you menfolk here that, please, think of your comrades - the men. They feel like the nation and this National Assembly has kind-of forgotten them. Think of a fund for the men. They need it and I think if you do it, the votes, next time, will come without too much efforts. March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 261 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also another group that has been forgotten. We have a group of people that is aged over 70 years old. In the past, the African custom was for the young people, especially the young men, to take care of their parents. But, today, you find that, that is a neglected group. If you want to know who is the poorest of the poor in this country, it is those people who are over 70 years old. I would like us to, perhaps, enact a Bill, and I am working on it, so that this nation and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), in particular, can take care of the aged people. I have seen it work very well in the Scandinavian countries. I think Kenya will also be able to take care of the aged. I know each one of us here has an old grandmother tucked away somewhere. He or she would appreciate the Government for taking care of them. They have contributed to this country's development until the age they have reached. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not want to add anything to the Ethnicity Act that is coming up. If we do not handle that issue carefully, it is going to be worse than it has been. Kenya is a diversity of tribes. Let us not kill our culture. Let us not kill that diversity by wanting to be one. We cannot be one because by virtue of where you were born, you are, first and foremost, that where you were born. During my campaigns, I told my people that I did not send a letter to God to be born a woman. I was born a woman and I am happy to be a woman. We are born of the communities where we belong and we did not ask to be born there. So, let us not kill our cultures and traditions. Let us just learn to co-exist with each. On a light note, I would like ladies to be allowed to carry their handbags to the House before the Standing Orders are revised to provide for this."
}