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"id": 207390,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/207390/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Mango",
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"speaker": {
"id": 288,
"legal_name": "Christine Mango",
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"content": "That adult population is mostly the productive people in the population as well as others. The HIV/AIDS pandemic leads to ill health and leaves many children orphaned. The pandemic has interfered with the development of the country as well as the Millennium Development Goals, 3356 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 22, 2007 wealth creation and so on. That has reversed the economic gains in the country. It has also deprived the households of bread-earners. It has deprived the community of able people. It has deprived the nation of the most productive people. It has also deprived the country of skilled manpower and productive youth. At the end, it has killed parents leaving children orphaned and vulnerable. Therefore, that renders those children very helpless. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a result, we have very many orphaned and vulnerable children. An orphaned child is defined as a child who has lost both parents or one parent. This child may become a street child. He may be a beggar in the streets. This child may be living with the sick parents and, therefore, drops out of school to take care of the parents. The child may be overloaded with domestic work such that even if he goes to school, he may not perform well. The child may be subjected to other negative cultural practices. If it is a girl-child, she may be asked to get married so that the dowry could be used to support the parent. The child may also be involved in child labour and other negative practices like prostitution. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in 2005, at a meeting in Cape Town discussing orphans and vulnerable children, statistics were given that, worldwide, there are 18 million orphans. Of this 18 million, 14 million are on the African Continent. Out of those 18 million orphans, Kenya was supposed to have two million orphans by 2002. In my own constituency, Butula, there are 18,000 orphans and of all the school going age children, one-third of the children are orphans having lost either both parents or one parent. Therefore, as a country, we need an update of the orphans and vulnerable children. The nation must plan for this highly potential resource and not just ignore them. The statistics I am talking about were carried out by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and not the Kenya Government. I, therefore, would like to urge the Government to put money into the exercise of carrying out statistics of the orphaned and vulnerable children in order to plan properly for them. When children are orphaned, the situation gets worse for the girl-child who may be exploited sexually to earn a living. The same girl-child may be overworked and drop out of school to engage in child labour. In so doing, the girl-child may stay at home to look after the sick parents thus the girl-child is even disadvantaged. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with this HIV/AIDS pandemic, when a husband dies, the widow may be disinherited of whatever the husband has left. When both parents die, the children may be deprived of their inheritance. This could be the money left behind by the parents, the land and other properties. I have seen orphaned children being kicked out of their homes by relatives. Therefore, children become highly vulnerable when they are orphaned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the African society there has been a lot of care of children by the family whenever it is faced with death. However, with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the family support is overly stretched so that it can no longer be relied on to take care of the orphans and the vulnerable children. Therefore, the Government has to come up with proper plans to take care of the orphans and vulnerable children. For the time being, in Kenya, we have depended on the civil society, development partners and external aid, but that is not sustainable. It is bound to come to an end. We, therefore, need to have proper plans to take care of these members of our society who are really needy and whom we cannot ignore. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these orphaned and vulnerable children need definite support. They need food, shelter, medical care, clothing and education. These children may suffer from stigma and get marginalised. Therefore, they also need psychosocial support to enable them to get on. In many societies, they would be looked upon as children who are also infected. There are cases when they are really stigmatised and that affects them even in school. If a child is stigmatised, he can hardly perform well in school. These children, therefore, need our support in many ways. August 22, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3357 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, to address this situation, I am proposing that we have a Bill that will urge the Government to set up the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children's Fund to take care of all these needs. Although we had a Motion on free education for orphans, that is not enough. These children need more than that. Therefore, a fund is needed, which will take care of all their needs and not education alone. If a child is hungry, he will not learn. If a child cannot afford to buy uniform, the school establishment will chase him away for not having the uniform. If the child is an orphan, he may not afford that uniform. This Fund will take care of these children. The stigmatisation of these children is very negative towards their mind. Once a person is stigmatised, he will have a low opinion of himself, particularly a child. If a child goes to school and other children taunt him or her, the child may drop out of school. Therefore, these children need to feel as natural as possible as part of the society. They should not feel that since their parents died, they are lesser human beings than the other children. The way to empower these children is by ensuring that they have their education. That must be done in the natural way. They should not be put in places called children homes, which should be the last resort. These children should be supported to remain within the family setup. Kenya has had several conventions or laws that deal with children. Although they are many, they do not address the socio-economic needs of the children. Therefore, they need to be implemented and consolidated into a basket Fund that would address all these issues. Some other African countries like Botswana and Zambia have come up with specific funds to address the issues of children. Therefore, Kenya should follow suit and set up a fund to address issues of orphans and vulnerable children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need legal framework to protect the children's inheritance. Left to family members, they may mean well. However, they have their own interests and priorities. They may not take care of the children's interest. We, as a Parliament, need to have a definite legal framework which protects the children's inheritance and make sure that land, property and funds belonging to the orphan's parents are protected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion will protect and mainstream the orphans and vulnerable children's interest. There would be a policy framework to take care of their situation. This should have come into being a little earlier, but it is never too late. Therefore, I urge this House and colleagues to support this Motion, so that we can come up with a Bill to take care of almost one-third or half the population of Kenya. Right now, if we do not put legal framework in position, we may end up with very many street children, school drop-outs and truants. Eventually, they will become criminals and disrupt the social structure of this country. A stitch in time will save the situation. If we wait for too long, the situation will get worse. This country will be sitting on a time bomb of young energetic people who will be bitter against it. They will not be seeing anything good in human beings. However, we can arrest the situation now and nurture these children. We can tap their potential, so that they grow up to be useful citizens who will take part in nation building and economic growth and wealth creation of this nation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country needs to develop human resource. All young people in this nation are potential human resource which must be developed. Their energy should be channelled to the good of this nation, empowerment, wealth creation and industrialisation. We will only achieve this, if we take care of every one and make sure that every Kenyan child grows up empowered and ready to take part in development and serve this nation. A nation depends on its human resource. Children of this country are the resource of this nation. With those few remarks, I beg to move. May I call upon Mr. Mbau to second."
}