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{
    "id": 219481,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/219481/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 309,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 226,
        "legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
        "slug": "wangari-maathai"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I want to support it and thank the hon. Member who moved it and for the great work this Committee is doing for orphans and the vulnerable children. We have addressed the issue of children in this House many times. Perhaps much of what we are saying today is a repetition of what we have said many times. I want to say that I do not see anything that is more important to us, as a Government, parents and leaders, as making sure that we protect our children. There are certain things that we see happening in this country to our children and we wonder whether we as adults are not repulsed by what we see. There is no reason why we allow children to inhale glue in this country. That is not something that they are born with. They learn it. There must be a place in this country where that glue is produced. There must be a place where it is distributed. There are chemists, including Government chemists and the Kenya Bureau of Standards. There is also the National Environmental Authority (NEMA). All these are institutions that should be repulsed by what they see happening to our children as they inhale glue. I understand that this is something that quite often happens in societies which are very poor and where children are abandoned. But in some societies, governments have removed the chemical from the glue that makes the children high. Why it does not happen in this country, I do not know. If we have intelligence service in this country, there is no reason why we cannot go to the companies that produce glue and make sure that the substance that destroys the brain of those children is removed, if it is something that must be in the market. Sometimes I wonder whether we are really serious about protecting our children. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank the NARC Government and I am want to say that I am very proud that as a Government, we have been able to provide free primary education to the children in this country. We hope that sooner than later, teachers will be employed so that every child who goes to school at the primary level, is not only able to access school, but is also able to access teachers. Again, that is something that we have expressed in this House on many occasions. We would like, as a Government to ensure that the promise that we have made to employ teachers will be fulfilled, so that our children in primary schools access teachers. Investing in education is one of the most important things that we can do for our children in order to make sure that they are protected and they are given tools that they will need when they are adults to take care of themselves and in turn take care of their children. I also remember that not too long ago in this House, we discussed the issue of drugs and drug substances. We emphasized the fact that those who are most vulnerable are our children. We have seen on television drugs being sold to children. The other day, we were shown high school students in a bar in the middle of the day drinking. In fact, some of them were already drunk. One wonders why it is that we as Government, cannot put measures in place to ensure that our children are protected. Many of us here are what we are partly because our parents protected us from many harms. So, there is a challenge for parents in this country to take the responsibility of protecting their children from so many things that destroy children and to demand from the Government, that bars are not opened until a certain time of the day, say about 5.00 p.m. We can have a law that prohibits children from going into bars. We can make sure that any bar that allows children in is closed. There should be no mercy for anybody doing business with our children, and allowing our children to destroy themselves. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we hope that the Motion which we passed recently will soon became a law to support the National Agency for Campaign Against Drug Abuse 1638 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 24, 2007 (NACADA) to ensure that children are protected from alcohol and drug abuse."
}