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"speaker_name": "Mr. Miriti",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Trade and Industry",
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"legal_name": "Petkay Shem Nkiria Miriti",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to second this very important Motion. In fact, this Bill is long, long overdue. All developed countries have recognized psychologists and, therefore, have a place for them in attending to human needs. Psychology or psychologists deal with human behaviour and, sometimes, animal behaviour and mental processes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, every other person considers himself or herself as a psychologist. We have seen people, even under normal circumstances, claiming to be applying psychology in their daily endeavours. That shows that psychology is really valued by humans. We have seen people applying psychological methods, although very primitive, in solving human problems, for example, traditional witchdoctors in their treatment procedures. We have seen faith healers who are mushrooming in the country; we have seen parental advice in the form of psychology; we have seen even marital problems being sorted out by people applying some very primitive psychological methods. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also know that about 60 per cent of people who go to hospitals have psychological problems. Once they go to those hospitals, they are given a lot of medicines and chemicals in areas which could only have been sorted out through therapy; through just talking to them and advising them and they are cured. This has been witnessed through research and application of placebo, where fake drugs are given to patients who claim to be sick, and they are healed. This solves their problems. So, we know that if psychologists are given a place in this country, they will help in solving a lot of problems. We know that there are so many people who are sick psychologically and they do not know and if you went to such recognized clinics or hospitals dealing with therapy, they will be cured. There are various fields of specialization in psychology which deal, like other sciences with basic research, applied research and areas like bio-psychology, comparative psychology, environmental psychology, personality psychology, social psychology, experimental psychology and very many other areas of specialization. We know that there are so many psychology professionals who have their various areas of domain in which they help people. For example, we have clinical psychologists who deal with psychological disorders. There are various types of psychological disorders starting from stress and stressful situations to areas like schizophrenia and other areas. An institution like the Mathari Mental Hospital deals with such aspects of disorders of various degrees. Some of the people who are taken to Mathari should not, in the first instance, be taken there. They should be dealt with at clinics around the country or in urban centres. Other areas of professions are counselling psychologists, who deal with problems of daily living. They deal with day-to-day hassles, where people experience slight problems of stress, family problems, learning problems and such problems. We have the area of psychiatry which deals with medical issues. We have school psychologists who attend to students and teachers in a school situation. We have educational psychologists who deal with the school curriculum and other areas of education. We also have industrial and organizational psychologists who deal with situations at the work place. They help to advise workers on how to go about their daily business and also help the owners of various businesses on how to schedule their workers and their working conditions so that workers are taken care of. We also have engineering psychologists who deal with the design of equipment and instruments in various areas, even in vehicles, so that people relax as they drive; aeroplanes so that they cope with the long periods of air freights and such areas. We also have forensic psychologists who take care of legal institutions and they advise the police and May 9, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1195 other people who deal with law on how to handle legal matters in relation to human comfort. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also have psychologists who deal with sports and help sports people to improve their performance. We also have health psychologists who support medical staff or medics in prevention and treatment of various diseases. We also have environmental psychologists who deal with areas like the design of buildings, how to handle noise and other environmental issues. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, psychologists have a very wide scope. As I have said before, there are so many people who feel that they are psychologists and they can help in this area. We have so many quacks around the country who go round saying they can sort out psychological problems. There is, therefore, need, because of the importance of this area, to have well-trained people who are academically and professionally qualified to deal with this human aspect of life. If it is left loose, the quacks will go on cheating people and, sometimes, they may make the conditions worse than when they first handled them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also need to regulate this area so that those who open clinics or practise in this professional area, are registered. We should ensure that there is proper registration of practitioners in this field so that the country knows who are professionally qualified and who are legally registered so that as they enter their clinics to seek their attention, they are sure that there is a guarantee that those people will provide proper advise. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also need to license other professionals in that area. That way, those who are not qualified will be left out of the business. Very many people, as the Mover of the Motion has said, suffer when there are floods, clashes and other calamities. Nobody is there to attend to them. Those who provide services to them are not very well qualified. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to introduce professional ethics in that profession so that those who practise in that area can observe them. We should set standards to guide the people who are engaged in that profession. I call upon hon. Members to support this Motion---"
}