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{
    "id": 237727,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/237727/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. J. Nyagah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 269,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Nthiga Nyagah",
        "slug": "joseph-nyagah"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important subject. I would like to thank the Minister for bringing this very important Paper to the House. That way, this House can give its full support to a subject that, for many years, has been ignored, particularly by men in this country and Africa in general. It is important because we know women play a very important role in our economy. We are all children of women. None of us would be here if we did not have a mother who gave birth and looked after us. But the minute we men are born, we tend to forget where we came from. That is the reason why I fully support the recognition that has been given to gender issues by this House today. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I talk about women, let me say that, in my view, the biggest problem we have today is not so much about women, but men. Men have a long way to go to change their attitude. Men need to change their attitude, so that they can support the women in their undertakings. I want to give an example of a recently passed Bill by Ms. Ndung'u. We passed it into an Act. We proposed heavy punishments for men who rape women. I wish Ms. Ndung'u was listening! She would hear that I am supporting her Act. However, it will not go very far, if men do not change their attitude. We will continue raping and attacking our daughters. We shall continue doing all those things even if you threaten to take us to jail for ten years. I can assure you that behavior will not change. What we need is civic education for men. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, since the last women's conference in Beijing, a lot of money has been spent on educating women on their rights. We now need to start educating men on their responsibilities so that they can stop raping women and committing all manner of offences against women. We passed the Sexual Offences Bill in this House and we are aware of those offences. Until that happens, we shall continue experiencing problems. I would suggest that men in this House take the lead by organising themselves and coming up with an NGO for this purpose. The people involved in gender issues should realise the need to allocate funds that will also October 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3209 cater for the education of men so that they also become knowledgeable on these matters. That way, men will stop causing chaos to women. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, chiefs and assistant chiefs are the representatives of the Government at the grassroots levels; it is not even the Members of Parliament. The Minister of State for Administration and National Security should appoint more women as assistant chiefs and chiefs. That is the only way, in my view, that society at the grassroots will begin to appreciate the role of women in leadership positions. If more women became chiefs and assistant chiefs, let alone being Members of Parliament, I guarantee you that at the grassroots level, women will begin to be respected by the society. That is exactly what I want to advise the Minister who is in charge of internal security to do next year. This Parliament, I hope, will support minimum reforms with regard to women issues. The minimum reforms that have been proposed call for us to give more women a chance to join Parliament and county councils. It does not matter how many seminars lady Members of Parliament hold. They will be disadvantaged and they will not get enough women joining Parliament. They could even carry out as many civic education programmes as they want, but it will take them ages to enable more women get to Parliament. That is why I recommend that this House agrees to pass minimal reforms so that we can establish a larger section for women to join Parliament. We should not be contented with only four or five women in Parliament. We need to borrow a leaf from Rwanda and Uganda where women form a large number of Members of Parliament and contribute immensely in their respective Parliaments. Women are more than 50 per cent of our total population and yet we treat them like"
}