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{
    "id": 319548,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319548/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 336,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to second this very important Bill on breast milk substitutes. I would like to confirm that I am one of the very many Kenyans who were suckled and breast-fed for perhaps rather long because traditionally, as you know, I am named after my mother’s brother. Hence, being a favourite, I believe I enjoyed privileges that were not enjoyed by many others. So, I am a firm believer of that and I would like to see every child going through the same experience. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think the most important thing, even as we promote commerce and substitutes because they have their own place within the development of the child especially given the issues of the working mothers and what is happening, there must be a way of regulating the access and the choices that people make so that they are not unduly influenced through adverts, social media, peer pressure and people then abandoning what they should be doing naturally and what they should be doing for the best interest of the child and taking what is seen as the flavour of the month. I believe this Bill covers exactly, within the various sections, how we can achieve a balance between good commerce, providing substitutes, but at the same time ensuring that the mothers and the users are given all the information that they need and the manufacturers are held to account for purposes of ensuring that there is a responsible relationship between the manufacturers and the consumers and that in whatever we do, the health of the child is put to be of paramount concern. This is well-captured within our Constitution that whatever we do, the interest of the child must be paramount. I believe this is something that has been re-emphasized even in our courts and with the recent declarations in terms of the intended strike by the teachers where the courts were very clear that the rights of the child cannot be compromised even with what is already allowed the Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am very happy that this has come and I was very happy to support the Minister for Public Health and Sanitation. I know she has been very passionate on this matter. It is a matter that has taken long. It should have come earlier but at last we have managed to do it. As I support this Bill, I would like to avoid creating the picture of what some people have said that this Bill is coming to fight the industry. There is no fighting of the industry. Every industry has a regulator. If you are talking of the transport industry, we are already bringing a Bill here to bring regulations in that industry. If you are talking of the alcohol industry, there is already a regulator for best practices so that people know what to expect. Within the food industry we said very clearly that food must be labelled. Even this water we are taking here, there is a very clear label attached to it. It says this is what it contains. It can be harmful or not harmful. I am happy at least that the consumers, who are the toddlers who do not even know how to read or write; who do not even know what they are taking, at least their mothers and parents and those who provide them with these substitutes will have been given the opportunity to know what they are giving their children."
}