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{
    "id": 319574,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/319574/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 362,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Kilimo",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Co-operative Development and Marketing",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 173,
        "legal_name": "Linah Jebii Kilimo",
        "slug": "linah-kilimo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I want to congratulate my sister, hon. Beth Mugo, who is also the Minister for Public Health and Sanitation for bringing this Bill at a time such as this. That is because we are becoming a developed country very fast. When we hear that we have now discovered oil and there is gas, we are going to be an industrialized nation very soon. What we must not leave behind is our African culture of breastfeeding our children until a time when you are able to send them to bring you something. After that, you can wean that child and get another baby. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, breast milk is the best food for babies. The people who come up with those infant milk formulas are out to make money. The same people still also want to make more money by treating the diseases that come about because of using infant formula milk instead of breast milk. So, somebody somewhere is out to do business out of the health of our children. I am calling upon young women to breastfeed their children for as long as six months. The shortest period should be six months before they introduce them to something else. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, using my experience, I grew up in the village. In the village, you come across many things like snakes, for example. One day, I was in Class Three and we were sent to collect firewood. When we were collecting firewood, a snake on a tree spat on me. I almost became blind were it not for the breast milk. Everybody was asking: “Which woman has got a baby?” I was taken there and for the next one week, every day, breast milk was put in my eyes so that I could see. Look at what breast milk can do. If it can do that on the outside, what about in the inside of the baby? So, that is why we are advocating for breastfeeding of children. The bonding goes on until death parts a child with the mother. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is why when married old men are faced with disaster or when something happens suddenly here, you will hear everybody say: “Mama”! That is because that is the first bonding word they have; a bond word of security and nurturing by their mother. So, for us to have a healthy nation so that we can even spend less on medication, it is important that this House passes this law that says: “All mothers must breastfeed their children.” Where possible, we should give more time to mothers to stay at home to breastfeed their children. It should not be for three months. It should be for six months. They should just be working half day, so that they have enough time. In the long run, it is economical because we shall be saving on medication."
}