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{
    "id": 34578,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/34578/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 368,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Ngilu",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Water and Irrigation",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 111,
        "legal_name": "Charity Kaluki Ngilu",
        "slug": "charity-ngilu"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this very important Motion and commend Eng. Gumbo for bringing it to the House. The Motion is long overdue. Maybe, as leaders, we never understood the importance of us supporting girls who go to school. Although the Government has decided to provide free primary education, which it has done very well, we all know that about 2.5 million girls require sanitary towels. Those girls miss classes for between three and five days every month. This means that even though the Government is providing free primary education, those girls will miss their classes when that time comes. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when I was the Minister for Health, I learnt that many girls, and some poor village women, use some very crude methods of protecting themselves. In fact, the materials they use are so dirty that they get infections, which complicates the situation further. So, this Motion could not have come at a better time than now. I remember that in 2004, His Excellency the President gave an order that sanitary towels be exempted from Duty. I do not know whether the directive was implemented or not. However, the recommendation now should be that as books are taken to schools, sanitary towels should be part of that package. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the question as to whether the Budget will be bigger or not should not arise. If boys will not go to school because some books will not have been delivered to school, so be it. Let us reduce the amount of money that is going into books to ensure that girls get sanitary towels. However, I do not think that will be necessary because I have been told that the budget for sanitary towels for a year will not be more than Kshs1.6 billion. What is Kshs1.6 billion when we know that we are going to save those girls from not going to school? With those remarks, I beg to strongly support the Motion and, once again, commend Eng. Gumbo for bringing it to the House."
}