Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 364780,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/364780/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 82,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Government, we can no longer pay lip service to economic and social rights and things of that nature. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it then means that healthcare programmes are not just aspirations, not just things that I can wish away. They must be things that are realizable. Fifty years after Kenya’s Independence, it is really sad that people still die from diseases like cholera, snake bites and child birth. We must do whatever it takes to make sure that Kenyans realize their constitutional rights. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in other jurisdictions--- We have to wake up to the reality of the new Constitution. It will be sad for the Government to be taken to court for not having helped the citizens realize their rights. It should happen in other jurisdictions, like South Africa, that people have economic and cultural rights in their constitution as is the case in Kenya now. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must save the country by doing whatever is possible; we should move with speed to make sure that Kenyans realize their rights, like the right to good health. We are in a country where doctors and nurses engage in flight. We have spent a lot of money training our doctors and nurses, but they move on to other countries where there is better pay and facilities. After recruiting doctors and nurses as my colleague proposes in this very good party sponsored Motion, we must also aim at paying them very well. It does not make sense that you recruit more and you cannot pay them well enough to retain them. We must also consider what it will take, even if it means bringing in a Supplementary Budget, to help realize this rather fundamental aspect of our Constitution. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, several parts of the country have, as my colleague has said, constructed dispensaries and health centres that are lying idle. There is need to have a policy at the implementation level, so that we do not just construct buildings for the sake; there must be a policy in terms of ensuring we build when we are sure that we will have capacity to staff. Otherwise, this is money that would have been spent elsewhere. I plead with my colleagues in the Government that as we move towards constructing health centres and dispensaries, we must also make sure that we have enough personnel, so that we do not have buildings across the country without personnel to man them. One of my colleagues stated very well that economic and socio-cultural rights are important. If you want a country to develop and produce to its maximum, it must be healthy. We must do our very best to ensure that we give the health care that our people need, so that our country and economy can grow. Realizing the rights anticipated in the Constitution is not just something for the Government alone. There is need for involvement of development partners; achievement of economic and socio-cultural rights is not just something that can be left to the Government alone. It is a lot of work that needs a lot of money. The Government, even when leading at the front, must invite other development partners to help. We can be talking about providing healthcare as a Government, but we must realize that we have limited resources, and are not able to sustain healthcare programmes on our own. As a Government, we have no excuse for not supporting the people, especially when we have seen in the Budget-making process in the past two weeks that there is Recurrent Expenditure in terms of expenses that we do not need; examples are purchase"
}