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{
    "id": 381682,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/381682/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 29,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale is trying to complete the story. But I was not going that direction. He said: “You have been given nine months notice. It is not fair for you to go around now with a begging bowl raising harambee for something which is purely personal.” This is a very illustrative story because whereas harambee was started as a community concept to handle community projects, it has swung to the extent that personal issues are being used to raise money through harambees. If a student is going abroad for education, it makes sense to hold a harambee for funds to be collected to help that student. If somebody is sick – I have gone through the experience. Being a Minister and having good insurance, I got support from both the insurance firm as well as the Government to get treated for cancer because it is an extremely expensive treatment. But there is another way we can handle this. If we have universal health insurance for all Kenyans, there would be no need whatsoever for the Government to step in with an ex-gratia fund, if, indeed, we have a robust, comprehensive social insurance to cover such things. We should avoid ad hoc collection of money for problems we can prepare for ahead of time in a society, as was said in Sessional Paper No.10 where we have mutual social responsibility. For such personal issues, like what I have just said, there should not be really any need for harambees. Also, for other needs like health, we should have a planned comprehensive social insurance to keep people away from having ad hoc collections when people need such help. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is also another area where harambees have been terribly misused. A young man intends to marry – of course, this is definitely a personal decision – he decides to marry and opts to have a pre-wedding party to raise some funds. Of course, there is nowhere in the Bible or the Quran which says that before you get married you must have a pre-wedding party. This is not a condition for marrying your wife. But since people like social consumption, they give society to bear that burden. This is not fair. If, indeed, you want to have a pre-wedding party which is not mandated in either the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita or the Bible, do it yourself, do not involve the rest of the society because it is an unnecessary burden. If you examine many other things, many people have externalized their personal responsibilities to society. Society is then burdened with these kinds of expenses. We need to rein in on such malpractices and save people. When I was in the Ministry of Planning and National Development, we did quantify the amount of resources raised in harambees every year, the amount of those resources that are used for genuine development and social welfare programmes. You will find that the money raised that goes into consumption competes almost on equal footing with the money that is raised for developmental or genuine social expenses. It The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}