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{
    "id": 385566,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/385566/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "May 15, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 32 Sen. Wangari",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Motion as amended and I have two reasons for that. Last Sunday, we celebrated Mothers Day in this country and, for me, I still think that, that was the saddest Mothers Day ever. We are still not where we are supposed to be because the rate of child mortality and maternal deaths in this country is still very high. Madam Temporary Speaker, when the President was reading his Speech during the Joint Opening of Parliament, I picked up something on the things the Government needs to do in the first 100 days. What caught my ear was the provision of free maternity care in this country. If we are talking about free maternity care and we can still not access those services in the hospitals, health centres or in the dispensaries, then it will still be an exercise in futility. Madam Temporary Speaker, when I listened to the nominee who has been nominated to the docket of health as a Cabinet Secretary, when he was put to task to explain how he will implement the free maternity care, he was quick to add that he will first focus on giving a waiver on the cost at the local level – and that does not even get to Kshs20,000 – to something about Kshs2,500 per person. Without infrastructure, this will not happen. I happened to have visited Samburu County through the road between Nyahururu and Maralal, and I will tell you that I thought I was not in this country anymore. I thought I had left Kenya! I am only imagining as a mother – and having gone through what women go through in this country – if I am subjected to that road to access maternity care--- We have lost pregnant women on the road; we have lost children who would have been saved because the infrastructure is not in order. Madam Temporary Speaker, the insecurity in this country is also a challenge because it is rising. This is because of poor infrastructure. When the roads are impassable, that means that criminals also take advantage of that bad situation to attack citizens. When you are driving at almost zero kilometers per hour – to actually attack our citizens. So, it cannot be overemphasized that we need to give this issue the seriousness it deserves. This will also help us to achieve our Vision 2030 and the Millennium Development Goals, which include lowering of maternal deaths and child mortality. This can only be achieved if we have good infrastructure. Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to support the Motion as amended."
}