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"id": 406905,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Elachi",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Beatrice Elachi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. First of all, we know that this Fund was as a result of a pledge by the Jubilee Government. We promised that if there was no 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 run off, we would use the Kshs6 billion to assist the youth and women who are disadvantaged to move on and establish their businesses. I also want to thank the county women representatives and the Members of Parliament for agreeing to work together in support of the Fund. I know that we would have wished to see the disbursement being done differently, having looked at different organisations and how they have been managing table banking. For instance, we have Jaiwa and other merry-go-rounds which have done very well among others. We know that table banking never fails. I believe that if Members of the National Assembly have agreed that county women Members of Parliament will bring in a certain number of members and the constituencies will also do that, our prayer is that they will look after the organizations that are within their constituencies. They should look at the women groups that are there and ensure that they are the beneficiaries. Therefore, the fear of not repaying the money will not arise. Women will repay this money. They know that it is their money and that it is a revolving fund. They should go ahead to ensure that while they revolve the fund, there are dividends. Once they have received the dividends, you will see how they will be proud while repaying the money. The other thing I want to urge the Senate is that while we are doing the amendments, we should know that we have 47 Bills in the National Assembly. Therefore, if we put in requests in terms of amendments, they may either be passed or rejected. At the end of the day, it will be women who will be disadvantaged on this. I plead with Members, while we bring our proposals, that we limit ourselves and look at the fundamental issues. Senator Musila asked why the Senate does not have any roles. I would like to inform him about the role of the woman Member of Parliament who is in charge. I think it would only be fair to leave Senators out of the management of these funds. One time or another, there has to be someone who will be accountable. You will be asked: Since you were also sitting on that board, why did you allow money to be mismanaged? I will request the Senators who are there to be overseers. You are there to create awareness and enlighten Kenyans about these Regulations and where to get the money at this level. That would be very important and will save Senators from sitting in many constituency meetings. When you look at the structure, it is more of a constituency fund than a county fund. Lastly, as I reply, I would like to say that it is important to also understand where the President was coming from. Therefore, we would wish the National Assembly to look at it that way. His Excellency the President would have wished young people who were moving during the campaigns to start their own businesses, be self-employed and have something on the table as they do other businesses. Therefore, the issue of people who are already in business, we have the Fund for the youth and one for women who are in business. This is the fund where I believe we are bringing in those who are just beginning so that they can tap into other funds that we have. The National Assembly should also look at the commission on poverty eradication and provide funds for it. So, when they denied the commission funds, there was money which had been allocated by the Government. Today, that money is just lying because they did not give a way forward on how to manage it. So, we request them to 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 look at the fund like “Njaa Marufuku” which was started by the former President Kibaki. They should find out where the money is and how we can tap it as we think of the sustainability of Uwezo Fund. Therefore, we need to consolidate all the funds and bring them together. As we look at the proposals by the task force looking at the parastatals, we realise that they want all funds to be merged. So, as we look at it, we need to know the time frame for Uwezo Fund otherwise, we might find it collapsing by next year. With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}