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{
    "id": 455537,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/455537/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 334,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "Livestock and Fisheries. I would want to urge that whenever we talk about food insecure areas, we forget areas like Mbita, especially when we are going through this period of closure of the fishing period because our areas rely mainly on fishing. So, I would want to urge the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to remember that. While I also support the increment of allocation to the vulnerable groups like orphans and vulnerable children, persons with disability, the elderly and the urban subsidies, I would also want to say that when we talk about urban areas, we should remember that there are also rural areas that have urban areas. Therefore, the urban subsidy should also benefit those areas. I know for instance, in my constituency, every time I go around, the elderly tell me that they should be considered. This is because they are very few elderly persons who are receiving that subsidy. Hon. Deputy Speaker, of course, I have spoken on the issue of the National Gender and Equality Commission. I would want to say that we reconsider it. Not everything that comes in is bad because gender is both male and female. But whenever men just hear the word “gender”, there is some ill spirit that gets into them and posseses them. My good friend, hon. Ng’ongo, is usually very supportive of hon. Nyasuna; they come from the same county, but today when he hears about gender, he becomes very fidgety. Please give the gender commission a budget, so that they can pay the money for the refurbishment they have already done. I would also want to contribute to the issue of socio-economic audit of the Constitution. That is a very good thing. However, I would want to encourage the team that is doing this audit to remember that devolution started only yesterday. There is a lot of bashing of governors, but I do not support the misuse of public funds. The Transitional Authority we put in place is not properly equipped to deal with the counties. The ideal situation should have been secondment of Principal Secretaries (PSs), the technocrats who have worked in Government, to help them set up systems before we start crucifying governors. Before you kill a dog, you give it a bad name. I am seeing a trend where we want to kill the dog called “devolution” by giving it a bad name. Let us give devolution a chance. Finally, I know that our Judiciary is not good, and we want to reform it. But the trend we are following as Parliament is very wrong. We cannot encourage defiance of court orders. I have disagreed with our courts many times, including in their ruling on the elections, but I respect their rulings even where I disagree with them. If Parliament, as a supreme organ, in this country can welcome a practice where we tell people to disobey court orders, we are setting a dangerous trend of anarchy in this country. Therefore, I would want to say that I am very unhappy that we seem to be reducing the allocation to the Judiciary as a punitive measure. If we are reducing it because it is not urgent, I would understand, but if we want to punish the Judiciary merely because we disagree with it, it is a dangerous trend. Lastly, I would also want to say that I am very happy that we have increased allocation to State Law Office and the prosecution office, because we want to--- I worked at the State Law Office as a State Counsel. There was a very high staff turnover because of poor salaries. The first time I ever met the Attorney-General - even though I was a junior officer then – was when I agitated for the increase of salaries. With those few remarks, I support. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}