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"content": "take measures to ensure that young people access economic opportunities for their socio- economic development. On top of that, there is Article 127(2) (a) and (b) of the Constitution which provides that the Government must ensure that the system for the procurement of goods and services is efficient, transparent and equitable. If it is going to be equitable and fair, then it must make sure that people are not obstructed from accessing procurement opportunities by virtue of their gender, age or disability. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill defines the three categories which belong to the genre of disadvantaged groups. First, it defines young people within the agreed definition under various statutes. We now have even the National Youth Council Act, which defines young people as persons falling between 18 and 35 years of age. This can be men or women. For women, these are females of 18 years and persons with disabilities are male or female persons who are not children; meaning they are over 18 years. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Bill provides opportunities to access procurement opportunities for goods and services whether at the level of the national Government or at the county level of Government, not only for individual youth, women and persons with disabilities, but also for anybody or company or entity of a legal nature; what lawyers call “juristic persons.” We have natural persons and then we have juristic persons. Juristic persons are legal persons, a company, a body or both incorporated and non-incorporated entities. They fall under this category so long as they are owned substantially by any of these categories. I can see Sen. Hassan Omar is excited. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for a company or a juristic entity to qualify for tenders for the supply of goods and services under the category of youth, first and foremost, the only requirement is that all directors must be young people. That is a bit different from the qualifications for persons with disabilities and for women. For persons living with disabilities, an individual must be 18 years and above. If it is a company, at least 70 per cent of the shareholding must be persons with disability. Over and above that, a majority of the directors must also be persons with disabilities. For women; if it is an individual, must be over 18 years. If it is a company, at least 70 per cent of the shareholding must be females. In addition, the majority of the directors for that entity must be women. Those are some of the qualifications. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have seen a curious provision; that is, the amendment to Section 2 of the principal act, that is The Public Procurement and Disposal Act of 2005. That amendment to Section 2 provides for the objects of this Bill. It says among the other objects which are stated there, it is to achieve affirmative action for young people, leaving out women and persons with disabilities. So, I hope that within the debate and within the Committee Stage, a way will be found to include the other two categories in that amendment because it captures the entire objective of the Bill. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Bill also amends Section 9 of the principal Act, which section deals with the functions of the Public Procurement and Oversight Authority, better known as PPOA. It includes additional functions for the authority, which includes now to ensure procurement entities comply with reservations and preferences that are introduced by this Bill. What that means is that from now on, if this Bill passes, the PPOA must monitor, track and ensure that these reservations and 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."
}