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{
    "id": 476939,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/476939/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 179,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Dawood",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2572,
        "legal_name": "Abdul Rahim Dawood",
        "slug": "abdul-rahim-dawood"
    },
    "content": "foreseeable future. All over the world, cases of HIV/AIDS are increasing by the day and we need to tackle that scourge. We have a problem in this country in that most of the donors who have been giving us money for HIV/AIDS programmes are pulling out. We need to come up with structures and resources as proposed in this Bill. The Authority will mobilise resources for HIV/AIDS programmes. It is a timely Bill. However, one of the few issues that hon. Opiyo could look at is the qualification for the chairperson of the Authority. The 12 years experience in a related field is a bit too much. This will preclude the younger people who would want to be chairpersons of that Authority. We are encouraging the youth to be in the fore-front in many of these things. He has put a requirement of a university degree from a university that is recognised in Kenya. That should generally be a university degree which is recognised by the Commission of Higher Education, whether it is from Kenya or from overseas. We have people who have university degrees which are recognised in Kenya, but are not necessarily from a Kenyan university. The other issue is the ten years experience for the Director-General. With this, you do not want any youth to be employed in those fields because when you require chairpersons, director-general and members of staff to have experience of more than ten years, then I believe you will be talking of the old people who probably would not understand what HIV/AIDS is. It is a foreign thing for most of them. The other thing is that, as a country, we need not just to look towards the East. We need to look towards the West as well. The West has been our partners for a very long time and forsaking them now for the East, we will lose out on the grants and all the resources which go towards the HIV/AIDS programmes. Many Kenyans will lose their jobs. We have lost many programmes under HIV/AIDS. The Government needs to seriously think how we are going to tackle this. We should not reverse the gains that we have made in the war against HIV/AIDS. In the next few months, probably, many people will be missing their HIV/AIDS medication because of that unfortunate policy. Maybe, it is misunderstanding, but the organizations which were supporting HIV/AIDS are moving out in droves from the country. We need to arrest that situation. With this Authority, we even need to think about how we are going to empower the Constituency Aids Committees. They are like moribund committees, which do not function. I have been to one or two in my constituency and it is only a talking shop. Nothing is happening and I believe it is the same in all the constituencies. We need to have this Authority in place to empower the Constituency Aids Committees, so that we can move further in this war against HIV/AIDS. With those few remarks, I would like to congratulate the Mover and support this Bill."
}