Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 485365,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/485365/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 374,
    "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": "There was a woman who came to see me when I was in FIDA and I thought she was a very old woman. After years of counselling, she turned out to be even much younger than me. Even if she went to the kiosk to buy vegetables and she came back to the house, the husband would not beat her, but would take a torch and look at her private parts to see whether between the house and the kiosk somebody had slept with her. The husband used to even insert bottle tops inside her private parts. When we are talking about issues of domestic violence, it is not a feminist issue. I have no history of domestic violence, yet I saw it from the cases I had seen. I am talking here speaking of my own parents. Anyway, my father died when I was too young and if he beat my mother, I have no clue. But from what I have observed, this is an issue that we must take very seriously. There are some people who will just give you nil by mouth. We are very good at that as women. We will not beat the men but we will just give them nil by mouth. That is emotional violence. That is why I want to encourage the Committee, before we think of amending the Bill and removing issues like emotional violence, we need to know that that sort of violence may be worse than even physical violence. What some people do is that you find people like me, as an hon. Member, earning my salary of what Kenyans say is a million and I cannot touch a cent of it. I give it all to my husband and then he asks me; “How much money do you want for salt?” Then he gives Kshs20.00; and he asks me again, “How much money do you want for unga ?” Then he gives me Kshs200.000. That is a form of violence. This is because God intended us to be free. Therefore, I would like to encourage the Committee that, even as we are thinking of bringing amendments to the Bill, let us not water down this Bill very substantially. I noticed when we were talking earlier; we did not include this Bill as part of the constitutional Bills. You have seen how hon. Members are referring to this Bill. I was very privileged to be one of the people who drafted this Bill. If you look at the language, we talked about private and public spaces. Part of my thesis in university in New York was making the private public and indeed, when that found its way into the Constitution, a lot of us had an influence in it. Hon. Speaker, behind our private spaces we must respect each other; especially for the sake of children. We have children who come from dysfunctional homes and they are the ones who become robbers and do all the terrible things in this society because they come from homes that are violent. I am very glad that hon. (Ms.) Kanyua referred us to the Bible. Unfortunately, she has left. Today, I was about to call her bishop Nyokabi. In the same spirit, since she has made us get that spiritual mood, I want to encourage our men here that the Bible tells us as women, that we must submit to our husbands. I would want to encourage all the women in this House that they must submit to their husbands for those of them who are married."
}