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{
    "id": 486099,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/486099/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Lay",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1022,
        "legal_name": "Joyce Wanjalah Lay",
        "slug": "joyce-wanjalah-lay"
    },
    "content": "county has capacity to rescue and keep victims of such violence safe. When we talk about creating awareness, my concern is that we pass Bills and laws that touch on people’s lives. The amount of awareness that we give back to the people is not enough for them to know that there is such a law that provides for them and in case of anything, they should report. The level of understanding of most Kenyans is very low. There is a huge gap between what we do here and the people on the ground. Most of them do not even understand the laws that we pass at the National Assembly or even at the county assembly, yet these laws are supposed to be for them. That is why I have brought a notice of Motion to make sure that such Bills are translated into Kiswahili. Most of the people do not understand. When we use the English language, the common mwananchi in the village who goes through such problems does not understand. Most of us, leaders, take advantage of leading people who have no idea, knowledge or information of what is supposed to protect them. The Ministry of Devolution and Planning needs to go further. Most of the time when we call for meetings to create awareness or trainings, we do them at town halls. At the town halls, very few people will attend those meetings and even those who will attend, very few will take the message back to the village. Most of them come because there are allowances to be paid and after the allowance, they just go back home and forget about it. We have to come up with a proper mechanism of making sure that information reaches the people on the ground. Our Constitution says that sovereignty belongs to the people and all the power has been given to the people, but how can these people exercise power with no information? We know that information is power and knowledge. So, we need to come up with proper mechanisms to see that our people are involved in everything that we are doing and they are part and parcel of everything that is happening at the county level. When we voted in devolution, we thought that this was going to be near our people. But right now, if you go back to mashinani, people have no idea what is happening even at the county level. Even with all the money that has been sent to the county, they do not know and nobody is choosing to take time to give them information. In my county, I am coming up with a programme of having a village Bunge, so that as I am here legislating on this Bill for example, the same Bill will find itself at the village level and my villagers will sit down and go through it. I want their voices to be heard at the national and county level. They will sit and go through this Bill. If they see that there is anything that they do not agree with, I will collect their views and make sure that when I come here, I will speak on behalf of my people. So, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning needs to see what we can do to make sure that our people are empowered not just with money, but with information and knowledge. These are the only two things that you can give to a human being and they can do things on their own. Even if we give them Kshs10 million without information and knowledge, what will they do with that money? We really need to see what we can do to change our society. I believe that once we empower our society with information and knowledge, it will change. This will even change our voting pattern. People will understand that voting is their right. They will know what to expect from a leader. 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."
}