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{
    "id": 497355,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/497355/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for us then, therefore, to realize these rights, and for the protection of these rights provided for in the Constitution, there must be measurable, tangible results that we can be able to see and say: Yes, this is what has been done. There must be effort. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there was an amendment that was brought by Hon. Sakaja and it was debated by the other House about access to contracts by the youth together with persons with disability. The amendment stated that 30 per cent of the contracts in national and county governments must be accessible by the youth, women and persons with disability. There must be conscious effort. The one thing I like about this amendment is requiring that there are clear reports that we shall receive from national and county government entities about what they are doing; what opportunities have been given to persons with disabilities and what conscious effort is being applied for persons with disabilities. The moment we have such a provision, it becomes clear that in the performance contracts of every officer in the county or national governments, they have no doubt that there are certain measurable targets. We should even go further and amend this section to say that there will be a penalty for an institution. It must even be a ground for dismal of a state or public officer presiding over an office that is not conscious to the needs of persons with disabilities. This amendment, however, small it may look; I agree is a greater step towards realizing the opportunity for persons with disability particularly in our counties. Our counties are new entities. As new as they are, they must come with new things. We must do things in a new way. All the structures that are being built in the county governments must have mechanisms for ensuring that there is access to persons with disability. I have seen buildings even in my county that are two or three storied and there is no lift. I wonder how people access those buildings. That consciousness must be there. All engineers, architects and contractors must put in their bill of quantities and all the architectural designs that it is mandatory for every design that they are going to engage in, it must have a place for accessibility by persons with disability. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I stand to support this amendment and to say that, let us take advantage of our opportunity here in the Senate, just like Senator Njoroge has done and Sen. Mutula Kilinzo Jnr has recommended, perhaps it is important for us, working with Sen. Njoroge as the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to relook at the whole legislation and see whether it is responding to the Constitution. Is it in line with Articles 27 and 54? Are we making conscious efforts to ensure that we support persons with disabilities? Finally, the education system from the inception must be responsive to persons with disabilities. There must be a fund that must be put in place to ensure that free education is given to persons with disability. In Elgeyo-Marakwet County, all the institutions that are there for the education of persons with disabilities are being sponsored by the church. A few of them in my county are supported in Iten at a place called Mindiliwa and in Keiyo South at a place called Mokwa. These institutions are few, they are not more than five in the county. They rely on the church. Once in a while we are invited and they say: “There is a happy day in this institution.” We make a small contribution and so on. But it must be put consciously because access to education by persons with disability is a right. 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."
}