Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 498651,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/498651/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 341,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "When we do an audit on devolution, we should ensure that we succeeded in bringing services closer to the people. We should do statistics and see, for example, if we were losing 100 people in a day, then have we reduced that, now that the services are supposed to be closer to the people? If we do an audit and we do not get that improvement, then we would have failed. Madam Temporary Speaker, it would be important, as this Senate, to offer guidance either through the Committee on Health in conjunction with the Sessional Committee on Devolved Government for them to look at the proposals presented by the practitioners themselves, because they have been outspoken. They have said it; that the solution may not be to reverse the whole function to the national Government, but the co- operation in terms of directing policy, standards in terms of staffing and the training. These proposals are there; they are not going to come anew. It would be important that the governors, through their Council of Governors (CoGs), have consultative meetings because most of the problems we are having in this country – and I have said it before – is because we do not want to talk to each other; we want to talk at each other and we do not want to listen. At the end of the day, it is the children who will suffer because they will not get access to the hospitals; it is the women who will suffer because they cannot get to the hospitals; it is the men of this country who will suffer. If we cannot sort out this mess, then we would have done a disservice to this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, in an extreme situation, a reversal of a function is not entirely impossible and that is why the drafters of the Constitution in Article 187 talk about it; that if we feel that a function is better performed at a certain level, then the two levels of government should enter into an agreement in order to transfer a function. But I do not want us to run out of our house because it has started raining. I would propose that we tackle the problems that we have, but if we do not talk about the retention of these practitioners, we will have a problem now and in the future. So, Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to support this Motion and hope that the Mover will take it forward maybe in terms of legislation, in conjunction with the relevant committee in order to come up with a law that will help deal with these problems, because the proposals are there. The practitioners themselves are willing to even appear before the committee to see how best we can deal with this problem. Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to support."
}