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{
    "id": 504088,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/504088/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 162,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Nakara",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2926,
        "legal_name": "John Lodepe Nakara",
        "slug": "john-lodepe-nakara"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is good that this Bill has come at this time when some of us are coming to Parliament for the first time. I want to thank the Mover of the Bill. The object or the purpose of the Bill is to promote networking among the former Members. I have seen former Members of Parliament back in the village. They are lonely, exhausted and living terrible lives without anybody to encourage them. When we have such a society, the former Members can come together to encourage one another. Even after you have lost your seat, you get encouraged when you meet other Members who have gone through the same process. You get encouraged when you sit with other Members who lost in the election. It also makes them to remain relevant to the community. You will be recognised in the community that you can still offer some pieces of advice to the people. Losing an election does not mean that, that is the end of life. One still has life to live. If you are a doctor or psychologist, you can still offer those services to the community. With such kind of a society, former Members of Parliament can come together and form a group to do something or to give back to the community. They can even contribute money to help poor students who lack school fees. This society is a very good thing. Clause 5 speaks about the functions of the society. One of the functions is to maintain the status and wellbeing of the former Members of Parliament. I have seen former Members of Parliament degrading their lives. After losing elections, somebody becomes useless in the village. He goes into drinking and becomes an alcoholic or he just becomes irrelevant in the village. With such kind of society, you can still maintain your status and wellbeing. The society can give you a loan to do business or some pension to continue with life. After leaving Parliament, some former Members become bankrupt. They may have taken loans here and there without the knowledge of the family. At the end of the day, the banks come and take away everything that belongs to the family. With such kind of society, hon. Members can be taught how to continue with their lives or how to do business. As I conclude, I am very happy that the chairperson of this board will be a former Member who is not active in politics. That means that he will not bring politics into the society. We, also, as Members of Parliament, must watch our lifestyles. We must also think about the future. We have seen people coming and going. So, we too, should not wait until we are out of this House to start thinking and planning our lives. We need to try to live a life that we can sustain even after we have left this House. The position that we are holding sometimes dictates where you are going to live and the places you can visit. We need to make sure that we are not dictated by the position we are holding. We must organize our lives. We must make sure that we are living a life that we can even live after we have left politics. With those few remarks, I support. 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."
}