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{
    "id": 504171,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/504171/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 245,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Tonui",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1242,
        "legal_name": "Ronald Kiprotich Tonui",
        "slug": "ronald-kiprotich-tonui"
    },
    "content": "House, you do not become depressed. We should not hear of former Members of Parliament becoming mad. I do not know why you decided to include a psychiatrist in the Board of Parliamentary Society of Kenya. I thought the right person to be there is a counselling psychologist and not a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist comes in at that point when you have already gone mad. We need to be assisted first at the counselling stage rather than at that stage where you might have gone overboard. So, I would urge that during the amendments stage, we bring in a counselling psychologist rather than a psychiatrist. Members of Parliament who serve two terms will be pensionable. However, the first-timers who may not survive the second time may not get any pension. I would wish that this Bill could also capture something like a monthly allowance which could be paid through this Society for those Members of Parliament who will have served for only one term. An amount of US$1000 can be adequate to at least ensure that the former Members of Parliament do not get frustrated. You know the way they are challenged. When you meet some of them who are in Nairobi they tell you: “Kindly assist me with bus fare to go home over the weekend?” So, I believe that one also needs to be captured. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the idea that once you land in this House you will become unemployable--- I come from the world of teaching and I send my message of condolences to those teachers and the families of those who lost their lives in Mandera. You will become unemployable once you have landed in this House. I can no longer go to the world of teaching. What else can I do? So, it can become a big challenge and that is why we need to take care of the interests of those former Members of Parliament. The idea of medical cover needs to be revisited. Even if it cannot be done the way it is currently being done for us here, we need to take care of, at least, the former hon. Members so that they do not languish in that poor state. Somebody has mentioned about a former hon. Member who could not afford medical care and had to be in a general ward in a public hospital. I also recall the situation of a former Member of Parliament who could not even afford a place to live in and would stay in a construction site. That is so embarrassing for the people who have really put in a lot for this country. This Bill, I believe, is going to address those issues. For those ones which it has not been able to capture, I believe in the Third Reading, we need to bring them in. Otherwise, thank you so much, for this opportunity."
}