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"id": 510068,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/510068/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Aden",
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"speaker": {
"id": 15,
"legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
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"content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to join my colleagues in congratulating hon. Lekuton for this very important Bill. Increasingly, Kenyans are now becoming road users than ever before. There are more vehicles on our roads. There is an increase in the so-called boda bodas on our roads. More public transport vehicles are now coming onto the roads. As this continues to happen, the challenges in terms of road safety are also becoming a nightmare to our country. Because most of our roads are old, they were not designed to ensure communication on traffic compliance or safety measures such as speed bumps and others. Vehicles should have seat belts, and be road worthy. For that reason, increasingly and unfortunately, many Kenyans are getting either killed, disabled or their lives thrown apart because of otherwise avoidable road accidents. This is affecting our national productivity. Many times, people who are injured, or maimed, in road accidents are the very young and economically productive Kenyans who, otherwise, would have added to the well-being of this country. Unfortunately, instead of that happening, they are either killed or injured and become a burden to the taxpayer or the families that will have to bear the high cost of treating them. Some of them get permanent disabilities. For that reason, this Bill is timely and important. The fact that it actually focuses on the safety of our children makes it very important. Transportation of our children to school is becoming a very dangerous business. Time and again, we see overloaded and un-roadworthy buses, owned or hired by schools, or even hired by parents who come together and pool resources to hire some means of transport for their children. The more we see that, the more we know that a catastrophe is just about to happen. Bringing on board this law will ensure that safety of our children as they go to school is paramount; the future generation of our country should be taken care of. It is our responsibility as parents, leaders in office and as responsible adult Kenyans to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our future generations. The so-called Probox vehicle is becoming a serious problem in Kenya. We see it on our television every day loaded with more than tens of people, some seated even in the boot. They carry very many people and, at times, people even share a seat with the driver. Many times, these are children going to school. We have seen this time and again on our screens. We have, unfortunately, even seen traffic police officers waving down these vehicles and releasing them in the very dangerous state of being overloaded with children mostly going to school. For that reason, it is important that we pass this Bill, which now provides that there shall be penalties on offenders. Offenders in this case will be the owners of Proboxes and boda bodas . Every day, we see either on our screens or on the roads as we drive along, a motorbike carrying as many as five children. If an accident happens, that will mean that five members of the future generation of our country will be killed or seriously injured. These are things that are happening. I want to urge parents to, indeed, be very careful in terms of the safety and wellbeing of our children. I know there is the issue of cost. This brings us to other legislation which, as a House, we need to think about, probably for subsidizing the transportation of children to school. We probably need to come up with legislation for 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."
}