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"content": "in a while. If you spend two or three days there, you will be flashed with a bill of Kshs250,000 and, of course, this is unaffordable to most Kenyans. But sometimes we resort to calling people to raise money quite understandably, because they do not have the money. But, then, if we had a comprehensive social health insurance scheme like they do in Rwanda, Ghana or in South Africa – these are developing countries – or as they have in Malaysia, Singapore or Mexico--- I have lived in Mexico for three years and I never heard anybody raising money from the public to pay medical bills; never! Although Mexico is a richer country but, in many ways in the rural areas, it is not different with some places there being poorer than some parts of Kenya. But Mexico has a social welfare system where they have a comprehensive social health insurance. So, once you are part of this, then you do not really have to worry too much about medical bills. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as the Minister for Medical Services and previously as the Minister for National Planning and Development, I worked very closely with hon. Charity Ngilu, who was the then Minister for Health. We proposed to have this comprehensive social health insurance scheme but it never worked because tycoons who own the insurance industry opposed it. These people have influence in the Government, while some people in the Government also have insurance firms. Therefore, they thought that if we had a comprehensive social health insurance in place, it will eat into their market – of course, it would, to some extent – but not for the two per cent of the elites who are insured for these companies. So, that misunderstanding and social bigotry by people who earn a lot of money has sabotaged the comprehensive social health insurance scheme in Kenya, much to the detriment of the economy. If we had a comprehensive social health insurance scheme, we would surely not need to hold harambees to meet health bills. So, that is one remedy of dealing with harambees . The other one, of course, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, is when people retire – let me remind ourselves that sooner, rather than later, we shall be retiring. I once met a Permanent Secretary (PS) – and I will not mention his name – who had retired, having served with distinction not just as a PS, but also as an Ambassador; and this is not long ago, this was about seven years ago. He told me that his pension was Kshs7,000 a month in this day and age. Let me tell you that there are many people who have served us high up in the Government whose pension is that much. This leaves a lot to be desired. So, one of the things we should look at is how to organize our social welfare systems, pension schemes and so on and so forth. How do we manage pension funds so that they are available to the people who have retired so that they can access it and have the wherewithal to pay their bills? If we had proper pension schemes, the National Social Security Funds (NSSFs) plus comprehensive social health insurance scheme, we could cushion our people from the need to fundraise whenever they have bills to pay. I am sure of, because in societies where this happens, I have never seen people holding harambees . Just go to Rwanda next door; Rwandese people may have collective fund raising at a purely family level. When somebody is getting married, it is a family affair and one should not organize a huge event in Nairobi Club or in Charter Hall to raise money for a purely family affair like getting married. But I think we have the mentality that we should or must outsource our financial commitments to the external world and this has meant that harambees have spread into all kinds of spheres of life, making it very difficult 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."
}