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{
    "id": 569520,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/569520/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 216,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, whereas Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale is correct that Nairobi County has got more people infected with HIV/AIDS, but in terms of percentage, Homa Bay is leading. Nonetheless, I accept the information. We have 159,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Homa Bay compared to 177,000 people in Nairobi. I came to this House having garnered 127,000 votes. That means that the people living with HIV/AIDS in Homa Bay County are more than the number of people who brought me to this House. If people living with HIV/AIDS would be a constituency or a voting bloc, it would be a significant voting bloc in Homa Bay County and other counties that fall within the hyper endemic status. Madam Temporary Speaker, HIV/AIDS affects more women than men in my county. I believe that is the trend nationally. What is interesting about HIV/AIDS in this country is that in a place like Homa Bay, 31 per cent are not tested. So, they do not know there status. When we talk about these percentages, they could even be higher if more people opt to go for testing to ascertain their status. The bottom line is that HIV/AIDS poses a huge burden on Homa Bay County and the country as a whole. For example, today being a Thursday, many of us will be rushing to our constituencies to tend to be funerals. When you look at the issue of funerals, probably, a quarter of the funerals we attend are as a result of HIV/AIDS scourge. If we are not attending funerals, we are attending fund raisers to assist children whose parents are incapable of sending them to school. When you are not attending fundraisers for schools, you are attending one for medical purposes. What this has done to our economies, particularly in Homa Bay County, is that people mobilize capital, but for social ventures rather than for economic ventures. This means that we shall perpetually be locked into that circle of poverty. When you mobilize capital, for example, if you raise Kshs1 million and spend it all in one day in a funeral, rather than mobilizing the same amount so that you can invest in something that can take you to the future. It is all eaten in one day because of the HIV/Aids pandemic. So, it is not a light matter. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is an intention by the Government to provide cash assistance to vulnerable children, orphans and the elderly. Certain cultures do not understand the concept of orphans. The culture I come from, when the parents die, those children are not strictly defined as orphans because they are adopted and immediately 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."
}