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{
    "id": 575343,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/575343/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 166,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Deputy Speaker, at the outset, I support this sessional paper. This is a very key sessional paper. It is the right way to go. Just as Hon. Nyikal has put it, we have been doing these cash transfers to the elderly and performing other functions without a legal framework. This is timely for this House. This money has actually changed a lot of lives of the elderly people in the rural areas since it was introduced. It is not enough and it has not covered all the elderly people. In some areas, for example in my constituency, all the elderly people and even some as old as 90, have not been assisted. It has not been adequately addressed. However, if this House takes it seriously in the budget-making process and ensures that we give adequate funding to these groups, all those who are more than 65 years old will be taken care of all over the country. This is going to change many things. In addition to this, one of the other key areas that we need to look at is the issue of universal healthcare. When we do our budgeting, we provide money through the Ministry of Health. For example, in the last financial year, the Ministry of Health provided the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) with about Kshs500 million for social protection. Out of that money, about Kshs319 million is what was absorbed. The remaining balance was not taken. That actually makes it very wanting. Again, we need to look at the framework in which this money can be accessed. This is because one of the difficulties that came in was how NHIF was going to recruit these people. They started by themselves going to recruit instead of using the data that is already with the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Services, which will just absorb that and look at the numbers that are there. That way, each and every person would be on the NHIF cover. Therefore, these elderly people would also access good healthcare services without necessarily spending the money that they have been given for their own benefits to take care of their health. That is an area that the Government needs to address seriously because when these people were given 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."
}