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{
    "id": 575350,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/575350/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Musyoka",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 794,
        "legal_name": "Susan Mbinya Musyoka",
        "slug": "susan-mbinya-musyoka"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Sessional Paper on National Social Protection Policy. This is certainly a very important policy. I agree with all the speakers before me that there is need to have this policy in place, to ensure that the less fortunate in the society are well protected. The special groups that require social security include Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), the vulnerable groups such as the elderly who have no one to take care of them, and the severely disabled persons who are in our communities and, of course, the unemployed youth who are many. I would urge that we put more effort and resources on the issue of social services because it is very important. Our country is not among the richest countries. In fact, according to the parameters that are shown at the back of the sessional paper, our poverty level is 46.7 per cent, which is not good. Our GDP is 2.6 per cent and it has not improved much since Independence. Since we are a poor country, it means that our vulnerable groups are many and so are the needy persons. So, we should have a policy in place that takes care of those groups of people. At the moment, there are programmes that are going on such as the cash transfers, but they do not cover everybody who deserves to have these cash transfers. We also have the OVC programmes which need to be strengthened. At the moment, as I look around, I find that the NGOs are the ones which mainly take care of the children who are orphaned. We need the Government to have in place a system that takes care of vulnerable groups. As the Constitution says, everybody has a right to live well and to live freely. It is, therefore, important that we have adequate resources put aside, so that these groups of people can get support. 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."
}