Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 600662,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/600662/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 235,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "with our very immediate. I am told that Rwanda does very well and I hate sometimes to hear the mitigations that are made as to why Rwanda has over one-third or a half of its parliamentarians as women. There are those who do not want to see this as women progressing in politics. They want to blame it on genocide; that there are actually no men to run. I have been to Rwanda many times and I have seen as many men who could equally run for these positions. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you look at the calibre of women that are elected to these parliaments, you definitely can distinguish them as those of character, experience and knowledge that can make them competitive in any setup. I have watched some of the debates in the South African Parliament particularly of the Economic Empowerment Party. If you look at the kind of people who participate in debates, they are extremely robust. My challenge is to the women who sit in this Parliament that they do not necessarily need to play the victim indefinitely. I come from a society that says it has been victimized for too long. So, sometimes even where there is obvious opportunity and competence, we blame it on victimization. As much as I say that we must fight victimization, which still exists, it has been a character of all governments that have arbitrated over the state of affairs in this country. There is also a way in which we must now deal with the dogma, particularly in this country. I made it very clear in our committees that I will support the amendment to ensure that these parliaments have one-third gender for a given limited period of time of 20 years. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it is now a challenge to Sen. Ongoro, Sen. Mugo, Sen. Nabwala, Sen. Lesuuda and all the Senators that are here to ensure that we are able to deal with societal stigma and culture that Sen. Kisasa was referring to. If you were in this robust House and you are a leader of this country, it should not just be about you being nominated but how you have made the lives of women better off so that, in future, they can be competitive enough to be elected. This Senate is also sharing some of the concerns by Sen. Kisasa. We even speak about the inequality of our State as Senators. It is a debate that we have here. I think it will be important – in the next arrangement of Senate – that if one- third of these women will bring themselves through an elective process, then I can tell you that some of these stigma, dogma and notions will subside drastically. It is for us now to work and change the society by the day. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there are men who I hate when they use certain patronizing language that you know their mothers and sisters are all women, so they love women. That is hogwash; you should never use that type of patronizing language. I think we must do it because we believe in the fact that we need to make people understand and appreciate that certain competencies are inherent in every human being, be they female or male. For us, if you will allow me to quote in Arabic and then translate it, we are told that we must educate our girls and our boys as Muslims. “البحث عن المعرفة واجبة وملزمة لكل شاب أو شابة”. This means the search for knowledge is obligatory and mandatory for every young man or young woman. Therefore, if you deny--- 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."
}