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"content": "This Bill as stated on a memorandum enforces Article 43 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya. The Article provides for economic and social rights. Herein, these rights are stipulated in Article 43 of the Constitution which states that:- “(1) Every person has the right— (a) to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care; (b) to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation; (c) to be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality; (d) to clean and safe water in adequate quantities; (e) to social security; and (f) to education.” The Constitution further provides, in Article 43(2), that:- “A person shall not be denied emergency medical treatment.” Article 43(3) states that:- “The State shall provide appropriate social security to persons who are unable to support themselves and their dependants.” Therefore, when the Constitution of Kenya was promulgated in 2010, a lot of us in the human rights movement at that time said that it was one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa. One of the reasons we called it a progressive Constitution is essentially because of the provision on economic and social rights. These rights are what, in constitutional terms, are referred to as positive rights. They anticipate that governments shall do everything possible to ensure the attainment of the rights, so that their people or populations live with dignity. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Article 19(1) of the Constitution states that:- “The Bill of Rights is an integral part of Kenya’s democratic state and is the framework for social, economic and cultural policies.” Therefore, as we integrate our social, economic and cultural policies, the Constitution binds us to ensure – integral to our economic, social and cultural policies – the adherence of these rights, as stipulated in Chapter 4 of our Constitution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I speak to some of the specific areas of this Bill, let me talk about a few issues. First and foremost, we promulgated a fairly liberal Constitution as the people of Kenya. We have spoken to the issue of human dignity on a couple of areas. From the very start of the preamble of our Constitution, it talks about the need to have social justice and equality of all persons. Therefore, Kenya ushered in a new constitutional belief and doctrine which binds us, as policy makers and legislators, to ensure that the values integrated in our constitutional practice also become part of our legal framework. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya is one of the most unequal societies in the world. I think it is the third most unequal society in the world. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing by day, yet we have done very little compared to countries like Brazil to mitigate the fallout. If we, as a country, policy makers or legislators, do not bridge the gap of inequality, then we run the risk of creating a country that is fairly socially 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."
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