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{
    "id": 628406,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/628406/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 288,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Elachi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13115,
        "legal_name": "Beatrice Elachi",
        "slug": "beatrice-elachi"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I support this Bill because the amendment is timely. Article 54(1) of the Constitution is clear on how our sisters and brothers with special needs are supposed to be incorporated in all sectors and spheres of life in our county. To date, persons with disabilities struggle hard to move round their institutions because of lack of facilities for them. We passed an affirmative action agenda of reserving 30 per cent of Government tenders for them. However, if you look at statistics today, you will be shocked to learn that very few people living with disabilities have successfully applied and won those tenders. Why are we not supporting our brothers and sisters living with disabilities? Madam Temporary Speaker, one of the things the county governments have refused to implement is any law that does not address itself to devolution. Therefore, the committees that have been proposed here by Sen. Omondi will be started in every county to look into the plight of persons living with disabilities. The report of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) of 2013 said about 70 per cent of our population is made up of youth. Therefore, this Bill will unlock many opportunities for persons with disabilities in different sectors of our country. We must ensure these persons access social places without any hindrance. In the past, we have not been very strict with construction of buildings. We must now ensure all buildings cater for the needs of people with disabilities. Madam Temporary Speaker, the United Nations (UN) has a clear resolution on incorporating persons with disabilities. We must create an enabling environment for them to participate in all sectors. Many parents suffer a lot taking care of their children with disabilities. Sometimes they do not talk about the condition of their children because of stigma. I hope the committees envisaged in this Bill will go a long way in assisting children living with disabilities to enrol in schools. We know of children who are chained or tied with ropes at home. They do not go to school. Many of them are undergoing a lot of suffering. Their parents are also in a lot of pain because they have no one to counsel them. We normally arrest their parents because we feel they mistreat their children and that they do not want to take them to school. However, we need to come up with a clear framework on how to engage such parents to understand that they can take care of such children in a better way because they are just like other children even though they have special needs. Madam Temporary Speaker, some of these disabilities can be cured if parents seek medical attention in good time. However, people lack information, for instance, on where to go for therapy. It is difficult for a parent to take a child to a public hospital for physiotherapy. You can imagine the case of the children from Busia who were disabled after being injected with a vaccine. Another example is the Loreto Convent School girls who were involved in an accident in Tharaka-Nithi county. Most of them are now disabled. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}