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{
    "id": 656223,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/656223/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Article 54 of the Constitution is explicit. Persons with disabilities are entitled to numerous rights that are articulated in the Constitution. Therefore, let us not accord disability rights as simply mere tokenism out of grand gesture of our leadership or magnanimity of our people. No! It is a dictate of our Constitution that every State shall have these obligations. I commend the President in the State of the Nation Address for saying that we are a nation that is kind hearted so as to set aside a fund for the elderly. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we are a nation that has obligations under the Constitution, your heart notwithstanding, you have obligations under the Constitution. Therefore, it is not out of the good gesture of this Senate; out of the kind heartedness of the State; out of mere magnanimity or as political grandstanding that we accord these rights. These rights are indivisible and indelible. They are rights that are provided because they are inherent in every human being. We as a country promulgated this Constitution long time and yet I hear people constantly referring to this Constitution as “new”. This Constitution is no longer new. Kenya cannot purport that it is growing in steps. If one asks for a job, they need to do it to perfection. You cannot tell me that you are governor of a county and say you are making steps--- If one asks for a job whose terms are in the Constitution, you must discharge that responsibility on day one as if you were born in it. We hear these excuses all the time that Kenya is a nascent democracy. There is no such thing as a “nascent democracy”. It is either you are a democracy or not. Therefore, this is a democracy. This is a constitutional democracy. We have provided ourselves a Bill of rights that is extremely elaborate. Therefore, when persons living with disability are always looking for duty bearers to ask them to exercise acts of magnanimity, that duty bearer must be held to account. They do not know what the Constitution today has provided for the people of Kenya. People who have executive functions make it appear like whenever they are providing development to us, it is an act of magnanimity. They use more for the launching of that project particularly at the county level than the project cost itself. Governors are launching toilets. Shame! In 2016, for a governor to launch a toilet, as a nation, we must feel betrayed. It is shameful. A governor simply drilling a hole creates a ceremony to manipulate the emotions of his people. In 2016, Kenya is still moving from pit latrines to sanitation. That is a constitutional preserve. A governor thinks he can hold a ceremony to launch a toilet. That governor needs psychiatric assessment. In fact, he should be launching those toilets under the pretext of a shameful regime over the last 50 years of a country that fails to provide for its people. People living in informal neighbourhoods are the people who vote for us most. We live in some of the best neighbourhoods. However, the bulk of our votes come from the most informal of neighbourhoods. We promulgated a Constitution based on the devolved system of Government so that we can devolve some little money to prioritize certain small things. These governors go and lord over their people whereas these are things that should have been there 50 years ago. When we debate this Bill, we are doing no favour to persons living with disability and several other categories including the marginalized people. The memorandum of The electronic version of theSenate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}