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{
    "id": 697376,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697376/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 81,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Gikaria",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "their families. This results in many things. Because of poverty, children do not go to school and parents require them to fend for the family. This Policy Paper, as it has indicated, is going to address poverty issues by urging the Government to have programmes that can alleviate poverty so that the children can access standard lives. It is also about diseases. It has been mentioned by the Mover and the Seconder. Looking at health services, our Departmental Committee on Health has proposed and recommended, on several occasions, that this very important function of health should be brought back to the national Government. It is so pathetic. In Nakuru County, for example, just barely less than four months ago, we lost over 80 children because of a pandemic which affected children. We lost so many children yet the county was not even bothered with what was happening. They never even bothered to find out where this plague came from and what the cause was. In fact, we had to get people from the Ministry of Health to do the work that is supposed to be done by the county government. It is important that as we look forward, as the National Assembly, we re-emphasise the aspect of healthcare which is a function of the county government. The other day in Nakuru, doctors just ended a three-week strike. Governors are so stubborn. We are now hearing that in Meru County they are at it again. Just the other day, it was Machakos County. At the end of the day, it is the kids who will suffer because when they get sick, they are not able to get any services at the public health institutions. Third, is about violence. In Nakuru, there is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that is trying to assist street children and families. Most of those children on the street are as a result of violence within our homes. You find a husband had children, he remarried and there is no peace. Most of those children run away from their families because of the violence that emanates from either the husband or the wife. Some of these things need to be addressed by this Sessional Paper. The other issue is sexual abuse. Just the other day we found some hon. Members of the Kisii County Assembly manhandling some young people. This is a vice. We hope that the prosecution and the Judiciary will do something. Those young girls will be exposed to early prostitution. It is not right a member of a county assembly who is supposed to protect children to prey on them, it becomes a problem. Lastly, it is about child labour. There was a documentary about the miraa -growing area of Meru where many people have had their hands chopped off for stealing miraa . There is a lot of child labour going on in Meru where children pick miraa . These are things that I hope this Sessional Paper will address."
}