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{
    "id": 708002,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/708002/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 138,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "Clause 5(4) talks about conditional grants. It proposes that the Government continues to provide conditional grants to county governments. Most governors are complaining in terms of accessing these conditional grants. My wish would be a situation whereby, if we agree that we want to provide free vaccination and maternity care, then instead of talking about conditional grants for these two activities, we just lease them out to the counties the way we release money for the normal sharing of resources, so that we avoid a situation where county governments must always apply and account for money before they get it. That would sort out the issue of delays in accessing the money. That will facilitate access to healthcare. With regard to Clause 15, the issue of including reproductive healthcare and the right to emergency treatment is quite important. It is just a matter of placing more emphasis on what we had said that Kenyans should access emergency treatment without any conditions. This is something which should be considered. With regard to Clause 16, since the Director-General (DG) for health will be senior, I hear our own Departmental Committee saying that this position should be subjected to parliamentary vetting. I agree with the Senate that since we are vetting the Cabinet Secretary (CS) and the Principal Secretary (PS) in this Ministry, the Director can be appointed by those two already vetted officers to avoid a situation where this House will be vetting all officers. It will be very complicated for us. If we have vetted the CS and the PS, they can easily appoint the DG based on qualification and experience. This is an area where I agree with the Senate. Let us support the Senate in saying that the DG will be appointed by the CS. In that case, we will make the process easier. The Senate has proposed to delete very many clauses and I am worried. I cannot understand why the Senate has proposed to delete over 30 clauses while our own Departmental Committee on Health or this House had included those clauses. This is a clear pointer that the Mediation Committee which will be appointed will have a lot of work convincing both sides. As we think about the Mediation Committee, we should make sure that the people who are appointed to this Committee can get to a compromise of give and take for purposes of moving this Bill forward. Otherwise, in a Bill where very many clauses are proposed for deletion, we can end up having a stalemate and the Bill may just die a natural death. This Bill is very important to this country to the extent that all effort should be made to make sure that we get it approved by both Houses. My final word is to plead with those Members who will be lucky to be in the Mediation Committee to have an open mind so that at the end of the day, we do not kill this important Bill because of disagreements. With those remarks, I support the Report of our Committee."
}