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{
    "id": 729635,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/729635/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) F.I. Ali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13152,
        "legal_name": "Fatuma Ibrahim Ali",
        "slug": "fatuma-ibrahim-ali"
    },
    "content": "of Education, Science and Technology distributing sanitary towels. You sometimes witness county governments distributing the same. Of late, County Women Representatives distribute sanitary towels. The effort is there, but it is not coordinated and sometimes there might be oversupply or undersupply because there is no central agency that is coordinating a quality distribution system of sanitary towels to girls in primary and secondary schools. This amendment will help in addressing some of the concerns on lack of access to sanitary towels by girls. It will help some of the girls who are not accessing them. It is not just sanitary towels that are useful, but it requires a whole pack of sanitary package. That includes sanitary towels, sanitary pants and disposable bags and equipment. In our primary and secondary schools, you might witness a lot of litter mainly composed of disposed sanitary towels everywhere. That brings a bad image to schools. The girls might feel embarrassed in terms of disposing them. It is useful to combine the sanitary towels, which are very crucial, and some pants. Some girls do not even have pants for them to benefit from the provision of sanitary towels. So, if they are given a whole pack of the pants and towels, that will help them to utilise the free sanitary towels efficiently. Sometimes the girls want to dispose the towels, but they do not know how to do it. We should accompany this provision with a strategic location for disposable equipment in schools, so that it is easily disposed of and it is not littered everywhere. The other issue is that we should have a one stop agency to coordinate the supply of sanitary towels, pants, disposable bags and maintain a clean environment, so that our girls enjoy using the sanitary towels. I can assure you that it will reach more needy girls if it is well coordinated and there is an agency that is accountable for such things. If the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, county governments and the women representatives are supplying sanitary towels and there is no coordination, then the quality of the provision might be compromised. It becomes kind of untargeted and sometimes the beneficiaries might not benefit from it. I support this amendment because definitely, it will improve girls retention in schools. It will also increase enrolment and completion of education among girls in secondary schools. Yesterday when the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee was reading the Budget Estimates, there was a conditional allocation of Kshs400 million to the Affirmative Action Fund, which will be utilised for that purpose. I urge Members of Parliament to support that Fund. The patrons should give a more comprehensive package of sanitary towels, pants and disposable packages. They should also provide disposable equipment that can be quick to fix and does not bring environmental hazards caused by disposable towels, so that we can have a more organised and neat environment. This way, we will improve the health of our girls in schools by having a less polluted environment. The girls and schools should not be seen to be polluting the environment. The environment should be neater and cleaner. The girls, school, environment and community should be taken care of. I support this Motion."
}