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{
    "id": 764942,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/764942/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 160,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Pukose",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for allowing me to contribute to this Motion. From the outset, I want to support the appointment of the three Members to the Pensions Management Committee. There should not be any vacuum. As a House, we will need to relook at the issue of a vacuum such that Members appointed to a Pensions Committee should operate until the next appointment. This is because that vacuum makes it very difficult for business to be transacted. One of the other areas we also do not have in this is a feedback mechanism. How do we get feedbck? Once we appoint the three Members to that Committee, will they bring a report in this House? How do we get to know that the work they are transacting is giving us any headway in addressing the issue of pensions of Members? A mechanism should be looked into so that we are able to get feedback. This House has been fond of approving Members, for example, to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and after we have done that, we have no way of even assessing whether they are addressing our issues or they have just gone there and are busy addressing their personal issues. When you appoint Members to a commission or to any other fund, it is for the benefit of the House. If we appoint Members to the PSC, it is for the benefit and welfare of Members. But look at how issues are coming up now; Members looking at how their issues are being addressed. Look at the issue of mileage, for example, even my chief is given mileage and a motorcycle to perform his work. How come a Member of Parliament has to get his mileage through a payslip and it has to be deducted. It has to be taxed. He had to pay taxes for fuel and all these other issues. What is the role of the Members we have appointed to those commissions? These are the issues. I was at home the other day and I met former councillors. Some of them served for many years, as the Member for Loima, Hon. Ekamais, has put it. He has been a councillor. He has also been a member of county assembly (MCA). If you look at the issue of former councillors, there is a Bill which was lying in the Senate during the last Parliament and it never came to this House for the whole term of the Senate. It is a Bill that needs to address the issue of former councillors. When you go home, you find a majority of them are just beggars in the streets. They are having it very rough. These are people who have served this country with distinction. As much as we are also looking at our pensions, we need to address more and look at Kenyans who have served this country with distinction and how their issues of pension can be addressed. When most of us go to Mombasa for tours, the people we meet there are European pensioners who have accumulated a lot. They get their pension and are now tourng the world with their spouses. They move around to enjoy what they saved during their time. But how many of our people can afford that or go for that kind of tourism? So, these are the issues that this House has to live with. This House has to be challenged. We need to address these issues. This is the House that sits to appropriate funds to all the other The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}