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{
    "id": 777283,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/777283/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Rev.) Waqo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13178,
        "legal_name": "Naomi Jilo Waqo",
        "slug": "naomi-jilo-waqo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. He is just reminding me of the queue. That is true with the queue. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important Motion on the Slum Upgrading and Prevention Policy. I came to Nairobi a few years ago. After a few months, because of the Ministry I was involved in, I visited Kibera Slum which is highly populated. It took me one whole week to recover from what I saw. I sympathised with the people who were there. I concluded that it is better for one to be in a village like where I come from than to be in Kibera Slum or any other slum in the city. The right to shelter is a just constitutional right. For that matter, all Kenyans are supposed to be sheltered and live in a dignified way. Kibera is one of the biggest slums in Africa with close to a million people. What you see in that slum or any other slum, is pathetic. The young girls and school going children are unable to continue with their education. The population is high. There are no facilities. This affects them their entire lives. As I worked in church, I also realized that young girls are at risk because they are exposed to a lot of danger. Funny things happen there like young girls being exposed to prostitution. A disease like HIV-AIDS is rampant there. A child takes care of a mother who is HIV positive. In the end, they all get infected. This is something that Kenyans should take seriously. The Sessional Paper is now before this House, we should all support it so that transformation in the slum areas can take place as soon as possible and ensure that our people living in the slums live well like other Kenyans. As I went through this policy paper, I realized that its objective is to promote, secure and protect dignified lives and livelihood of the poor and the people living in the slums. It is the duty of the State and us, as leaders, to protect the lives of our people and also provide for their basic needs in terms of education, health and shelter. When you look at the many slums in our city, you will appreciate the poverty level that we are in. The number of slums in the city exposes the other side of our country. My understanding is that most of the people who live there have their rural homes, but prefer the city because of the work they do. That means that they need economic empowerment. If we upgrade the slums by building nice apartments, the best thing they can do, as they have done in the past, is to lease them out. To prevent people from moving to other places to start slums, the Government should ensure that the apartments in the upgraded slums are affordable. It should plan well so that the people who were in the slums are the first beneficiaries. More often when such projects are done, it is people like you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, and me who invest in them and end up leasing the houses. Therefore, protection of the poor man’s welfare is paramount. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}