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{
    "id": 780366,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/780366/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 114,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Nyasuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 590,
        "legal_name": "Gladys Atieno Nyasuna",
        "slug": "gladys-atieno-nyasuna"
    },
    "content": "I support this Report. I think it is a good thing that reports such as those from the IPU can now make their way to the Floor of this House. What happened in the past was that we went out to some of these meetings had very good reports, but we did not know where to take them. So, it is a very good thing and initiative that reports such as from the IPU make their way to the Floor of this House. We have to take it to the next level. Even the deliberations and the positions our Members take at parliaments such as the IPU should actually be deliberations that have been made as this Parliament and our Members only go to represent positions that we have already agreed on. We discover a lot of things that have been discussed out there that, perhaps, we did not know about. It is a very good step. I wanted to say this earlier when the Leader of the Majority Party spoke on the Floor of this House and said that they were doing us a favour. I think it was to mean that the men were magnanimous to the women. I see that achieving gender equality is a global discussion. It is part of this IPU Report. So, when the Leader of the Majority Party said that they were being magnanimous to the women, I want to state it on record that the gender parity debate is not about women. It is about the Constitution of this country. It is about all of us working together to achieve what is within our Constitution. The next time the Leader of the Majority Party speaks about the Gender Bill like it is a favour he is doing to the women of this Parliament, or perhaps of this country, it should be really clearly stated that the gender debate is a debate regarding our Constitution. I know that we pay subscriptions to the Inter-Parliamentary Union as a Parliament and, therefore, we are fully paid-up Members. It is an important benchmarking opportunity. There was debate earlier on about what we are going to discuss in Mombasa, with regard to the presidential system of Government and the role of Parliament within a presidential system such as ours. I think we need to have this debate candidly. Even when we go to forums such as the IPU, we need to ask ourselves whether our system fits with us. In our current Parliament, a Member of Parliament is elected as an agent of development not so much as a legislator per se . When your people elect you, they expect that you will be taking roads, water and all aspects of development to them. Does this presidential system really work where Cabinet Secretaries and everybody else is out there? Your people expect you to take development to them and yet you have no direct say. One has to go and knock offices around town. With regard to some of these discussions, even as we benchmark on the global stage, we need to look at what suits and works for us. I am very attracted to part of the discussions at the IPU regarding parliamentary outreach. It is said that parliamentary outreach is actually coming to the fore. It is important to note that however much we speak in this Parliament, if the things we speak do not connect to the people we represent out there, then it becomes stories that we are telling. This part of the Report speaks about parliamentary outreach. While I was at the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) in the last Parliament, we introduced parliamentary outreach for this Parliament, which included setting aside days when members of the public can walk into this Chamber and know what it does and days when Members of Parliament can go out there to tell the public what we actually do. The Report says, “Parliaments functioning optimally are highly accessible national centers where the issues of national and often individual significance for citizens, irrespective of sex, ethnic background, social status or political belief may be debated and resolved. This is unlikely to be possible in the absence of substantial vigorous parliament-driven outreach programmes.” It is a challenge to us as a Parliament to take our work out there, to make the public understand what our role is vis-a-vis what they think it is. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}