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{
    "id": 784135,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/784135/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 329,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, this idea has taken too long before coming up. It should have come up long time ago. I appreciate that this Bill will provide a framework to ensure the citizens of this country access quality food as a fundamental right envisaged in the Constitution of Kenya under Article 43 (1)(C). The biggest beneficiaries of this Bill are going to be two groups. One, the pregnant and lactating women. Clause 9 (2) (b) of this Bill has elaborately defined how this Bill is going to assist the pregnant and lactating mothers. It is very important to note that. This group called pregnant and lactating mothers interact more with the county government and county hospitals down there. Therefore, it is important to ensure the policies we make here and even this Bill are going to pass in this House. We should ensure we pass it down to the County Assemblies. Let the County Assemblies come with individual or separate legislation which is going to be unique in their counties. Counties have unique ways of dealing with their unique problems. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in my county, when I was a Member of the County Assembly in Kakamega the governor introduced a programmme called Linda Afya yamama na watoto . Initially I was on the forefront to oppose that programme. I opposed it because the governor then had flouted Section 116 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act which he did not follow when establishing the fund. I did not oppose because I did not want our mothers to benefit from the scheme, but because the governor had flouted the law. Eventually, a Bill was drafted and brought to the Kakamega County Assembly and we passed it establishing the Linda Afy aya Mama na Mtoto . This programme provides that after pregnancy, women in Kakamega for sixth months are given a stipend of Ksh2,000 per month. This programme has been very fruitful since we started implementing it. I encourage counties which have not started such programmes to come to Kakamega and benchmark in Kakamega County. We do not give out money as handouts but to ensure that the lactating mothers feed their babies and they also go for clinics. This money is given during the time when mothers come for clinic, hence not a handout programme. This ensures that the babies receive the relevant and essential vaccines that are required. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that satisfies Clause 9 (2)(a) that states that the Cabinet Secretary responsible for health shall in consultation with the authority put in place measures to ensure that the special nutrition needs of pregnant and nursing women who are not food sufficient are met and that assists mothers to provide adequate care for their infants. This is already happening in Kakamega and I would urge Hon. Senators to kindly visit Kakamega and see how this programme is being implemented. This in itself provides for counties to come up with legislation to ensure that this is entrenched. Initially this programme was called ‘Oparanya care programme’ but I said this programme must be there whether Oparanya is the governor, Malalah or Simiyu in future. 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."
}