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{
    "id": 787215,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787215/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 201,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Atandi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13290,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Onunga Atandi",
        "slug": "samuel-onunga-atandi"
    },
    "content": "parastatals in this country, the board members are political appointees. The boards are filled with tribe mates of Cabinet Secretaries. Therefore, when they become incompetent and are unable to discipline or take action on management that causes a crisis. The recommendation that the Board of KNH be changed is quite bold. I want to underline it and say that, indeed, when you look at the composition of that board, you realize that a certain community has many members there. I think that is the reason this issue has attracted a lot of political undertones since it began. When the CS decided to recommend resignation of the Chief Executive Officer, many Members of this Parliament made noise all over the place. This is a serious hospital that requires a board that has teeth and can act. The Board of KNH has been a let-down. That is why you find Kenyans complaining about services offered there. There is lethargy everywhere and no action is taken. In my own thinking, we need to regard this hospital as one which works for the welfare of Kenyans and should serve everybody, irrespective of tribe. I support the proposal that the Government reconstitutes this board. I would also like to urge the CS in-charge of health to be bold in this area. Recently, we passed a Motion here for the establishment of other regional referral hospitals in Mombasa and other regions so that we can decongest KNH. But, one of the recommendations that came out here is that the hospital is not well-funded. The other question that comes into perspective is: How will we set up other referral hospitals, if we are unable to adequately support the only one referral hospital in the region? We need to be serious as a people. We have no reason as to why we invest humongous resources in infrastructure in areas like Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), when we cannot put sufficient resources in our health systems. I would like to urge the Government to put its priorities in order. Why do you spend almost Kshs1 trillion in building an SGR line from Mombasa all the way to Naivasha, when you cannot buy basic machines which should help our people when they visit hospitals? The Committee has done a good job and I support this Report. We must overhaul the KNH leadership and ensure that we support it with sufficient resources, so that we are able to have a hospital which we are happy about. When people from Tanzania and Rwanda come to KNH, there is a reason. We do not want to have a hospital whose management is also tribal. I would like to tell my colleagues who are vouching for particular people to be in the leadership of that hospital to learn from my community. We really do not care about tribal affiliations and ethnicisation of positions in Government. We want people to be appointed in positions which they are able to perform and deliver. Those positions are not delivered on behalf of one’s tribe. You deliver on behalf of Kenyans and because you have been given a mandate to serve everybody. Let us support the CS to put in place a KNH Board that is able to work for Kenyans and will reform that hospital. We want a board that will not serve at the mercy of the CEO. Most of these political appointees are weak and they simply sit in those boards to earn allowances. That is not what we would like to have. We want to have boards that have teeth, can work, take action on CEOs and ensure hospitals are run properly for the good of Kenyans. Otherwise, Hon. Speaker, I support this Motion. Thank you."
}