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{
    "id": 801630,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/801630/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
    "type": "other",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "people living amongst us, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that they do not suffer. The Government should create a way of ensuring that these people have a means of living. Madam Temporary Speaker, these people are all over the country. If you go to any county, you will get PWDs. Therefore, if their record was for some reason required by Government, we do not even need to go very far. The administrators in the counties, such as the regional commissioners, should set up offices to register the PWDs. That is an exercise that will not even take six months. I do not see why we have to belabour saying that the PWDs should be registered. It is in the Government’s interest to ensure that they have a record of the PWDs, for purposes of identifying how the Government will assist them. There are many ways in which these people can be assisted. Madam Temporary Speaker, you heard our lady Senator who is living with disability say that there are only 17 schools in Kenya for PWDs. I am sure that they cannot fit in those schools. More schools should be built. However, they cannot be built without proper statistics. We should have these statistics so that we can know how to take care of those PWDs. Some of the PWDs who have been employed in various institutions do very well. Many of them do better than those living without disabilities. It is an important exercise for the Government to ensure that there is a record of the PWDs. We expect to see the records of those who are blind, deaf, et cetera in Mombasa or any other town. We should have all those records straight so that we do not give an excuse that we do not know who is living with disability and who is not. That is why we have not even been able to identify activities that they can be involved in. For instance, if there is a job that a blind or deaf person can do, without a proper record, it will not be easy for the Government or any other institution to engage them. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am calling upon this Government to be serious once and for all and address the issues of PWDs. This is because some of them really support the Government when it comes to voting. If the Government can be supported by the PWDs, it should also have time to know what they are suffering from and the areas that they can be assisted in. As I said before, at the risk of repeating myself, the PWDs who teach in secondary schools and those who engaged in other activities in this country do very well. Even those without hands, you will see them using their legs to do their activities very well just like normal persons or person without disability. Therefore, we should not be told that these people cannot participate in contributing to the economy of this country. They can. It is only that they have not been given chances to do so. In some cases, it is not even known where they are. Their abilities have also not been recorded so nobody can give them assignments. Madam Temporary Speaker, we do not have to belabour a lot on this issue because the Government needs to do what it is supposed to do. In any case, if the Government had forgotten that there are PWDs, they now need to know where they are, how many they are and their areas of incapacity. Now they have been reminded by this Motion that has been moved by Sen. Khaniri. Such Motions are useful to this country because some areas have been forgotten and it is incumbent upon the Government to act. 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."
}