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{
    "id": 813215,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/813215/?format=api",
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    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I agree with the Senator from Kisii when he says that most people, including us, politicians, suffer from some form of mental illness and that we are depressed every day. If you look at your cell phones, you see a lot of text messages about people who have died and you are supposed to assist in their burials. You are supposed to carry the burden and pay school fees and so on. At the end, you become stressed. It is sad because at times you are unable to fulfill your family duties. Sooner than later, your wife divorces you because you cannot satisfy her needs. These are things which have totally driven us cuckoo. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion entirely and I want to encourage this Government to come up with policies that demand- (1) The establishment of these mental facilities in all 47 counties; and, (2) Demand that these insurance companies that are benefiting so much from Kenyans who pay millions of dollars towards healthcare, cover even mental illness. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the poor people of this country, I dare say that most of them die out of depression; mental illness. However, it is very hard for us to ascertain that because they do not even have a place that they can go or any form of records that can show this number of people died out of this. I want to conclude by stating the following: By establishing those mental facilities or healthcare facilities in counties, the Ministry of Health should also come up with a support programme for those few professionals who are in this country. A majority of them end up dying of depression because they do a terrible job in taking care of their own health. Those people who are tasked with the job of giving support to the people who suffer from mental illness, most of them also end up going cuckoo. This is because they just cannot stomach the fact that they really want to help these people, but it is very expensive for those people to come to them. So, when they go back to their rural homes, they are told that so-and-so died of stress. So, he sits down and thinks: “I was in Nairobi; I wish I had been here to save that relative.” With those few remarks, I hope that the national Government and the county governments will work closely together to be able to fully establish these mental health centres, fund them and support them. Once they do so, they will now encourage our youth to pursue careers in mental healthcare. I am sure if you ask some young people if they want to become shrinks, they will tell you: “Yes, I would want to be able to help somebody.” I want to commend the NGO world. Here in Nairobi I know of two that deal with mental issues. One of them is Amani Counselling Centre. It is an NGO. We pay taxes in this country. All work should not be left to aid. It is making us become beggars. It is actually putting us in a very awkward position. No wonder some of us choose to download applications that can help us sleep when we are so depressed because there is nowhere we can get help. With those few remarks, I beg to support this Motion."
}