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{
    "id": 813444,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/813444/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, another reason this Bill is important is because there are some duties that the State owes to some special cadre of citizens of this country. An example is what is in Article 57 of our Constitution, on the care that we should give to older members of our society. The obligation in Article 57(d) is that older members of society should receive reasonable care from the State. That is why, under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), the Government has an obligation to take care of members of our society who are 70 years and above. If we have these statistics, I can walk to my local chief, sub chief or village elder, get statistics and know how many people are benefiting from access to universal health care through the NHIF. I can also get statistics on how many people are getting money for the elderly under the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). I will also get statistics on how many have already been registered and are accessing this money through the banks; and how many people are not getting access to this money. This Bill, therefore, breathes life to Article 96 of the Constitution. We will discharge our functions in terms of protecting the interests of the people whom we have been elected to serve in our counties. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other reason I fully support this Bill is when it comes to issues of health. You will go to your county and find that there is a budgetary allocation, for example, for drugs. A part of it will be to purchase vaccines for newly born children aged between zero to five years, which is part of the national program on universal healthcare. Another part of it will be to take care of outbreaks of Malaria. However, the allocation of these funds could be abused if we do not have good statistics and data in our counties. Another problem is in the Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE). We may have a very ambitious program of building ECDE classes, but we also need to do this based on the statistics we have in terms of new babies being born in our counties. This Bill is, therefore, very useful. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I challenge us to consider the qualifications of the person who is going to be the head of this unit. In Clause 5(3)(a), the qualification of the head of this unit is defined as somebody who holds a degree and has five years’ experience. However, in this country now, people have gone to school properly. When we went to bury the Senator for Migori County last week, we were told that in that part of this country, professors are counted in terms of how many you have per square kilometer. I, therefore, do not think we can miss a person who at least has a Master’s Degree and who has experience which is slightly more than the five years."
}