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{
    "id": 823119,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/823119/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 307,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David ole Sankok",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I appreciate the time you have given me, considering that the matters that we are debating today concern Members’ welfare as well as facilities. Let me commend the Committee for doing a good job, especially by just mentioning the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003. To speak the truth, all the facilities around this House are not accessible by persons with disabilities. They are not conducive for use by persons with disabilities. I know we have tried. There are ramps at the entrances to the Main Parliament Buildings, with one lift working within the building. You know the size of this building. The ramp was placed courtesy of Hon. Leshore when he became disabled. Before then, this House was totally inaccessible to anybody on a wheelchair. Our lounge and the dining areas are very slippery for those with crutches. I bet that if most of them use such floors, they will lose their teeth. Accessibility is not only to the built environment. It also goes a long way to accessibility to information and the built environment. There was a time when the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Welfare was vetting a nominee of the President for appointment to the Commission on Administrative Justice or the Ombudsman. The said person with disability was visually impaired or blind and the oath had to be read to him because we do not provide braille and sign language interpreters. When we were interviewing a commissioner who was deaf, we had to quickly get a sign language interpreter from the streets. We do not have, as a House, sign language interpreters. This is what the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003 talks about. It may also be interesting to note that the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003 came to being only when the country realised that matters of persons with disabilities have to be addressed when Hon. Kibaki became a person with disability. During his stay at State House, he found that there are a lot of challenges that come with disability. That is why the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003 was hurriedly enacted and operationalised. We also have to note that, as a country, we have ratified some international instruments like the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which we have not implemented in Parliament. So, I ask the Committee to try as much as possible to make sure that persons with disabilities access most of these facilities. For instance, the gym is totally inaccessible to persons with disabilities. There is also Continental House. I do not know if all the Members of this House do not have electorates who are persons with disabilities on wheelchairs. For a person to access my office at Continental House, they have to be literally lifted over some stairs and the gate. Yes, we may be disabled, but we have some little pride left in us. Since people know that they have to be lifted to the office, they shy away from visiting Members of Parliament. They shy away from coming to inquire on some issues from the Members they have elected. We have 1.2 million registered voters living with disabilities in this country, but they can The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}