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"id": 826086,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/826086/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Shiyonga",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13181,
"legal_name": "Masitsa Naomi Shiyonga",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion brought by Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve. I want to reiterate my colleagues’ sentiments that this Motion is timely and it has been brought by a champion. Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve, you do not need to shy away or to get distracted by anyone from pursuing what is right for PWDs. Madam Temporary Speaker, I also concur with Sen. Wetangula on the need to have a database for these people with special needs. It is true that the population of PWDs is much more than what we are told, and it is only by conducting research that we can get the actual numbers. Doing so will enable us provide the much needed facilities to cater for their needs. Madam Temporary Speaker, I once visited the offices of the APDK, which caters for PWDs in Westlands, Nairobi. However, it is just an institution by name and it needs to be more than it is now. This facility was brought about to assist people with specials needs, especially those who are physically challenged in terms of motion. However, it is dilapidated and the only thing remaining there is just a physical structure with only few activities taking place. We, therefore, also need to take note of that so that when we are discussing about how to assist PWDs, we also look at disabilities in general. Madam Temporary Speaker, the counties we oversee have very many PWDs. Therefore, it is high time that sufficient funds are allocated to facilitate PWDs. Once we do this, we shall oversight the use of these funds to check whether they are doing the work that they were intended to do for the PWDs. I say this because I recently witnessed a football tournament of the Kenyan Amputee Team that had just qualified for the Amputee World Cup, who travelled to Mexico yesterday. These are PWDs, and some do not even have limbs and some parts of their bodies. However, they are able to participate in the Amputee World Cup. However, I want to put it on record that this is a team which has gone to Mexico frustrated, because they were begging for funds to support them. A World Cup qualifier begging for funds? This is abusive – I do not know if I can use the word “abusive” – or is it that we do not want to take care of them? Madam Temporary Speaker, with such a Motion – which we hope will graduate into a Bill – we hope that the PWDs shall be given priority so that we do not look down upon them, especially those agents who are abusing them in the community. It is, indeed true, that most of the structures, including the roads that are being constructed nowadays, are only suitable for a physically normal person. However, we need to consider the structural needs of the PWDs so that we can facilitate their mobility and also make them look like they belong to us, because these are our sisters, brothers, daughters and even relatives. We, therefore, need to work hard and look to them as relevant people in the community, and not just any other people who are at our mercy. Thank you. I beg to support the Motion. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}