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{
"id": 834125,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/834125/?format=api",
"text_counter": 195,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Prof.) Jacqueline Oduol",
"speaker": {
"id": 856,
"legal_name": "Dennitah Ghati",
"slug": "dennitah-ghati"
},
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I would like to support this Motion. When we look at what is happening in our society largely, the breakdown that we can see in the social fabric; the breakdown in the family where to a large extent parents are either overwhelmed because they are trying to make ends meet; and a number of cases where by the very nature of engagement, children tend to be growing up in a context that does not give them very clear direction, then we would see that it is important to strengthen mechanisms that can allow our children to grow and become wholesome adults. When we are thinking about rehabilitation we are talking of how to restore our children who, for one reason or another, emotional or otherwise, have veered off the desired way of engagement. Therefore, as I support this Motion, I would like to, indeed, agree that we want to ensure that we do not place any children who have committed crime, or in any way not behaved in a manner that is in accordance with required standards, in adult cells. I say this because we know that those who are in those cells will have been there because they have committed some crime. If you have children who are liable to abuse placed there, they are not only likely to become hardcore, but are most likely going to experience some form of abuse. So, I urge the House to become aware of the children in our rehabilitation schools. I want to share because I know that Hon. (Dr.) Christine Ombaka was talking about the need to ensure that our children are disciplined. I also wanted to bring it to our attention that we have 11 rehabilitation schools in our country today. Indeed, we have a very systematic way by which when children have committed crime, if they are boys, they go to Getathuru Rehabilitation School for assessment to determine what nature of crime they have committed and see the level of intervention. Then, they are placed in different remand schools. If they are girls, they are taken to Kirigiti Rehabilitation School. So, the point here is that we have some form of engagement but it is, sometimes, not sufficient because there are children who are placed in those rehabilitation schools not because they have committed crimes, but because they need care and protection. They may have been abused by their parents or relatives. I support this Motion because it is a very critical one at this point in our country, particularly in ensuring that we arrest any cases where children are losing track and are not disciplined enough so that we can seek to ensure that we place them in an environment that allows them to be those that can find their way into the standards we require. So, I support this Motion. I, in particular, want to draw the attention of the House that we have, at the county level, already existing children’s county protection networks. As we look at this Motion, what I would like us to do is ensure that we have a mechanism through which teachers, parents, elders and members engaged in law enforcement are able to intervene and help our children so that they do not get to a point where they engage in criminal activities and end up in this kind of situation. 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."
}