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{
    "id": 836502,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836502/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 46,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "Cheruiyot should check with the national Treasury and see whether the social safety-net funds that the Government is remitting to old people in the villages can, in fact, be transacted through county governments. They are the grassroots governments and the ones who would know and keep the statistics of old people, so that when they augment on this, they know that the national Government has made this contribution and they are also making some contribution. Sometimes you find a duplication of the application of resources. The national Government has a parallel system, where they are sending money through County Commissioners, then to Sub-County Commissioners and chiefs. Everybody is holding on to their docket, like children holding toys for the first time in their lives. They do not want anybody to see what they are doing. Then, you will have county governments starting to look responsible and want to put money in support of old people. They have their own statistics and the national Government too has its own, applying on the same people. This is money coming from the same Exchequer. If the national Government is giving Kshs3,500 per old person, then county governments, if able, can augment by another Kshs1,500. It becomes Kshs5,000, which, if properly administered without duplication, will make a difference. This is because in the villages, there are people who can live decently on even Kshs3,000 or Kshs4,000 a month. They want kerosene for lighting their house, a piece of soap for cleaning themselves and two kilogrammes of sugar will last a whole month and so on. When they are unwell, they can move to the nearest health centre and use part of that money to register for the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), to reduce the load of medicare. I would want to encourage Sen. Sakaja’s Committee to painstakingly look at this Bill, so that we seal all the loopholes. We have a common saying in our place that there is no market without a lunatic. Some of those mental patients that we find in markets are just depressed and not necessarily mental patients. Very minimal healthcare would put them back to productive life. We also need to have at least a minimum of one wing in one hospital in a county that has an extension of Mathare Mental Hospital, for taking care of depressions and mental disabilities that many people in the villages suffer. As the country goes through a depressed economy, the number of mentally ill people will increase. When a rich person suddenly loses his wealth and does not have the capacity to live like Job of the Bible and thank God that at least he was once given wealth - his head bursts and needs care. Equally important is the need for the national Government and county governments, as provided in this Bill, to monitor the standards and quality of life in those home institutions. I visited some institution of destitute children and could see very clearly that the person who owns and runs it is just in business and nothing else. First, he has a fraudulent statistic that he was looking after 2,000 children. I did a headcount and they were less than 150. He has lined up donors, takes pictures of the children in very squalid conditions and sends them to donors, so that they send him money. The man who is supposed to be looking after the destitute children drives Mercedes Benz and other big cars. He lives like a king on the plight of these children. Children are hardly able to have a second pair of clothing and so on. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}