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"id": 858691,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/858691/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13184,
"legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, many questions linger on this issue. Why would a product which women use because of their biology be taxed? Why would there be any confusion whether menstrual hygiene products are necessary or optional? Why would there be any confusion on whether tampons and sanitary pads for our girls and women are luxury or non-luxury items? Why should our bodies and our bodily function become a financial burden and a source of shame for us, as women of Kenya? Why is it that we choose to go and distribute these sanitary pads, and our girls line up to get them when, in fact, every mother would have wanted to buy them for their child? Madam Temporary Speaker, we are not saying that we do not want our institutions to be given the sanitary pads; we are grateful for this gesture. However, a more sustainable approach is to ensure that local manufacturing and production of sanitary pads and other small items should be encouraged, even if we do not have big manufacturing capacity. This is because it would encourage farmers to grow cotton; it would also make sure that all the value chain of production is enabled. But, no, we choose to just import these items so that somebody can get some cut somewhere and our questions continue to linger. Madam Temporary Speaker, this matter is very important because it points to discrimination based on gender and rights. Therefore, tax reforms should be undertaken, starting with the zero rating of taxes here and now. We cannot overstate the importance of good hygiene, affordable and accessible menstrual hygiene products which, as I said earlier, are linked to health, education, dignity, work and other rights. Eliminating taxes on menstrual hygiene products is consistent with the human right to be free from discrimination and other rights that flow from it. Madam Temporary Speaker, you and others in this House are educationists, and so I do not wish to go into the rights to education, because you know them. I do not want to go into the rights to work and dignity, which should be afforded to the women of this country. However, beyond that, there is also the Big Four Agenda, as we said earlier. Why would we not get the link between local production that is made favorable, zero rated and connected to the other sectors of our economy that would then be boosted and catalyzed? Madam Temporary Speaker, we have seen the country importing everything, from raw, low quality sugar and maize. You have been the Chairperson of the ad hoc Committee on Maize, what is going on? What is it that makes our country so attracted to importation as opposed to local production even for the most basic of things? Once again, if there is one thing that we must zero rate, it is the one thing that women have no choice in. We cannot opt out of bleeding every month, even if we wished to. Why is that going to be a source of burden and shame for those girls and women who cannot afford it? Do we think that by distributing sanitary pads in schools, we have solved problem? We have not even scratched the surface! 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."
}