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{
    "id": 858695,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/858695/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 237,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kasanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13185,
        "legal_name": "Sylvia Mueni Kasanga",
        "slug": "sylvia-mueni-kasanga"
    },
    "content": "At one point, I was embarrassed because the girls came up in the open and told us that we were not doing enough, as leaders, and that we do not understand what they, who cannot afford sanitary pads go through, when they are out there. Truly, it was embarrassing. It became clear that the Government sponsored programme for distributing sanitary pads had been politicized. In one instance, a girl told us how they have to queue in front of an office to report that their cycle has started so as to be given a pad and that they are either given one or two pads per day. Where is the dignity when they have to declare that they are going through their menstrual cycle for them to be given a pad, actually one or two pads per day? Where is the dignity in that? Menstruation is not a choice. The people who make decisions on taxing such items and making them a luxury are forgetting that we do not choose to bleed. That is how we are created. If you would allow me, I would want more from this Motion. I am looking at it from the angle of the students that I engaged with. They had ideas on how to deal with the distribution. First and foremost, sanitary pads need to be zero-rated. Women are half the population in this country and the question of whether we can afford the sanitary pads or not should not be in question. After all, you will find condom dispensers everywhere. Why can we not have sanitary pad dispensers everywhere for woman to have access to them? That was an idea that came from one of the students. They said that it is not just them who have the problems getting sanitary pads but even people at home. The day scholars who came for that function said that they hoped to take sanitary pads home because their mothers, cousins and aunties cannot afford to buy them. They hoped that the school or the Government programme can give them enough to take home. Clearly, there is a huge gap here. This issue has to be pushed by Sen. Halake for it to go beyond zero rating sanitary pads; they should actually be free for our high school girls. Every school must have enough free sanitary pads for the girl child. They should not report so as to be given one pad per day. That is wrong. Sen. Halake has highlighted that this is a question of health and education. If you are going to be serious about educating and giving our girls the confidence that they need as equal citizens in this country, then the question of their menstrual health should not even be up for debate. I feel very strongly about this. When I engaged those girls, I carried with me over 50 solutions towards this and decided to enquire about the sanitary programme that is there when I came back to Nairobi. Whereas we appreciate the milestones the Government has made, we also cannot hide from the fact that we are politicizing them. I do not see the beauty of posing for a picture with sanitary pads that we are giving. How can we celebrate that we are donating sanitary pads to a school as women? It is wrong. In my opinion, that is nothing to celebrate about. In fact, we should be doing it hiding under covers because we have been unable to give a sustainable solution towards menstrual health for our girls. Sen. Kwamboka at one time had a Motion or was it a Statement about menstrual health for the women who live in the streets. The story had been highlighted in one of the local dailies and it was sad to know what our homeless women have to go through when they are on their menstrual cycle. If we have public dispensers for things like condoms, why can we not have public dispensers for menstrual health hygienic pads? As the 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."
}