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{
    "id": 859689,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/859689/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 266,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nairobi CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Esther Passaris",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12475,
        "legal_name": "Esther Passaris",
        "slug": "esther-passaris"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I stand to support this Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2018. I am a bit worried about the sincerity of this House. We keep talking about leaving a legacy by passing this right, which women were given by the 2010 Constitution. We have implemented everything in the Constitution including devolution, which costs a fortune. Now we are saying that punda amechoka, meaning the donkey is tired. Look at our country, what Parliament costs and we need to be bold when saying this. The two Houses of Parliament cost only 1.5 per cent of the entire national budget of Kshs3 trillion. So, Parliament is not the reason why the donkey is tired. It is tired because of corruption. In fact, it is dying. The two-thirds gender rule is not about women. But for the moment, women are the ones who are marginalised in this House. We needed to have an affirmative action. Let me just talk about Nairobi, which has 17 constituencies. Of them all, had we not had affirmative action, today, we would only have one female Member, the Member for Kasarani Constituency, Hon. Mercy Gakuya. There would be 16 men representing the remaining constituencies. Hon. Mercy Gakuya would not go to other constituencies to address women issues because she would be confined to Kasarani. So, we have the affirmative seat of the County Woman Representative (CWR). As a County Woman Representative and all the other CWRs, we are able to go to the various constituencies. We know that single county women Members are only 23. There are only three female governors, which is less than 10 per cent. We should be ashamed of ourselves that we are seated here asking to be lobbied, talked to nicely and told why women want these seats. Why should women go for nomination and not fight it out like the men do? For me, men in this House are not serious. They should respect the rule of law. We are saying that this is the same Constitution that has brought them to this House. I want to talk to Kenyans out there and tell them that the 47 CWRs are being judged very harshly. The reason why they cannot serve Kenyans well is because every time they ask for 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."
}