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{
    "id": 874001,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/874001/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 284,
    "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 very much Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to support the Motion to have waivers on morgue charges and charges for patients who die in referral hospitals. We have a problem. It is the Government’s agenda to provide universal health care. We have pilot projects being done in four counties but we have missed the point that Kenyans are poor. Even if we say that we are improving in the poverty index, and that we are now a middle income country, when you go to the ground and look at reality of the lives that Kenyans lead, they are poor. They cannot even afford to bury their dead. Forget the fact that there is a mortuary charge. Yesterday I was dealing with a case here in Nairobi of a young man who has a child called, Jeydan. First, last week he called me and told me that Jeydan was very sick and he needed to raise money because he could not be treated in Kenya. A week later, he sent me a text messege that Jeydan had died. There was a mortuary fee of Kshs6,400. I have paid the hospital bill which was in the tune of about Kshs20,000 but I do not have money to buy a coffin. As leaders, our constituents come to us when they are in problems. It is a precedent that has been set in this country. An Hon. Member is a point of support. But, that is not the way it should be. When elected leaders ask for an increase in salary, it is not about them. It is about their constituents. They are looking for a way of not saying no to the constituents or not to turn a man or a woman away who needs help to pay a hospital bill, to pay mortuary charges and release a dead body of a family member. Human dignity in the country has been eroded and it is getting worse. I have a feeling that as a country we need to start looking for what we have to do to become human again. We have lost humanity. We do not care. We make budget, create bodies, tribunals, commissions and investigative arms but we are just playing around with people’s lives. There is so much pain. The pain is what leads to extremist groups. It is this pain, the suffering the hopelessness that has seen Kenyans succumbing to poverty and decide to blow up their brothers and sisters because at the end of the day it is him or them for little money. So, if we want to 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."
}