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{
    "id": 876461,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/876461/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 415,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13184,
        "legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
        "slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
    },
    "content": "In this country, the rich are able to dodge taxes. That explains the reason as to why we are given an estimation of how much will be collected in taxes but we not only fall short, but we fall short by a big margin. You are then left to wonder if the estimates were based on anything to begin with. That is because the super-rich or whoever the corporates are evade paying taxes and we lose so much money every year yet we talk about the big four agenda. The big four agenda is a strategic direction, and it is very good. It looks into manufacturing, universal health, security, food security and housing which this Bill provides a framework within which they can be provided. What I find disturbing and what this House should be worried and concerned about is the fact that unequal access to opportunities such as health care and education is rife in our country. Nearly one million primary school going children miss out even as we talk about 100 per cent transition from one level to another. Some of them are under- educated because they are in poor conditions. A few minutes ago, we were discussing the digital literacy and we said that we have students learning under trees in 2019. The promise of digital literacy is out of reach for all these kids. What do we do about this? We need to make sure that a child in Turkana, Isiolo and Elgeyo-Marakwet have equal chance at school and have access to food and nutrition. I must commend our country because stunting has been contained though we still have cases of acute malnutrition in pockets of my county; Isiolo. However, this is what we need to look at for us not to have a generation of children who cannot think because they are stunted. We should not have a generation of children who cannot compete on the world stage or at the national stage because they did not have equal opportunities. I would like to give credit to Sen. Hassan, who conceived this Bill, in the last Parliament. He came up with this Bill and allowed me to build on its strength and it is one of the game changing Bills that we will look at our country not just as one that is giving fish but one that is teaching its population to fish. It is also a country that is providing framework within which everybody is given equal opportunity. The issue of heath is a big agenda under the big four agenda, our Constitution and this Bill, yet we spend a paltry 6 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on it. This is unacceptable in a country where a quarter of the population lacks access to medical care. Previously, I worked with the Global Fund. On that day when the Global Fund and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) pulled away their funding to the health sector, because Trump came into the equation, that is when we realised that this country’s healthcare can be paralysed. 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."
}