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{
    "id": 881824,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/881824/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 128,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David ole Sankok",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13166,
        "legal_name": "David Ole Sankok",
        "slug": "david-ole-sankok"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. As you have rightly put it, this is a good Motion. I thank Hon. Didmus Barasa for bringing it to the attention of the House. Those who suffer most are PWDs. This House should be aware that if a PWD is on a wheelchair during rush hours and when it is raining, the matatus are in a rush. They see the snail speed of a PWD on a wheelchair entering a matatu as a deterrent to rush and make more profit. People living with disability can stand on those bus stops for hours being rained on while waiting to board a matatu. Once they have boarded that matatu, and they are on a wheelchair, they pay three times – their own fare, the fare of the wheelchair, and that of the assistant who pushes that wheelchair. It is high time this House regulated the matatu industry so that we can put in place policies and requirements as per our Constitution. It guarantees freedom of movement. Everybody has a right to move from point “A” to point “B”. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we have the Persons with Disabilities Act, which was enacted in this House in 2003, through Sessional Paper No.14. It became operational in 2004. There was a grace period for everybody to adjust their building to be accessible by persons with disability, and adjust the transport sector to be accessible to persons with disability. The grace period was for five years. Up to date, the matatu industry is what is pulling Kenya backwards in terms of disability advocacy. In terms of disability rights, Kenya has done or made some strides. The strides have put Kenya at the peak of disability rights in Africa and number five in the world. We are not number one on disability rights in the whole world due to the chaotic matatu industry. There are policies that this Government has put in place that are nowhere else in the world. There is access to Government procurement opportunities by persons with disability; tax exemption to persons with disability; importation of duty-free vehicles by persons with disability and the Kenyan Sign Language being the third official language in Kenya. There is even a unit in the university and in colleges in the training of architects and civil engineers that is specifically for accessibility and disability mainstreaming. 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."
}