Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 938348,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/938348/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 246,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "a life of great difficulty. There were many promises which all turned out to be false. I am sure he died a very bitter person in this respect. But this is because we are doing things in an ad hoc manner. Let us have a general principle embedded in law so that people can know how they will benefit irrespective of whether you retire while in good books of Government or bad books of your party or whatever the case might be. I think this is useful because the net cost of things like these is not just the amounts you have disbursed - there is some recovery when the net goes to the economy - it is what is paid out less the taxes paid in direct and indirect taxes. So, it is not as heavy as it seems in a nominal way when you look at the figures concerned. People are living longer and I want to say with confidence that the parliamentarians who have served recently may live a bit longer. We are urging youth to seek elective offices. They will come in their 20s and exit in their 20s. They may live into their 90s and they may be paid pension for 70 years. This is possible because unlike earlier years when life expectancy was short, people live longer. I am proud to say that among the very first MPs of the First Parliament, Hon. James Osogo is still going relatively strong with a lot of medical challenges as one would expect. There is also Hon. Philip Masinde. These are older people getting towards 90 years and are still alive and active. So, this is a good thing which will help. Not all are needy, but if they are eligible, they should get this benefit. So, I urge the House that as we propose this, let us get a general principle which will not be subject to the goodwill or generosity of any other Parliament after this Parliament passes it into law. There is a risk since people end up living lives outside Parliament which may annoy others in this House or the Executive. You can find one frustrated for one reason or another. So, if we will have one for former MPs let us do so. Then, we should have a general principle for the Executive side so that it is not a matter which we will be revisiting every time. Today, we are dealing with this Bill which I consider very important. We should also see how we can handle medical insurance. I am a retiree of another organisation and were it not for their medical cover, I would have great difficulty. Their outpatient cover is very low. Medical cover is very important, but medical insurance for the old is perhaps more important than food. They may get a meal or two a day but fail to get medical cover because it is very expensive. So, we need to see how we can include all this. The level of compensation should not be considered as generosity, there needs to be a formula. For example, as is now agreed sitting Members will receive pension at a certain rate. Then, what should happen is that other Members who are retired must have terms that are analogues to what MPs will get in retirement. It should not be that each cohort decides their own benefit package. It must be interlinked. In my case there are those who retired 30 years before me and this means our retirement levels are linked by a certain index so that, as you pull up the subsequent retirement levels, you pull up the older ones as well. Otherwise, they will be killed by inflation and all the pension will be wiped out. If we have former Members who are getting a pension of Kshs2,000, motorbike ride from one corner of my county to collection centre is Kshs.500. If you collect and return home, it is Kshs1, 000 and if you buy lunch of Kshs400 your pension goes. So, it is not worth going to collect it unless you happen to be going for other business. So, this is a just a pittance."
}