GET /api/v0.1/hansard/entries/938374/?format=api
HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 938374,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/938374/?format=api",
"text_counter": 272,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Bumula, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Mwambu Mabongah",
"speaker": {
"id": 13309,
"legal_name": "Moses Wekesa Mwambu Mabonga",
"slug": "moses-wekesa-mwambu-mabonga-2"
},
"content": "These are Members who have served this nation with a lot of dedication. All of us are former Members of Parliament. As many Members have alluded to, it is just a matter of time. The former Members of Parliament laid a foundation for us. We are standing on this very foundation as we debate here. So, this is a very important Bill which will ensure that we take care of former Members of this House. I have about four or five former Members of Parliament in my county and whenever you meet them, you will be surprised that some of them cannot afford to take their children to school. Whenever most of them have health issues, they run to us to fundraise to ensure that they are taken care of. It baffles me at times. The Member for Nambale raised something about the former Member of Parliament for Teso. I remember when he died, people raised a lot of money to send-off the great man. When we wake up, we hear every day that billions have been stolen in this country. When they recover the same money, it is not brought back to us to see where to allocate it. You do not know where the money is taken to. I have been looking at people who steal billions of shillings and I did a simple arithmetic here. While former Members of Parliament and other senior citizens of this country are suffering because we cannot take care of them, somebody who has taken a billion from public money needs roughly 30 years to finish it, if he or she spends Kshs100,000 every day. I think that is not just stealing. These people have a mental problem. They need to be checked. When people are suffering and you see people pocketing billions from public resources every day, it is worrying. We must come up with a comprehensive principle that will cover former Members of this House. We are here today and we are smiling because we have a good life. However, money for a Member of Parliament rarely stays in the pocket. Whenever we share, you realise that Members take bank loans to satisfy the voters. So, it is important that when you leave this House, you are taken care of by the same people you served. An idea was raised by the Member for Kwanza that Kshs100,000 may not be enough because we see former Members of Parliament and we know what they go through. It is a very difficult life. It is sort of discrimination. We have even seen some young professional former Members of Parliament who served in this National Assembly, but they cannot be accommodated anywhere. They are also not accommodated in universities because it is alleged that they will take politics there. Some of them abandoned their professions and have nothing to do. We need to think seriously on how we should accommodate former Members of Parliament. It is happening to them today, but it will be all of us tomorrow. It is almost going to 10 years since the Cocker Commission came up with this idea and we need to look at the challenges of life today. The proposal before the House may not be sufficient to the former Members. We should not sit here and have the idea that when somebody dies, we raise billions and bury him in a cemented grave and yet he has been living in a semi-permanent house. He could not even afford a vehicle and then you see a fleet of vehicles escorting the same dead body. This is a very important Bill. I wish to agree with the amendments that will be brought by the Chair. We need to also look at the Members who served for one term. A Member of Parliament does not choose to go for retirement. You are forced to do it. So, it is important for us to look into these issues"
}