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{
    "id": 939557,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/939557/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 370,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "of the word „sex‟ will be that proposed under the Registration of Persons Act under this Clause to include intersex people. This Bill, therefore, proposes to put in place a legal framework, registration of persons and issuance of births and certificates and identity cards and it will go a long way in alleviating some of challenges that persons who are intersex experience in their day to day activities as citizens of this Republic. Without a birth certificate or an identity card, it is nearly impossible to be enrolled in formal education system in this country. One cannot get a Sim card and they cannot even open a bank account. The issue of intersex people is very interesting and many people do not seem to understand what we are talking about when we talk about intersex persons. I was also oblivious of this matter or did not consider it until somebody contacted me on Twitter . That individual had referred to themselves as „outcast accepted‟. The person went ahead and told me that I represent them in Parliament, hence, I should take up their matter. I interrogated the issue and asked the person to come and see me the following week. True to it, he came to visit me at my National Assembly office accompanied by a human rights defender called Patrick. That is how we started this journey. The young person was Mary Waithera but the person who came to me was a man. It was not a lady as the name suggested. James Karanja had been brought up as a girl and he even went to a girls‟ secondary school and was the head girl. He was very uncomfortable there because the other teenage girls started getting attracted to him. His identity card read Mary Waithera and in as much as he had scored grade B-, he could not proceed to university. The mother developed mental health conditions because of the stigma associated with intersex children. I am glad to have Sen. Kasanga here because she is a champion of this. Therefore, it was impossible for him to continue with his studies. The mother was living in a deplorable condition and people were raping her. You can imagine that kind of stigma. We started a campaign in the media to ensure that there is recognition and we also wanted to tell the story as it were. People started to listen and it was the first for them to hear such a conversation in the public domain. We then drew up a Petition to the National Assembly to have intersex people recognized in law and we actually struggled with terminology. We were not sure whether we should refer to it as gender identity disorder or intersex. It was difficult because it was a new phenomenon. You can imagine how difficult it was talking about it in Kiswahili but thank God we got the term „jinsia tata‟ . We were also coming from a situation where people were afraid of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues and they did not want to be seen to be allowing LGBT issues to come through the back door. When I finally presented the Petition in the National Assembly, there was uproar and furore. I remember none other than the Leader of Majority asking whether these people exist. I had to demonstrate by saying it is just like the way you may have some form of disorder on your arm or any other organ of the body, but this affects your reproductive system. Eventually, the Petition was committed to the Committee on Administration and National Security lead by then Chairman, Hon. Asman Kamama. We then retreated in 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."
}