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{
    "id": 940709,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/940709/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 341,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Malalah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13195,
        "legal_name": "Cleophas Wakhungu Malalah",
        "slug": "cleophas-wakhungu-malalah-2"
    },
    "content": "reported to have defiled a girl, the matter is brought to court and the prosecution is not ready to proceed. We have many challenges when it comes to the movement of cases in the corridors of the Judiciary. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, sometimes if you give that child too much time before she comes to confess in court, she will be influenced by the community, people will approach her to step down or to withdraw the case. Technically, the case will not receive the justice it deserves. Therefore, it is important for us to look and priorities especially those girls who have been defiled so that they confess in court as witnesses when the matter is still fresh. Another issue that we noticed in the convention is that we really need to debate and come up with a resolution constitutionally as to whether the Children’s Department is devolved or not. The Members of the County Assembly of Kakamega who attended that convention found it very hard to have budgetary allocations on the Children’s Department because that function has not been devolved. We need to know whether the Children’s Department has been devolved or whether it is still a function of the national Government. That will provide county governments with the authority to budget and even implement some of these provisions. This Bill is encouraging county governments to establish care centres. However, if that function has not been devolved, I am sure the Controller of Budget will not allocate them money. This might be an exercise in futility if we do not define that function. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as noted by the Senator for Nandi County and Sen. Shiyonga, we also need to shift our focus to the boy child. It is my view that instead of calling this Bill the Care and Protection of Child Parents Bill, we substitute the word ‘child’ with girl. This is because there is nothing to do with boy child in this Bill. We are only addressing issues of the girl child. We have boys who are still in school and have parental obligations. What are we doing in this Bill to protect those boys? We need to offer them guiding and counseling. This is because some of them cannot cope up with parenting pressure from the girls. They need provision of basic needs and yet that boy is a parent. What happens to him? Does that boy qualify to access the services of the care centres? In the Bill, we are providing for the function of the care centres, but nothing has been said about the boy child. It is very important for Sen. Kwamboka to consider providing space for the boy child and also cushioning him in this Bill because he suffers consequences of impregnating girls at an early age. We also have boys who contract HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) out of molestation by elderly women. It is very important for us to also provide for such services that will cushion and take care of such incidences. I have approached different non-governmental organizations. Many of them are advocating the fight against teenage pregnancies. These organizations are African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Afya Halisi, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya ( PSK ), among others. 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."
}