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"speaker_name": "Sen. Ochillo-Ayacko",
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"id": 347,
"legal_name": "Ochilo George Mbogo Ayacko",
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"content": "done this nation proud. That way, we will not appear to be just coming here to make speeches. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should also think of how to reward or appreciate the heroes we have in a material sense. There are many people who have made our anthem to be sung in certain places. In my other life, I was the Minister for Sports, Heritage and Culture, and I traveled to Helsinki, Finland, for an event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). When I visited that nation, I also had the misfortune of visiting one of our very well renowned athletes in one of the Finnish jails, Billy Konchellah. I found out that he was quite low, and there was no support that was coming from home. There was also no system that had been put in place to try and rescue him from the oblivion that was visiting him in life, after being a very successful athlete. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also another athlete in the United States of America (USA), who is frequently reported to have fallen out of fortune, and he is currently on drugs and is drinking a lot. There is no system in place to support that kind of athlete so that we know that there was once a great person in that name. We have the likes of Congestina among the ladies, and I am yet to find one of our colleagues who represent the marginalised gender talking about her. I hope that something will be done to mitigate the adversities that are visiting the life of that poor lady from Siaya County. I hope that my senior colleague, Sen. Orengo, will mobilise us to intervene, in our humble way, to make the life of Congestina bearable. She once made us proud, and to see her suffer in that neglect and poverty is very sad. Therefore, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is right and proper for us to appreciate our athletes, and also to support them as best as we can. There are other forms of support, like trying to provide a social safety net to mitigate their adversities in life, including even putting a pension scheme in place for them. These athletes lead a disciplined life; for example, Paul Tergat, Kipchoge and all of them. They work very hard and someday they retire in difficulty. A few of them make it in life and are quite successful. However, for the ones who do not become successful materially, I do not think that this great nation is poor to the extent that we cannot provide a general pension scheme and medical cover to take care of some of these internationally acclaimed or appreciated athletes. We have had the honour and privilege of being members of the same country with these athletes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go to a country like in Ethiopia, you will find that the respect and reverence that they give to a person like Kenenisa Bekele, they respect, support and appreciate their athletes who have done well, but who have not achieved the feat that has been achieved by Eliud Kipchoge. They give them the kind of recognition and support they are supposed to be given. I do not think that Ethiopia, as a nation, is richer than us in terms of spirit or resources. If they are able to do it and they are here in Africa, we should also be able to do it. We are in the same Africa; we drink the same coffee and tea they drink. Therefore, if they appreciate their people, who are Africans, we should also appreciate our people, who are Africans. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe that these athletes do much more than we do, as politicians. You will find that when a politician is lost or is suffering, all of us come together and remember those politicians. If I am to suffer – and I know I will suffer one day – I would not want to be remembered, but to at least bear my own suffering. 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."
}