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{
    "id": 961044,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/961044/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 184,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "who are being absorbed in the public service. This is because these Articles have not been properly drafted and legislated as to occasion the threshold to be attained. Article 81 of the Constitution is clear that PWDs should have fair representation. In the Eleventh Parliament, through my own Motion we were able to increase that age to 65 years through legislation. However, as Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve has said, it is not being implemented. There are people who are supposed to benefit from this, but they only get the shock of getting their retirement letter. This needs to stop. It is not about the retirement age. If you look at the minimum accessibility standards, they are there in law under Sections 21, 22, 23, 24, 39 and 40 of the Persons with Disabilites Act, are very clear about adjustments and modifications even of vehicles. However, if you look at the chassis of our matatus, it is actually meant for a lorry. That is why wheelchair users finds it difficult to board them. We have laws that are not being implemented; laws that may have come through this august House by way of Motion and then legislation and now we are coming back again to do the very Motion to ensure that they are implemented. Madam Temporary Speaker, what does that mean? It means that the law by itself has ceased to be a means to an end. We have just come from representing the Senate under the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) with Sen. Wetangula, Sen. Ochillo-Ayacko, Sen. Dullo, Sen. Shiyonga, Sen. Halake and I. That is the question that everyone is grappling with. How comes there is a failure of the rule of law? In the Kenyan Constitution, PWDs are mentioned 18 times, women 9 times and youth 6 times, respectively. We have not seen a post-disability society even with the advent of the 2010 Constitution. We have not seen public buildings becoming more accessible. We have not seen employers taking advantage of Section 15 of the Persons with Disabilities Act in order to claim allowable expenses to the tax authority for the modification they make, so that they can provide for reasonable accommodation towards PWDs. Kenya has been cited as the first among equals around the inclusion of PWDs primarily because of the provisions of the Constitution. But then, people do not eat laws. You have your laws, so what? What purpose will they serve if a disabled teacher can be denied access to her legitimate five years of continued service in order to continue taking care of the family?"
}