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{
    "id": 971191,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/971191/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 281,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Siaya CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Christine Ombaka",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1007,
        "legal_name": "Christine Oduor Ombaka",
        "slug": "christine-oduor-ombaka"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I support this Bill because it deals with the senior members of society — people we highly value and respect but at the same time, people who are neglected and suffer in the villages where we come from. It is true the elderly in society have been neglected and many of them live below the poverty line. They cannot access medical care and neither do they have food nor shelter. The Bill is very attractive in the sense that there is a section that deals with home-based care and how the counties should come up with residential areas where the elderly people can stay because they have no shelter of their own. There are certain steps that should be followed when setting up these homes. The homes should be attached to a medical personnel, have certain facilities that are conducive for good living by the elderly, have places for entertainment, and everything that a human being requires. Should they fail to have some of those requirements, then the homes could be closed down. I think that is good because standards are being set. When setting up a home — whether it is a county government project or a private one — standards must be adhered to. What worries me a little bit, Hon. Deputy Speaker, is the homes that may be established by private means. We need to establish how private they are and where those private persons are getting their funds from so that they can run successfully and efficiently. Can they seek funding from the Government to run those homes? In countries abroad, especially in the United States of America (USA), people who run homes for the elderly, privately, seek funding from the state. The state has a fund where individuals who are interested in starting a home for the elderly apply and get the funds to do so. I do not know whether this Bill will capture that particular bit. Where will those individuals who want to run private homes for the elderly get funding from? That is my question. If there will be funding from the state, that is okay. It is possible to have it in the Bill. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I was running a project on HIV/AIDS many years back— when we used to have total war against HIV/AIDS — called Total War Against HIV and AIDS (TOWA). TOWA received funding from the National Aids and Control Council in the Ministry of Health. Individual organisations or individuals would apply and get the funds to deal with HIV/AIDS programmes. In other words, it was assisting the Government to educate the society about HIV/AIDS but the funding came from the State. If we can follow the same process, then that will be good for the elderly people being taken care of in these homes. That should be the next move. If homes are to be established —and we need to keep up with the standards of good living and dignity of the elderly people —then we need good funding for them. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I like the bit about entertainment. The elderly people need to be looked after; it should not be about their health all the time but also food, shelter and entertainment. In old age, you need sports, entertainment and activities that will make you a little healthier than you are. So, that bit is very critical. It is true that the elderly in the society have The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}