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{
    "id": 977063,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/977063/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 191,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving this opportunity. I rise to support the decision of the Committee for two basic facts. One, a lot of issues that are to be addressed by this Bill are already addressed in other Acts. Two, the Bill does not provide for repeal, or how the two Acts will relate. That alone will disqualify the Bill. Having said that, what the Senator was trying to get at are actually important issues: issues of access; issues of regulation regarding where houses, hospitals and hotels should be; access to all these places and parking bays and bus stops, which we do not even have. I think it would go ahead and include naming of streets. Those are not being done now yet there are laws that provide for them. Then we must ask ourselves as a country: What is happening? We know things that should be done, the laws are there and yet they are not being done. This brings me to the issue that we have been discussing, about self-quarantine. The whole world is scared that if the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) gets into Africa, the infrastructure we have is such that we shall not be able to contain it. Therefore, the only option we have is to try by all means, as drastic as it may be necessary, to stop it from coming into our country. That is the reason, I believe, we have not brought back home the Kenyans who are in China. If we did so, we would be exposing the country to the coronavirus. They might have been well when they arrived, but after two weeks, they might start showing symptoms of having the virus. It is known that this disease can be passed on during the incubation period before a person actually gets sick. We read that the plane from China arrived into the country and the passengers were asked to self-quarantine. This means you hold yourself where you are and not move for the benefit of the whole country. How feasible is that without the mechanisms for holding you there being in place? I know in such circumstances, they are supposed to take the address and contacts of passengers and follow up in order to find out if any of them is getting sick and then report back. However, by the time that happens, it would be too late. Hon. Speaker, it is my suspicion that consultations were done and that led to the passengers being allowed into the country. The plane stayed on the tarmac for almost two hours. It means the first officers who came into contact with the issue declined to clear them. That is what anyone would have thought would be the correct thing to do. It also makes me suspect that maybe higher authorities are the ones who overruled the first officers on the ground. 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."
}