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{
    "id": 977325,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/977325/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 83,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was caught unawares, but I would like to ask a question. How can you tell a husband to self-quarantine from their wife? Some of the things that we say are ridiculous. To what extent can you know that you have the virus, especially now that there is a lot of coughing, sneezing and fever? In previous crises, people did not have masks to protect themselves. In fact, a famous cartoonist called Gado drew Kenyans wearing kasukus on their mouths to depict the sense of unpreparedness. We are not serious because even those who were suspected to have Coronavirus, their tests were done in South Africa and not here in Kenya. This is because there is no laboratory in Kenya that can successfully do the tests, leave alone the rather not so serious and not well-equipped health boxes that we find by the airport that cannot control the people. Majority of the people who have died from Coronavirus are nurses and doctors, including the famous one in Wuhan who discovered it. So, it is a pandemic. You can be sure that if it comes through planes or any other means, we are more vulnerable as Africans than any other continent in the world. Therefore, deaths would be more, just like we have heard from the submissions on the Floor with regard to the assessment by Bill Gates. We should not wait for a crisis to happen so that it becomes another philanthropic endeavour of other individuals, so that we are relegated to the lower pecking order because we cannot protect ourselves. This Senate being in charge of health, it is only fair that we request the Cabinet Secretary (CS) to come to this House and explain to us fully the preparedness of the country with regard to the virus. Otherwise, it is not enough for her to issue a cursory declaration that before people board planes, the WHO standards must be adhered to, yet the WHO is the one issuing warnings. That is exposing Kenyans to danger, but the Government is there protect the people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support."
}