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{
    "id": 992681,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/992681/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 658,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "We are all in this together. However, those in a more painful position are those who have lost loved ones, or those who have had to see their loved ones struggling in hospital beds. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to take my father to hospital for some routine check-up. The situation in this country is dire. Public hospitals are not providing care to patients anymore. Private hospitals are not providing care. People are shying away from hospitals. Earlier on, Sen. Were was asking about the usual diseases that come with the rains, Malaria, TB, HIV/AIDS scourge and all those others. We have a bigger crisis that has been begotten by this COVID-19. We do not know and we hope that no other Kenyan is going to lose a life and that the number will remain at 36. We know that floods as well as Malaria have killed hundreds. We hope that we shall get a quick resolution to this matter. The resolution does not mean the end of COVID-19. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has been with us for more than 30 years and we have just found ways of managing it. I want to look at certain aspects of the Bill which I believe, perhaps need some considerations. I generally agree with the intention of the Bill to provide a framework for dealing with situations such as this. We must start from definitions. How do we define a pandemic? Let us not think that COVID-19 is the only pandemic that we have. HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic; it is not an endemic. Differentiation between pandemic and endemic is that a pandemic is an endemic with a passport; it is an endemic that can travel. HIV/AIDS pandemic has travelled. It does not only affect we, the people of Migori and Homa Bay counties, but it affects the entire Africa and other parts of the world. When we do this Bill, have we asked ourselves how then it would apply to the HIV/AIDS situation because it is not just about COVID-19. Probably, tomorrow, we shall have another SARS-like pandemic, but we have that which has been with us for the last 30 years. Will this Bill deal with it? If it could, because my county is one of the most affected when it comes to HIV/AIDS pandemic, the number of deaths we have seen cannot be compared with COVID-19 deaths. If then we are going to have a special fund that will be setup to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, I fully support. This is because for far too long the Government has ignored the plight of people bordering Lake Victoria who have borne the greatest brunt of HIV/AIDS disease. The definition of a pandemic as stated in that Bill, it might need to get some greater rigour so that we can ring-fence certain situations and events that this Bill would apply to. Clauses 13 and 18 of this Bill propose some reporting arrangement to Parliament and to county assemblies. However, what I am foreseeing is clashes of jurisdictions. The national Government shall report biweekly to Parliament. The county pandemic response team will also be responding biweekly to the county assemblies. The reason for that biweekly reporting is for Parliament or county assemblies to give advice and to propose alternatives. What if you end up with conflicting pieces of advice coming from the two levels of government? 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."
}