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{
    "id": 994275,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/994275/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 106,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "I said that we had invited him to the Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 pandemic, but he has dodged twice. If he fails to attend this last invitation, we will issue summons. There is a letter that purportedly came from the Attorney General, which the Cabinet Secretary is using to state that he has been advised not to appear before the Senate, apart from on issues of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and pre-primary education. That is an ill-informed position. The Constitution is clear that every Cabinet Secretary is accountable to Parliament, which includes the National Assembly and the Senate. Therefore, delaying is not a tactic. This House has the authority to summon anyone or anybody within the territory of this country to answer to issues of concern to the people. The Cabinet Secretary must know that he is not special because all other Cabinet Secretaries have attended meetings of the Ad Hoc Committee on COVIC-19 pandemic. Sen. Halake is here and she will confirm that. Therefore, we will get him. Realistically education is not happening this year. This is because the quality of the pupils in Class Seven this year is not the same as last year. The quality of a Standard Eight pupil this year and the one for last year is not the same. I like what he said before; that a child being alive at home is better because dead children cannot do examinations. In our Committee, we have been told in the most modest projections, that if we continue with these restrictions, in February next year, there will be two million Kenyans asymptomatic with COVID-19. There will be 300,000 Kenyans in hospital; 200,000 moderately ill and 100,000 critically ill. It is clear that if you open up schools, it is the quickest way to spread it. Every other day our children bring us flu and so on. In reality, if you go down just five minutes from Nairobi City County, there is really no lockdown because businesses are going on. We have only closed schools, churches and disco venues. Now, that needs a candid and realistic discussion, so that we give candidates expectations. We have Class Eight and Form Four students who are anxious; they do not know whether or not they will do the national examinations. That anxiety is bad and it is affecting the mental health of our children. Therefore, we need to give them clear answers. I hope that can be loaded upon on Sen. (Dr.) Mbito’s Statement. In reality, e-learning is a myth. Electronic devices, internet and technology are supposed to supplement and not replace the real education that our children should be getting from their teachers, just as we got."
}