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"id": 1547712,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13599,
"legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
"slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
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"content": "Government to adopt the same approach that the Nairobi City County Government has taken. Those are my comments on the amendments by the National Assembly. I wish to see more cooperation such as this between our two Houses because all the legislations that we propose are good for the people of Kenya and we need to do it together. With those many remarks, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support."
},
{
"id": 1547713,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547713/?format=api",
"text_counter": 247,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Proceed, Sen. (Prof.) Kamar."
},
{
"id": 1547714,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547714/?format=api",
"text_counter": 248,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
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"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity. First, I would like to congratulate Sen. Crystal for the passion with which she drives the agenda of PWDs in this House. Thank you, Sen. Crystal. You motivate all of us to want to be part of what you are doing. I also thank Members of the committee for the good work that they did. I also thank Members of the National Assembly for the additional amendments. I will refer to two of them because Sen. Sifuna has combed through most of them, touching on what I wanted to say. The first issue I want to comment is on Clause 26 which provides that every PWD has a right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. The right to access information on an equal basis like others in a timely manner without additional cost. This describes part of what Sen. Sifuna said and what Sen. Crystal took us through when she began making her remarks. She insisted until we discovered that there are ways of doing things. What is clear is that it is not PWDs who need to change. We need to change ourselves by doing things the right way. We need to know that we are all in the same house called Kenya and we must accommodate each other in whatever we do. So, we need to prepare ourselves more. I am excited and looking forward to having the Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) where there is a Bill that I am co-sponsoring with Sen. Asige because it will be transformative. Requiring people to know KSL to accommodate others is something powerful. When we say that every PWD has a right to freedom of expression, we must facilitate and enable that freedom of expression. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you are a lawyer. When we have court cases, whether the proceedings are online or physical, sometimes PWDs do not hear anything when we have inheritance cases from their own parents. It could be a case about inheriting something from a parent. However, when you go to court, if you have a hearing impairment, you cannot even hear what they are talking about and nobody is even bothered to tell you what is going on. We need to change and prepare this country to be an equal society. To be equal, it means we must communicate with everybody, notwithstanding the fact that in our own Constitution, we have three recognised languages. The KSL is one of the languages in the Constitution. However, when we learn English, we are not taught that one. Why are we ignoring it? We should learn it at the same time, so that all of us can sign. I think this is a powerful amendment that will make us think on how to enable everybody in the society to express themselves. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1547715,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547715/?format=api",
"text_counter": 249,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Kamar",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 33,
"legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
"slug": "margaret-kamar"
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"content": "The other one which captured my attention is Clause 66A. Misuse and abuse of PWDs, not only in this country, but world over, cannot be described. At one point, we were told that many PWDs in Nairobi are from Tanzania. Somebody decided that the best thing to do is to bring faces that are not recognizable. So, they went and collected people from Arusha and Dar es Salaam and brought them to this city. It is sad that they use them to collect a lot of money. I am happy with this addition from the National Assembly because this is now becoming more explicit. In implementing this law, we need to make sure that there is a way of catching the thief. We should have a way of identifying these people and asking who brought them. That means that we have to go a step further and regulate who should be in the streets. Should we be having street children in this country? Should we have PWDs begging in the streets in this country? As a country, I think we are rich enough to take care of our people. We need to know exactly where everybody comes from. Perhaps we should insist that everybody should have an identification card so that we can assist them. The aspect of misusing PWDs must come to an end. I congratulate Senator Crystal and the committee for bringing this Bill this far. I think we are just a few steps of having this wonderful law. When the law is there, it will be upon us to make sure that this clause is implemented. For example, a beggar in Nairobi City County from Elgeyo Marakwet must produce a disability identification document. We would like to know where they have come from so that we are able to help them. Better still, it should make us think further. Anybody who is registered with the National Council of Disabilities is entitled to funding from the Government. We should also see that identification document that they are actually getting money from Government. That is the area we should focus on and see if we can enhance so that we do not find anybody with a disability being in the street because that is a responsibility for Government. Mr. Temporary Speaker, we are steps ahead and we are doing well. I support."
},
{
"id": 1547716,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547716/?format=api",
"text_counter": 250,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I take this opportunity once again to congratulate our colleagues, Sen. Crystal Asige for the commendable work she has been doing in this House. She has very ably and adequately represented persons who are living with disability. She has not wasted any chance to prove that disability is not inability. She has been able to carry their voice even more loudly than some of us who are not in her state. We are very proud of her and the work that she is doing and hope she continues in the same spirit. I have looked at the report and I congratulate the committee which has steadied its fingers on this Bill and ensured that it has come this far. As we have so quickly discovered is that we can propose legislation here, but it becomes very difficult, especially when it has to go to National Assembly and consensus has to be drawn. Sometimes even when the legislation is very good there are always hiccups as to when it becomes a law. This is because of the many hiccups and obstacles that it meets The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1547717,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547717/?format=api",
"text_counter": 251,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "along the way. This is especially because of the legislative pathway which has to pass through stakeholders’ engagement and it has to be approved by public. I am happy that the now the courts have taken grasp of stakeholders’ engagement so that we now have some set parameters within which stakeholders’ engagement will become acceptable or not acceptable. We will eliminate some of the current processes that have been concocted to suit what one would call public participation so that we have quality participation that is then coming from the members or public that we represent. I have looked at the proposals that have been made by the National Assembly in respect of this Bill. They are not very fundamental in nature, but they have refined the draft that was presented here so they are definitely very welcome. When I look at the very purpose of the Bill that has come to the Floor of this House we must continue to applaud the effort. When I think of the journey the women of Kenya have walked through, it is similar with what the persons with disabilities have walked through in this country. We know how the women in this country have grappled with the question of inclusion. It is shocking that while women making up over 51 per cent of the population in Kenya yet we still have to really fight and grapple with. For more than 12 times, the Gender Bill has been an issue of inclusion in this Parliament. It brings a light to our day to see that another category of members who are excluded can now be included using this Bill of persons with disability. I am sure it will bring a smile to many people. I am thinking of all the persons in Kenya living with disabilities. They are close to four million voters in Kenya. They have been struggling to register themselves under the National Council for persons with disabilities. They do not even have quick access to that registration. I wish that chiefs could help them access that registration because sometimes they cannot even make it to walk to the places where they are supposed to be registered. That registration ideally needs to find them at home. Some of them are so severely disabled that it does not make sense to even tell them that there is an office somewhere where they are supposed to be getting that registration. That registration should be reaching them at the grassroots level or what we call mashinani . I want to single out a one of the introductions that has been made by the National Assembly under Clause 4 which has deleted the word ‘welfare’ and substituted it with ‘rights.’ Rights are correlative with duty. It gives an obligation to the person or the State. A right is very easily enforceable and definable within the law. The amendment introduced by the National Assembly under Clause 5 which exchanges the use of the word ‘welfare’ to ‘rights’ is a very good introduction to the Bill. It is an affirmation it is concretizing the fact that once it is named as a right in law then it has to be enforced. It is implementable because the court can even order for that right to be granted to the person who will be demanding under that right. I find Clause 26 very interesting because it is an introduction of a new Clause 26(1) indicates that every person with disability has the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek receive and impart information and ideas. The The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1547718,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547718/?format=api",
"text_counter": 252,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "right to access information on an equal basis with others in a timely manner and without additional cost. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am thinking of this right in the context of education. One of the areas where children who are living with disabilities have to have to be listened to or have to express themselves, they would be affected by this right. Now that this right is defined, I am asking myself how well it will be implemented, especially to the school going children who are living with disability and they need to be in school. How will it be implemented? Does it need more backup in terms of legislation or regulation to ensure that schools where these children are being taken to study, they are able to access that right to freedom of expression and opinion? The Government now has taken up a policy of where these children should be integrated back into ordinary schools to study. Is this right capable of being implemented with just this provision? It is a new introduction and I do not know whether we do have an avenue now to even firm up this new clause. If it is to be implemented and enforced, how do you affirm that right of freedom of expression and opinion? If one enters a classroom in Republic of Kenya such as where I went to school, some of those children may not be able to access even the height of the desks or the boards where they are being taught while that freedom of expression and opinion is supposed to be seen or displayed. How do we have that right customized to make sure that it is not impossible? How do we ensure that right is enforced within our schools? Is it possible to have schools having a wing or a section that enables the provision of this new clause to be enforceable to the category of children that it would apply to? It is a very good introduction because it is a bouncing ball. Maybe, it is a right that forms the threshold on which infrastructure is customized to accommodate children living with disabilities. This right can be used and forced further by regulation. I know this is at the very final stage and the report is being adopted. However, an amendment can follow later to bring in regulations or other provisions that will help us to use the right of access in partition of information and ideas. This is because part of it would come through an intensive deliberate education programme. With that, it will not be lost on paper or on theory or just provided for and does not have a budget that can help it to be enhanced to a point where it can be utilized properly to benefit the category or the clientele that it is intended for. I am pleased with the report and the consensus. I am happy with the way the National Assembly has behaved on this specific Bill. The National Assembly should know that we do not need to break our sweat, fight or contend unnecessarily on matters that can be agreed upon. That should apply to all the Bills lying in the National Assembly awaiting consensus. All those Bills must be looked into and such reports returned back so that legislation in Senate is not unnecessarily hindered by delay in getting consensus or feedback on amendments. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Once again, congratulations Sen. Crystal Asige."
},
{
"id": 1547719,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547719/?format=api",
"text_counter": 253,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wakili Sigei",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Sen. Veronica Maina. I now call upon Sen. Mumma. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1547720,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547720/?format=api",
"text_counter": 254,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to speak to this report. I congratulate Sen. Crystal Asige for being a true representative of persons with disability. I speak as one who belongs to the family of persons with disability. I speak as a mother of a child with severe disability. Those of us who have members of the family with disability know that we sometimes give up. I am glad that the legislative space has the energies of a person with disability who recognizes that we are fatigued trying to get included in this country and is willing to do the work for us to get included. I thank you, Sen. Crystal Asige, on behalf of mothers of children with disability, persons with disability and persons with severe disability who cannot speak or say anything, but are still human beings of equal rights under the Constitution of Kenya. As members speak to this, I want to mention to us that this right is in the Constitution. It is in Article 27, 54, 53, and Article 2 which makes the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability to be part of the laws of Kenya. These rights are there. The Convention says that all education systems should integrate persons with disability. Integration means that the designs of buildings should be built to ensure that persons with disability can access. Integration means that the teaching staff should be given the instruction to be able to include persons with disability. It means that you need to factor the different types of disability in schools. You have to factor in those with visual, hearing and even those with physical disability. Unfortunately, we never do it. Persons with a disability have to ask for the rights of persons with disability before it is done. When it is put in the law, its implementation is usually difficult. We are now happy that the law is being passed. However, do not be surprised if a budget is passed with zero amounts of money on how to integrate and include persons with disability. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we will continue soldiering on. Sen. Crystal Asige, I love your energy. Please keep doing this. We are behind you. This does not end with this law. There are many other issues in which we need to include persons with disability. I recently brought a question to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health, on how persons who are dependent on life-saving drugs that control seizures are helped in this country. Those drugs are expensive, but we have no subsidy. The Government does not help. So, if you are a poor family with a child with epilepsy, then your child will degenerate and keep getting fits every day until they die. This is because nobody has a policy on how to include that child to ensure that they access those medications. I want to thank and congratulate the National Assembly for doing a good job by improving what we had passed. I like it when we take laws seriously and look at them on merit to see how we can improve them. I commend them on the New Clauses 66A and New Clauses 73A in terms of inclusion. When we talk about Government projects, we need to keep a quota for persons with disability. When talking about concessions, we need to increase the concessions, in taxes, for persons with disability. It should not just be persons with disability, but we should also do the same for families which have persons with disability who cannot claim on their own. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1547721,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1547721/?format=api",
"text_counter": 255,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I am glad that we have a clause that we can use when we go to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to find out how much of the housing, all over the country, has been set aside for persons with disability. I also like the clause on the prohibition of abuse of disability to enrich some people. I recently published the Counter Trafficking Bill that is about orphanage trafficking. Sen. Crystal Asige, I would want you to look at that Bill and see how we can bring in disability specific clauses. This is because some orphanages take children with disability for purposes of enriching themselves. I want to thank the National Assembly for bringing this perspective for us to help persons with disability to be equal citizens of Kenya. We will also help them not to be exploited by those who want to use disability to enrich themselves. I do not want to go further because I want this Bill to pass quickly for us to move to the next bit. I want to thank everyone and the Committee on Labor and Social Welfare for a good job. I also want to thank Sen. Crystal Asige for a good job. I hope Kedipa can throw a toast on your account. Thank you very much."
}
]
}