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"id": 1555532,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Abdul Haji",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Proceed, Sen. Cherarkey."
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I rise to second this Bill, I extend a warm welcome to the students from Bomet University. This is the House of legislation, representation and Oversight. Your Senator was here, but since you are aware the President was in your county, I think he has been captured by the exigencies of duty. Feel welcome also together with the delegation from Kilifi. I hope to see you in leadership in future. This is your country. You must be the leaders of today; not tomorrow. I hope in 2027, some of you can contest on some of these seats, except the Presidency since it is taken. You can then join us in this House."
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"id": 1555534,
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"text_counter": 394,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "[The Temporary Speaker (Sen. Abdul Haji) left the Chair]"
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"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555535/?format=api",
"text_counter": 395,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "[The Temporary Speaker (Sen, Mumma) in the Chair]"
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"text_counter": 396,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "(Resumption of debate on Bill)"
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"text_counter": 397,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "As I rise to second The Provision of Sanitary Towels Bill (Senate Bills No.7 of 2024), I will be very brief. As they say, brevity is the soul of wit."
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"id": 1555538,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555538/?format=api",
"text_counter": 398,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, let me just build a brief background of why period poverty and shaming should be a thing of the past in our learning institutions and correctional facilities. As men, we must be champions of pushing for the end of period shaming and period poverty. It should be the basics for school going girls. Every month, our girls both from lower to secondary school miss three to four academic days in a month. It is very important that we understand this. This matter has drawn the attention of the country because while our boys are going to school, our girls miss three to four days because of monthly periods. As a country, we must pay attention. In 2020 we were able to launch the Menstruation and Hygiene Management Policy Paper by Government. One of the agendas was proper funding and attention."
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"id": 1555539,
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"text_counter": 399,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The sad reality is that 65 per cent of our women lack basic necessities to manage their periods. These are facts that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cannot afford as it was suspended by President Trump. Two out of three Kenyan women cannot afford sanitary pads, which is why we have issues such as sex in exchange for the sanitary pads. Girls are giving out their bodies. They are being used as sex objects so that they can afford sanitary pads for that month. It is tragic. We need the boy child to be part of what we call period poverty or period shaming. When girls start menstruation in primary school, some young boys and the society frown upon them. That is why that girl committed suicide. It was because of period shaming. An average of one million girls in this country miss three to four academic days per month unlike the boy child who is able to attend school throughout 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": 1555540,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1555540/?format=api",
"text_counter": 400,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "month. This does not mean that these girls are sick. It is a natural thing and the attention of the country should be drawn to it. We have seen pull and push between the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs and Ministry of Education on the issue of budgeting. As we talk today, no one can say that in the appropriation of budget, it should be within the Ministry of Education or Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs. I want to build the picture for the House to understand. In the Financial Year, 2023/2024, the Government appropriated Kshs940 million to be used for purchase of sanitary pads in our public institutions, especially the schools. This was double what had been allocated the previous Financial Year 2022/2023 where Kshs470 million had been allocated. In the Financial Year 2024/2025, the amount that is to be used to buy sanitary pads for our school-going children in public institutions and women in correctional facilities across the country tripled. So, we are talking of Kshs940 million and Kshs470 million. You will realise that four months into the financial year, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs has not supplied sanitary pads to our learning institutions and correctional facilities. That is why I want to challenge the National Assembly. I know the Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement Party (ODM) has said that we wait for them to do what His Excellency, Raila Amollo Odinga, directed them to do. However, this is the work they should be doing. In two financial years, they appropriated almost Kshs1.7 billion and no one has audited that amount. The National Assembly must be called out for incompetence. This is the oversight they should be doing instead of encroaching devolved functions like the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF) of Kshs11 billion. The National Assembly must be called out for being inept, moribund and ineffective in the oversight of public funds like the money that was appropriated for the purchase of these items. It was in their budget which we appropriate as a Parliament. Article 114 of Constitution addresses money Bills and the budget making process. The budget making process is the work and domain of Parliament. It is not an exclusive function of the National Assembly. We have litigated this matter up to the Supreme Court. It started with the petition of 2013 when the National Assembly wanted to lock out the Senate in division of revenue. We have litigated this matter and the courts have ruled that the budget making process is the work of Parliament. Under Article 93 of the Constitution of Kenya, Parliament is both the Senate and the National Assembly. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Kshs940 million and Kshs470 million that was allocated for the purchase of sanitary pads cannot be accounted for. That is why we are telling the National Assembly that they should oversight instead of encroaching on devolved functions like building markets and using National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) to give out bursary. For the first time, I agree unequivocally with the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga when he says that we, Members of Parliament, should work as per Articles 94 and 96 of the Constitution. We should do representation, legislation, oversight and budget making, including division of revenue to our counties. That is how we will be efficient. You cannot be a judge in your own case. You cannot have your cake and eat it. 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."
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"id": 1555541,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Therefore, the National Assembly should stop its bulldozing and arm-twisting in terms of oversight. There is a saying that when a lizard wants to wear a trouser, it should choose the tail that will wear the trouser. I am happy that the other day in Bondo, the ODM Secretary General who is the Senator for Nairobi City County called out the National Assembly Minority Leader. That was brave of him. I have never been proud of Sen. Sifuna until that day when he called out the pretense. We had agreed that of the Kshs4 trillion national budget, the equitable shareable revenue of Kshs450 billion should go to counties. However, they went and substituted zero then it came to Kshs405 billion. Therefore, we need to agree. That is what the Senate Deputy Minority Whip was arguing about. I, therefore, want to challenge the National Assembly. They should know that when a lizard wants to wear a trouser, it should choose the tail that will wear it. Allow me to quickly run through the Bill. I have heard the Mover of the Bill, my sister, who is doing a good work of promoting menstrual hygiene that she is pushing for provision of sanitary pads to public facilities. According to Article 249(3) of our Constitution, Parliament is supposed to appropriate funds to independent offices and commissions. It does not say the National Assembly. I want to invite my colleagues to read Article 249(3) of the Constitution. It says-"
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