HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, POST, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"count": 1608389,
"next": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154075",
"previous": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=api&page=154073",
"results": [
{
"id": 1558932,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558932/?format=api",
"text_counter": 172,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kwanza, FORD-K",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi",
"speaker": null,
"content": "No. After passing this Bill, we should come up with suggestions to reinforce what is stated. This is a very important Bill and I thank the Member who moved it. We have problems out here. When you walk on the streets you get embarrassed and wonder if you are a Kenyan. People run after you because they have not eaten or they slept on the streets or they do not have clothing. After passing this Bill, we will look at how to ring-fence its implementation. I support it and hope and pray that we will consider some of the proposals I have made. Let us see that our people suffering out there benefit from the same. I support."
},
{
"id": 1558933,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558933/?format=api",
"text_counter": 173,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Member for Nambale."
},
{
"id": 1558934,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558934/?format=api",
"text_counter": 174,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nambale, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Geoffrey Mulanya",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. This Bill is very timely. It is one of the Bills that will protect vulnerable members of our society. It will ensure that the vulnerable people realise the provisions of Article 43 of the Constitution on economic and social rights. Article 43 of the Constitution provides that each and every Kenyan has the right to freedom from hunger. Is this a reality when in our constituencies? Is each and every Kenyan free from hunger? There are elderly people who cannot even tend to their farms. They have no children, anybody to support them or have food on their table. Moreover, there is no means by which the Government can come in and help them. The Government has tried through the Inua Jamii Programme, but it did not mop up all vulnerable members of our society. There are people with disabilities. In Nambale, there is a family with five disabled children. None of them has even a wheelchair. This Bill will create a register of all vulnerable members of our society so that it is easy to identify and reach out to them wherever they are. They should feel happy like other Kenyans. I have gone through Clause 28 which lists the people and groups that require social protection. They include orphans, older members of society, persons with disability, persons in extreme poverty and persons affected by shocks. A father and a mother may die and leave children behind. The older child of such a family takes up the responsibility of taking care of their younger siblings. With this kind of legislation, it will be very easy to identify such people, so that the orphans can be given social protection by the Government instead of leaving the burden to an equally weaker member of the family. There have been complaints about the criterion of identifying beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii Programme. This Bill provides for any vulnerable member of society and not captured in the register to apply to the board for review. If the board declines registration, the person has a right to move to the High Court on appeal. These are very comprehensive provisions that will ensure that there is no favouritism in the selection of beneficiaries of the programme."
},
{
"id": 1558935,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558935/?format=api",
"text_counter": 175,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nambale, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Geoffrey Mulanya",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The creation of a board to manage the affairs of vulnerable members of our society is very important. It is not easy for these people to channel their complaints through the Ministry. Every time we visit our constituencies, we are faced with all manner of problems. We perform the functions of the proposed board to support vulnerable members of the society. We are approached by people with school fees needs, no food to eat, no housing and those in need of wheelchairs. All these problems will now be catered for by the Government. I am very happy about that and I strongly support this Bill. All Kenyans should realise the benefits of the provisions in our Bill of Rights under Article 43 of the Constitution. The right should not remain a mirage. I support the Bill. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1558936,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558936/?format=api",
"text_counter": 176,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you. Member for Nyatike. Hon. Odege, this is your chance."
},
{
"id": 1558937,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558937/?format=api",
"text_counter": 177,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nyatike, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Tom Odege",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Allow me to join my colleagues in supporting this timely Bill. In the last Parliament, I served on the Departmental Committee on Labour and Social Protection and I detected a lot of loopholes in the structures for supporting vulnerable people in the society. The Bill before us is an attempt to solve most of the issues. I urge the House to take this opportunity and panel beat the Bill to sort out all the issues. We face a lot of issues from vulnerable people. You may find yourself being changed from a Member of Parliament to a welfare officer. The majority of the people who cannot make ends meet will always knock at your door. They have no other way out apart from looking for us as leaders to help them solve their personal issues. This Bill can help to cure this, so that we dignify Kenyans. If you want to measure the success of a country, look at how it treats the less fortunate people. If you are in a country where less fortunate people are not considered and helped, that is a failed state. If hawking by the roadsides is a major activity in a country, that country is poor. A majority of the people in that country live below the minimum wage. A majority of the hawkers are vulnerable. Some of them walk using support and others beg by the roadside. Those are things we can cure if we thoroughly work on this Bill. Another area of concern is enrolment criterion. If you go down there to your home in the constituency today, almost every time you will find people who are over 70 and are not benefiting visiting you. Why are they coming? They are questioning why their neighbours are benefiting and they are not listed. We should come up with a very clear criterion where people are automatically listed when they attain a certain age and are vulnerable. It will bring equity, fairness, and make people have a very clear mind of those who are benefiting, so that we are not made to be welfare officers. We want a Government that is responsive and ensures those who deserve are given. If you go to the ministry and look at the criteria of recruitment, it depends on the available budget. If they have less money and have qualified people to be recruited but cannot fit in their budget, they will only go with what their budget can accommodate. The ministry will not have any criterion that clearly indicates who is supposed to be picked. We will be in a very fair country coming up with a Bill or a law that obligates and mandates the Government to ensure the qualified get money; that treats everybody fairly and people will be happy in Kenya. On how to run the Fund, I think creating a board is very good. The Fund is currently managed at the ministry level. There are no specific mandates coming out clearly or specific people who can be charged with the responsibility. The person available currently is the Principal Secretary and we know he has a number of issues around him. Creating a board that will look into the issues related to social protection will be very good. It will also help us define the kind of human resources we need to serve the board and help implement this good idea up to the lowest level possible. An identification criterion will be the fairest experience in our country if we get the right people charged with the responsibility to ensure that every qualified person in our society is rightly identified at the right time and given the opportunity to be served by the board. Hon. Temporary Speaker, allow me to join my colleagues in supporting this Bill. I thank you."
},
{
"id": 1558938,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558938/?format=api",
"text_counter": 178,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Member of Nakuru Town East."
},
{
"id": 1558939,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558939/?format=api",
"text_counter": 179,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nakuru Town East, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Gikaria",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you for giving me the opportunity to support this very important Bill on social protection. Just a word of caution from looking at how the Bill is structured and how to pick beneficiaries. It is important for us to note something. Much as the Bill indicates provisions on The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1558940,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558940/?format=api",
"text_counter": 180,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nakuru Town East, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Gikaria",
"speaker": null,
"content": "how to handle fraud and misinformation, it is important to look at the penalties seriously. How is a member delisted from the Fund? It gives criteria on how a name of a beneficiary is removed, either by voluntary leaving or by being out of the country for over 12 months. We really need to look at that area so that we do not benefit people improperly. Even dead beneficiaries who are already long gone are still on the list and their beneficiaries are still claiming that money and not putting it to proper use. When I was looking at definitions in the Bill, it defines old persons as those from the age of 60 years. We had a discussion this morning when taking tea there. They said one must be 70 years old or more to benefit. I am glad the Bill has now clarified that older persons will benefit because they are this programme’s most targeted population. Using 60 years to define older persons as beneficiaries of this scheme will go along. Implementation is key and well explained in the Bill where it talks about equity, and social justice. These things have always been forgotten. Officers in provisional administration, particularly chiefs, were in the past given the responsibility to identify people only for them to bring people who did not deserve. Therefore, implementing this goes towards people who should benefit. We now have inclusiveness, non-discrimination, and a participatory approach. It is key for us to identify the right people. Clause 6 talks about involvement of county governments. For example, we have a place called Alms House in Nakuru where the county government takes care of elderly people. It talks about how we bring county governments on board in this programme. The clause talks about how best different county governments can ride on this Bill to come up with their legislation to handle social protection matters. Alms House used to be very vibrant in Nakuru when we had municipalities. As we are talking, you could find only three or four wazees there. Sometimes there is none. It is important to involve county governments by including them as representatives in the board. I think we have one vacancy left for county governors to bring their representatives in the board to be part of this very important issue. We, as Parliament, need to look critically at the nine board members. We have been talking about the number of people who should be in boards. Must we have nine? Can we have fewer but very effective? It is understandable to bring a Principal Secretary of the Ministry concerned, and the National Treasury because of money disbursement. However, it is important to be keen as we give the Cabinet Secretary an opportunity to pick the other four outside Government so that we do not pass bad legislation and have litigation. An example is with the Climate Change Council. We were saying that we would get a representative from a certain organisation that deals with a specific specialisation then they end up taking themselves. They go to court if you pick from this association and not from the other. The Climate Change Council never worked for five years. We vetted people and were unable to give names to the President to pick because they went back to court. It is important to be clear on how the Cabinet Secretary must pick so that we avoid litigation. We should give direct appointments so that we do not end up having a board that will never work because of claims that we did not pick a member associated with the board. The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) is only one body. They easily give you people when you ask them to. These other setups have different small bodies here and there and they bring problems. I have something on the experience aspect of board members. I had an opportunity to accompany the President when students visited State House during the Kenya National School Drama Festivals that happened in Nakuru. A play by one school here in Nairobi won in the 2025 drama festivals. It was talking about how life generally is. At one point it talked about experience before work. A student who had just finished college with First Class Honours could not be employed just for lacking experience. Experience is something that we need to look into. The 10-year experience requirement is improper in my thinking. I hope that we will bring some The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1558941,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1558941/?format=api",
"text_counter": 181,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nakuru Town East, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Gikaria",
"speaker": null,
"content": "amendments in the Third Reading stage so that we do not lock out youthful members of the society who might not be able to join because they lack experience. Cash transfers and transfers in kind also bring about something very critical: the services. We cannot only focus on cash transfers and transfers in kind while forgetting about rehabilitation. This Bill addresses rehabilitation. You will find stressed wazee or even young people out there who need this. The Bill brings these services, whether psychological care or home-based care, and addresses them effectively. How are beneficiaries identified? The Bill mentions Kenyan citizens, such as orphans and persons with disabilities, as well as non-Kenyan citizens in emergency situations. That is key because at times, one may be in Kenya with an emergency without being a citizen. This Bill has taken care of that. Regarding applications, some elderly people are too old to apply on their own. This Bill allows a representative to apply on behalf of a beneficiary, which is a very good measure. On the matter of appeals, under Clause 33, if a person is dissatisfied with the board's decision, they have 30 days to file an appeal. On abuse of suspension or termination, the Bill makes it clear that if you abuse the system, you can be suspended. There is a lot even on data protection. Anyone handling data related to this must abide by the Data Protection Act to avoid disclosing information. Regarding penalties, this is an area that we will be bringing some amendments. A fine of Ksh200,000 and a six-month sentence for unlawful disclosure is too lenient. It will encourage people to be fraudulent. Maybe a fine of Ksh2 million and five years. That is where we should be. We will bring some amendments. Lastly is on transition. The board will take up all that was being done if the Bill goes through. We do not need to go through what we saw in SHA, where as a Member of NHIF, I had to register afresh. Transition is clear that you continue…"
}
]
}