{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152670","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=152668","results":[{"id":1544882,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544882/?format=json","text_counter":515,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Sen. (Dr.) Lelegwe Ltumbesi): Proceed, Sen. Orwoba."},{"id":1544883,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544883/?format=json","text_counter":516,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporay Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion on the two-thirds gender rule and this report that was tabled. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I am a beneficiary of affirmative action in the sense that I have been nominated in the Senate based on an affirmative action that was passed, to ensure that we have equal representation for both men and women in spaces such as the National Assembly and the Senate. I have read through the reports on the two-thirds gender rule and what has been submitted. While I have a contrary opinion to some of the proposals that are in there, I generally support that we must have equal representation of both genders in all the spaces, be it the Cabinet or Parliament, where decisions are being made about lives; that influence our actions in our society. Additionally, in the proposal to amend Article 98 of the Constitution to have additional seats in the Senate to represent women, I hope that this will be considered. While we are having what we call nominations, we also have to consider that you are not just being nominated because you are a woman. It is because you are first of all a leader, actively participating in the political space and interested in changing the lives of Kenyans, so that they can see you as someone who is representing the public in all these spaces. Therefore, while we are looking at additional seats or putting more affirmative actions to ensure that we reach the two-third gender rule, we also have to consider where we are sending these women. Are we sending them without a vote in the Senate? I sit in the Senate as a specially nominated Senator and you do know that my vote when it comes to matters that deal with devolution is carried by my delegation chair, who is the elected Senator for Kisii County. There are times when I sit in the House and I can represent women in this House by adding my voice through debating. When it comes down to the power of the vote specially elected Senators who are here to represent either the gender or working groups, do not have a vote. This is something that we have to"},{"id":1544884,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544884/?format=json","text_counter":517,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"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":1544885,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544885/?format=json","text_counter":518,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"consider so that we do not just have specially nominated Senators who have no power to influence decisions where it matters. I know that there has been a discussion on whether or not we need women in leadership. It is very unfortunate considering what has happened recently. We have lost the G7 Members to G6 Members on the impeachment of Governor Kawira Mwangaza. We must understand that as we are making strides in terms of gender representation and women empowerment, there are many things that need to be dealt with in these spaces. One of them is looking into policies on how we approach matters from a gender lens. We have to understand that it is not just about nominating or pushing women into the spaces of politics, but ensuring that we can be mentored and guided. Therefore, we can also be able to positively impact this politics or governance and also sustain those seats. It was very sad to have watched the several Impeachment Motions of Governor Kawira and participated in some of them that were in Plenary. The matters that came up in all those Impeachment Motions that were tabled, you could see what was lacking was that there was no gender lens even in the submissions of the impeachment. I do not want to stand in this “Upper House”, this very prestigious House, to say that most of the things that are happening are because of patriarchy. Nonetheless, allow me to say that in the Kenyan or African culture, we have inculcated a very patriarchal tradition in the ways that we live, communicate and conduct business. You can tell that we still have a long way to go. I speak this in the background of what is happening in New York. We have seen that the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is pushing the agenda of women empowerment and representation of women that we keep talking about. Consequently, in line with the theme of the International Women's Day which is Accelerate Action, we have to start actioning the policies and proposals that we are tabling. We have to start being intentional in terms of, do we want to have women in these spaces of representation. If we do, we have to be intentional, starting from this country. I have just seen that we have had many changes in the Executive. There has been a memo that has been circulated in terms of change in office for principal secretaries, ambassadors and all those changes that have happened. I was holding my breath hoping that we, as the women of Kenya, had been given a Cabinet Secretary for Gender. It has not happened yet. That is why I say that we have to be intentional. At the background of everything that is happening, we also have to hold ourselves accountable. I am specially nominated under my party, which I remain loyal to, the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). I am pushing the agenda of the Kenya Kwanza Women Charter, which I was leading in drafting and presenting. Our President put his signature and promised the women of Kenya that he was going to do certain things. He was going to ensure that the women of Kenya will feel represented and even feel the impact of this Government in terms of certain matters that just touch on our lives as women in this country. I cannot belabour the point of what has been happening on the front of femicide and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) reports, and those that have not even been reported. We have lost so many women when it comes to gender-based violence. We have spoken"},{"id":1544886,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544886/?format=json","text_counter":519,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"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":1544887,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544887/?format=json","text_counter":520,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"about the things that we need to do. We have given reports and recommendations in this House. We have brought Statements and summoned the Cabinet Secretaries. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we had the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration who is now the Deputy President, Hon. (Prof.) Kithure Kindiki. We have even had pronunciations being made by the President. As a country, are we intentional in terms of ending all forms of GBV, be it the violence that is meted out during intimate partner violence situations, female genital mutilation and online cyberbullying that is meted out on women? What have we done as a Government that signed a women's charter and promised to stand and make sure that the women of Kenya are represented? As I support the Motion on adoption the Report of NADCO, I look forward to seeing this being executed. I remain hopeful, but I am also very cautious that we are not going to end up as a talk show. One of the things that I always tell the President, who happens to be my party leader as well, is that I am stubborn. I speak up and appear to be very arrogant and adamant on certain issues. This is because I understand the promises that we put on paper and promised the women of Kenya. I promised myself when I got nominated to this seat that in my time in this Senate, I will ensure we deliver whatever we were selling during the campaigns. We talked about free sanitary towels to all schoolgirls and women in the vulnerable communities. In my day-to-day activities, these are some of the things that I hold dearly and push for in my legislative agenda. We promised the women of Kenya that we are going to have proper maternal health care. In the background of the confusion in the Social Health Authority (SHA) and the challenges with the Universal Health Care (UHC) system that we are proposing to revolutionize that space, I keep asking myself, where is the maternal healthcare? What are we doing about Linda Mama? That is why even as I get the backlash of being part of this Government, we are working behind the scenes because I hold dearly some of the things. I am well aware that, being a beneficiary of an affirmative action seat, I have to make sure my voice is heard every time we are talking about these issues. Aside from the femicide, the GBV, representation in the National Assembly, the Senate or the Cabinet, I highlight that there are certain economic programmes in this country that we have to intentionally put a gender lens. When we are proposing an economic programme for the vulnerable, startups and the youth, where are the women of Kenya in these programmes? One of the programmes that has been very successful in the Kenya Kwanza Government is the fertilizer programme. It has yielded a lot of positive results in the harvest we have had in coffee and tea production. However, every single time I see any executive or a representative of the executive talking about the fertilizer programme, I want to always ask, where are the women in that fertilizer programme? How are we ensuring that in the politics of the local distribution of fertilizer, how are the women farmers, who are also hard-working Kenyans, benefiting from this programme? When it comes to the Hustler Fund Programme, I am always keen to look at the statistics of how women are faring. How are they borrowing? If they are paying back, is it"},{"id":1544888,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544888/?format=json","text_counter":521,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"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":1544889,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544889/?format=json","text_counter":522,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Sen. Orwoba","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"beneficial to their businesses? How are the women faring in every single programme, including the diaspora jobs which have been introduced? I see the Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection going around campaigning and telling the youth to go for the jobs. I am always asking, how are the women of Kenya being represented in those programmes? Are we just looking for drivers and manual labourers, which is exclusive to the male? Are we saying that we want to line up all the young men because we want to be manual labourers because they are strong and have muscles? Where are the women of Kenya in that programme? As I stand here today as a beneficiary of the affirmative action, I support this latest move to ensure that we execute the two-thirds gender rule. I am also cautiously observing if we are going to be intentional in seeing the execution of this report from the amendments, proposals, all the way to its fruition. When it comes to matters of the women agenda, we are known to just talk. In fact, I have stopped accepting invitations by all the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) who call us for breakfast. I have told them that we have had so many breakfasts. We have been drinking tea and having lunch. We like coming together as women and say this should happen. We must now get down to business and action on the things that we have been proposing. Therefore, I want to support this. I conclude by saying that in 2025, the two-thirds gender agenda might be about having more women in office. Many years ago, we did not even have one woman governor. Maybe in the next 10 years, the two-thirds gender rule will be about having more men or equal representation of men in these spaces. Let us not think that this is just a women's affair because once we get to the balance where we are 50-50, definitely at one point, we are going to be talking about ensuring that both the men and the women have equal representation. We might surprise ourselves and by having nominated Members of Parliament in the Senate who are men coming because of the affirmative action. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I submit."},{"id":1544890,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544890/?format=json","text_counter":523,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Sen. (Dr.) Lelegwe Ltumbesi): Hon. Senators, I defer putting of the question to Order No.20."},{"id":1544891,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1544891/?format=json","text_counter":524,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Putting of the Question on the Motion deferred)"}]}