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"id": 102934,
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"content": "(iv) encourage growth of SMEs by creating strong linkages with major industries. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Government has focused on improving selected indicators of interest to our small businesses. These include starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, accessing credit, paying taxes and trading across borders. We have achieved substantial progress in the current financial year on these selected indicators. Toward this end, we digitized records at the Companies Registry, reduced the time taken to obtain a construction permit and number of days required to start a business and halved the time to pay taxes and statutory contributions. We have also licensed 4 microfinance banks, allowed for agency banking and licensed first credit reference bureau to facilitate sharing of credit information among banks. Mr. Speaker, Sir, hon. Members will recall that I launched the first phase of the e-registry in August, 2009. I expect to complete the final phase before the end of 2010/2011 Financial Year. When completed, the e-registry will enable our small businesses to apply and pay for licenses online, including through use of innovative mobile payment platforms. We will also deepen our regulatory reforms to further remove administrative barriers to SMEs. In particular, we shall cascade business regulatory reforms to the local authorities where our SMEs are established to encourage their growth and drive our recovery, thus allowing them to create employment to our youth. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as part of efforts to accelerate employment creation to the youth and allow them to contribute constructively toward economic transformation, the Government will develop a comprehensive programme to equip unemployed youth with practical technical and vocational skills, and consciously encourage the development of high-end innovators. In this regard, I have proposed a number of strategic interventions whose implementations is expected to significantly expand sustainable economic opportunities to our youth. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have allocated a total of Kshs1 billion to initiate expansion of all 26 technical training institutes in the country. This upgrade will expand the facilities in these institutions, thus allowing for increased admission of our youth for practical training in various fields of engineering, trade, building and entrepreneurial skills, among other areas. Further, in recognition of the critical role played by youth polytechnics towards practical training of our young men and women in the rural areas, I have allocated funds to recruit on contract terms 2,000 tutors to be deployed countrywide for our village polytechnics. I have further allocated Kshs640 million to expand training facilities in the eight national polytechnics and university colleges in order to allow for more admission of youth to undergo practical skill and training under the TIVET Programme. Third, in order to start full exploitation of the heavy investment we have made on ICT, and in view of the large pool of ICT talents and the potential employment opportunities we can create in the ICT sector, I have also allocated Kshs560 million to upgrade all the 14 public information, science and technology colleges throughout the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, through the generous support of the Royal Government of the Netherlands, we will also be able to upgrade the Kenya Science Technical College and nine other regional centres of excellence countrywide. The implementation of these measures will allow us to develop adequate quantum of relevant ICT related skills and trained personnel thereby enabling our economy to reap the benefits of ICT. The youths who graduate from the colleges will be able to apply their knowledge and find employment in the assembly and repair of the 63,000 computers which we shall"
}