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{
"id": 105453,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/105453/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Eng. Rege",
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"speaker": {
"id": 135,
"legal_name": "James Kwanya Rege",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say what I personally need to see in the Budget. I come from a very poor part of this country. When I became the Member of Parliament, I immediately released the poverty which exists in my constituency is due to lack of education. I will, therefore, endeavour during my tenure in Parliament to ensure my people get education. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to see that our pupils get appropriate education or tools which they can use when they graduate. This cannot be done by nothing other than fully funding and providing the materials to schools and teachers to use to teach the kids so that when they graduate, they are qualified to tackle any job and not necessarily the white collar jobs. The white collar jobs are hard to find in this country. We do not have them anymore. To that end, I would like to see the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance provide funds to increase the number of youth polytechnics or technical institutions. They should be, at least, six per district. This will ensure that those students who were not lucky to join universities can get proper training from their homes inexpensively so that they can do some work on their own or be absorbed in industries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if this is done, the Jua Kali industry will be enhanced. It has been proved that jua kali is really helping this country in terms of employment and cash flow. I will not stop at polytechnics only. I will also advocate higher learning in technical institutions. I know this country does not have many industries but a country like Singapore, which does not have water supply or electricity, and it imports almost everything, is a very rich country. It is rich out of nothing but Information Communication Technology (ICT). With the ICT, you can export a lot. I, therefore, ask the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance to ensure that all our secondary schools are equipped with computers. In the 2009/2010 Budget, the idea of mobile buses taking computers to schools was rejected by our Committee. We did so because we found out that it was not going to help our schools because of lack of infrastructure. We do not have good infrastructure in the countryside or roads to provide adequate access to schools to accommodate the mobile computer buses. We, therefore, agreed with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance that this coming year, means and ways be found to provide computers to all secondary schools. This should not be subjected to any negotiation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am talking about the ICT because two weeks ago, the President launched e-learning in this country. E-learning will be a saviour. Just as I have said before, it is a saviour because even our retired school teachers, relatives or pupils who cannot make it to schools can learn or get further education in the comfort of their homes. I also want to talk about Appropriations-in-Aid (A-in-A). In this country, we cannot move far unless we have appropriate infrastructure. I will repeat the word âinfrastructureâ. This includes roads, energy, water and so on. It behooves the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance to provide enough funds to ensure that Kenyans get cheap energy whether from coal, nuclear, geothermal and any form of inexpensive energy. This is because we will lose investors to other countries if we do not reduce the cost of energy. The cost of energy can only be reduced if we generate cheap energy. Research in this country has indicated that geothermal or coal can provide inexpensive energy. Those are the only areas I recommend that the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Energy explores. On roads, we have tea, cotton, coffee and fish. Just name it. If we do not have roads that lead to these areas where we collect these products, we will not make enough A-in-A. I want to talk about what I know best, and that is fish. During the rainy season like now you cannot reach the beaches to get the fish. Fish contribute, at least, Kshs4 billion annually and yet we have totally ignored it. We have ignored it by not constructing enough roads to reach the beaches and not providing coolers. We have not even taken care of our lakes. Lake Victoria is choked by water hyacinth and nobody has even lifted a finger to see what can be done to help fishermen get fish from the lake. This lake is also choked by soil erosion from the highlands. This destroys areas where fish breed. Nobody has lifted a finger to look into these problems. Finally, I would like to ask the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance to ensure that all taxes are removed from all ICT equipment. This is the only way that Kenyans who still do not have mobile phones and computers can get them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is my contribution and I support the Motion."
}