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{
    "id": 105919,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/105919/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 448,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kabando wa Kabando",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth and Sports",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 31,
        "legal_name": "Kabando wa Kabando",
        "slug": "kabando-kabando"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I rise to support this Motion. When the Minister for Finance read the Budget for this Financial Year, there was a lot of excitement and anticipation. This was because of the very unprecedented Economic Stimulus Package and the allocation of resources for the Kazi kwa Vijana Programme. These are milestones which constitute a departure from how the Budgets have been done in the past. In this Financial Year, it is important for us to address the challenges and shortfalls that accompany these unprecedented programmes. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Kazi kwa Vijana Programme has received a lot of praises but there has been concern even coming from the Minister for Finance himself and the Office of the Prime Minister. This is because of the infrastructural challenges on implementation, where monies were allocated, contracts executed by the line Ministries but because of its unprecedented nature and the fact that structures where such a programme could borrow did not exist or achieve what could enrich information or knowledge, including technical, there were delays or some confusion. In many constituencies, there were even queries raised by Members of Parliament. Queries were also raised at the lower level, the other political arms of the constituencies which are the electoral wards, because the leadership was not involved. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it would be important to suggest that in order to execute the Kazi kwa Vijana Programme effectively and ensure that we cover the gaps that arose out of the infrastructural weakness, the Ministry of Finance constitutes a programme on publicity. This programme sort of received monopolistic publicity from the Office of the Prime Minister while many of the line Ministries were receiving direct funding from the Treasury. It is important for the Treasury itself to have a publicity mechanism and also track the implementation on the ground so that this programme is de-politicized. I am from the Ministry of Youth and Sports and there is no other Ministry relevant with the responsibility of youth programmes including youth employment. In fact, it is within our mandate to find opportunities and even create capacities for the youth of Kenya. We have built 41 youth empowerment centres to create avenues or fora for entrepreneurship training and this is happening. This financial year we are doing another 40 and, therefore, by the end of this financial year, this country will have a minimum of 80 constituencies with youth empowerment centres to deal with questions of entrepreneurship and the Kazi kwa Vijana (KKV) is about youth entrepreneurship and temporary interventions which will create tangible start-up programmes for the youth. Therefore, the Minister for Finance should hasten connectivity improvement as far as the implementation of the KKV is concerned so that it is removed from the Office of the Prime Minister because it has the responsibility to macro-supervise the other Ministries but not to micro-manage the issues that are supposed to be with a Ministry like the Ministry for Youth and Sports."
}