HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1077128,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1077128/?format=api",
"text_counter": 334,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Molo, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Kuria Kimani",
"speaker": {
"id": 13435,
"legal_name": "Francis Kuria Kimani",
"slug": "francis-kuria-kimani"
},
"content": "In our Report, we have emphasized and reallocated money to the need of funding capitation to private universities. As we speak, the students that did their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education a few months ago will get admission letters to the universities. They do not choose whether they want to go to a public university or a private one. So, for those students who are admitted at Strathmore University, Daystar University, or at whichever university in this country, the money for their capitation must be released and released on time. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have even been able to see that the Ministry of Higher Education should sit down and see why it is cheaper to educate our students in private universities more than in public universities. It means that on the core structure of our universities, we need to sit down and rethink their funding method, how we are going to save money and ensure that, at least, there is value for money. I insist that money that is supposed to be for capitation for our students in private universities must be released on time as it is for public universities. In any case, those students do not necessarily choose to be there. There are several initiatives that have been made to deal with the issue of unemployment. Many of them through a Bill that came in the last Parliament through the Young Parliamentarians Association and the National Employment Bill that was signed into an Act by the President. This is the first time that we have seen a budgetary allocation to National Employment Authority. We are hoping that the National Employment Authority will rise to the occasion, that they are going to empower our youth with capacity building, and that a young person who completes a particular course and training will have a place, a shoulder to cry on, and a Government institution that they can go and be sure that they are going to be placed in some employment. Our young people are crying. You find graduates out in the village are doing very many jobs without employment and yet, through the wisdom of this House, we passed the National Employment Bill into an Act and we have now put that money to that Authority. We are hoping that they are going to help address this issue. The issue about commercial attachés in foreign ministries has been said. There is a lot of potential for employment overseas. We recommend that there must be a budgetary allocation for commercial attachés in these institutions so that we do not leave the employment of our young people in those overseas countries to bureaus that go exploiting them. If we employ enough commercial attachés, then we do not need to go through a private bureau to go and work in Saudi Arabia, we do not need to go through a private bureau, pay a lot of money and be exploited to go and work in Qatar and all those other countries. We are hoping that the recommendations made by this Committee and House will be taken into consideration that these commercial attachés are going to be recruited, and our young people are going to be assisted to get employment in those foreign countries. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, at the Committee stage, we had a challenge of allocating money whether for infrastructure projects or for employment of teachers. As a Committee, we were clear that when you employ teachers in this country, you save three problems. You save the great problem of unemployment. You solve the second problem of quality of education because no matter how many classes we build, as long as there are no teachers in those classrooms to teach those students, we will not have an educated generation. So, employing more teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will ensure that we have solved the problem of unemployment. We will ensure that we have quality education, and most importantly, those teachers pay taxes and, therefore, it is going to lead to an increase in our revenues. 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."
}