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{
    "id": 1098075,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1098075/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 232,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "Madam Deputy Speaker, in China, cottage industries are run by people who have technical knowledge. The furniture that you see people import here are not made by PhD holders. It is just people with technical training who run cottage industries and they are controlling a huge market. There are a number of Kenyans here who have this mentality that the best furniture can only come from China. That is misleading. Our own prisons make the best furniture and we have them here. There is a furniture business called Panesar Interiors on Mombasa Road. I passed by the other day and I was told it is now in the third generation of the family. If you want the best furniture, you will get it there. They have incredible talent in craftsmanship and you get the best dining tables and staircases. You will be shocked that even without this framework of licensing trainers, Panesar Interiors does classes from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. Youngsters are given an opportunity to improve their talent on craftsmanship on how to make beautiful desks, staircases and the likes. We have talent in this county. All we need is a framework in our counties to ensure there is focus on VTCs. My County has a big VTC called Ekerubo Gietai Technical Training Institute. It is huge but you will be surprised that eight years into devolution, there is no equipment better than what business people in Nairobi City County have. What you get in Nairobi Timber is not found in Ekerubo Gietai Technical Training Institute. Madam Deputy Speaker, look at the budget that we give to our counties. My county will receive Kshs6.2 billion this financial year. A business like Nairobi Timber in Nairobi City County can have good equipment and machines more than a county. I like the obligation placed on counties to equip these institutions. For you to train people who can be released to the market to compete in furniture making with other private businesses, you must give them the best equipment. You do not tell people to do it the traditional way, where you give them some wood and a panga and ask them to make furniture. Go to these private enterprises in Nairobi City County and you will see the kind of equipment that we have. I thank the Committee for having picked up that. I hope once this Bill is enacted into law, our counties will invest seriously in purchasing equipment to train our youth and enable them compete in the market. We also need to have our priorities right. Just to understand the priorities of our Members of County Assemblies (MCAs), a hospital in my county has been allocated Kshs1.5 million in this financial year’s budget, to improve infrastructure."
}