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{
    "id": 1106335,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1106335/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Emurua Dikirr, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kipyegon Ng’eno",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for letting me also have an opportunity to contribute to this particular Amendment Bill introduced to the House by Hon. Keter. I would wish to thank him for actually thinking of those young Kenyans who are struggling to get themselves some opportunities in life. I hope all of us will support this Amendment Bill because the youths who are struggling to make ends meet come from our constituencies. These are people for whom we need to work day and night to ensure that they also attain opportunities in life. It is an absurdity that we live in a country where the Government finds pleasure in taxing each and every opportunity they see fit to tax. All the demands we are making on our youths, especially those who are looking for employment, are payments towards Government agencies. When you ask a youth to pay Kshs1,000 or Kshs2,000 to get a clearance certificate from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), which is a government-funded agency, that is a very clear indication that our Government is failing in catering for its citizens. We ask struggling young Kenyans to pay Kshs2,000 to get Certificates of Good Conduct from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and other documents from CRB, HELB and other agencies. Some of these are Government agencies and they are supposed to be offering free services. We normally provide for their operations in national Budget in this House. It is absurdity that the Government finds pleasure in taxing her citizens. These agencies siphon money from people who have just finished college in the name of trying to get documents from them or asking them to pay for certain Government services. These are people who have no money. They have not been employed. I would wish this amendment would go further to state that only people who will be applying for other jobs should be asked to produce these particular documents. Why should we demand a lot from people who are seeking to be employed for the first time? You ask them to produce clearance certificates from KRA and EACC to prove that they are not criminals. There are so many criminals in this country who are employed and we are not even asking for anything from them. The Constitution is clear that you cannot be victimised until you are proven guilty. We have so many criminals employed by this Government and earning millions of shillings yet we are not asking them to produce such documents. Why should we ask for these documents from young people who are struggling to make ends meet? Looking at the demands that are made, even the procedure involved in acquiring the particular documents is so stressful. People waste a lot of time on queues and waiting for the documents to be ready. In some cases opportunity windows that the youths seek to seize lapse by the time they receive the documents. There is so much corruption in the departments from where people are supposed to acquire the documents. You have to pay money even to find your way into the premises where the relevant agencies are housed. The most appalling process is that of getting clearance from CRBs. Currently, cumulatively, Kenyans are indebted, especially through Fuliza, in the tune of billions of shillings. Individuals may be owing sums of Kshs200, Kshs300 or Kshs500. It is absurd that most of the lending entities forward names of people who have failed to pay a paltry Kshs200 to CRBs. These are mostly students who are looking for employment. They"
}