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{
    "id": 1172165,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1172165/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 320,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I have heard the comments that have been made by Members on the purported constitutional issues. I will leave that to you to guide. But from what I have heard, the issues seem to be, first on the issues of the students being placed in private universities. For those who may have chosen to ignore, the truth of the matter is that there was a time before the exams were rationalised when everyone was passing, and the number of spaces in public universities were all taken up. Hence the students who had passed but could not find a place in public universities were then placed in private universities, and the Government would pay a certain capitation. In fact it is cheaper to educate students in private universities because only capitation is paid, than in a public university where apart from the capitation, they also get grants, the buildings and lecturers are paid for by the public. We are not talking here about private versus public universities. We are talking about Kenyan students or students of Kenyan parents who have passed, but they do not have a space in a public university because the spaces are not available. I hear we can expand, but universities are not like starting up a kiosk, and that is why most of those universities have failed. This is because they were done in an expansionist way without regard even to the quality of lecturers you need. We just passed a law here that requires that lecturers in universities must have a PhD. How many PhDs do we have in this country? It is not even enough for the… Hon. Speaker, I do not want to argue with Hon. Baya. I would want to contribute. So there is a history as to why students were placed. I was in the Departmental Committee on Education and Research, and I know that we looked at all these matters and we decided that the best way forward is not to remove those students who have been placed in a private university midway through their course. Let them finish, but progressively as the spaces become available in the public universities, the placement service to now give priority to the public universities. As Hon. Members have rightly put it, it is up to the choice of the students. If students want to move from a public to a private university, they have that choice, and they go and pay the top up or whatever it is. However, this Bill is not… I am looking at the Bill. There is nowhere in this Bill where it says that students shall be placed in private universities to the exclusion of public universities. Whoever is saying that is not quoting from this Bill, because it is not there. It is not in this Bill."
}