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{
    "id": 1214145,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1214145/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Turkana East, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Nicholas Ng’ikor",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me a chance to add my voice to this Motion. I rise to oppose it based on several reasons. Our education sector has a lot of things for Members of Parliament to discuss and find solutions so as to enable schools to develop. Like now, instead of talking about uniform texture, colour and others, we should be talking about infrastructure, shortage of teachers in schools, school fees and cost of uniforms. Hon. Temporary Speaker, a few minutes ago, you announced the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of students from two schools in Dagoretti. We looked up to identify them because they were wearing their uniform. If the uniform was the same, how could we have known which school you are talking about? Maybe you would have told the House there are two schools in the Speaker’s Gallery. School uniform is meant for identity. When we say we should have one uniform for all our schools, what are we talking about? A Member compared school uniform to police uniform. The police are identified under one name the National Police Service (NPS). However, we have many schools and so, how do we compare the two uniforms? If we have a general uniform for our schools, how can we compare it with the police uniform? Unless we want to say that all our schools should have one name, maybe one for primary schools and another for secondary schools and this is not possible. I oppose and instead of talking about texture and colour, let us talk about the cost of school uniform. So, parents can buy at a low cost. As we talk about uniforms, they are not given to parents, but are bought. Business communities control the prices of the commodities they sell. So, as we talk about prices, do we have some land somewhere to plant cotton so that we can have our own for school uniforms? No! The textile companies determine the price of textiles they sell to the business community. Then, they sell uniforms at their own prices and I do not think we can control this. There is the issue of some schools who are proud of their uniforms. In my Turkana County, there is a national school called Turkana Girls which has been given the name ‘green angels’ because of their uniform. Even their buses were green before the yellow colour came. So, they are proud of the name they got from the colour of their uniform. When we talk of one colour, we will lose the glory of that school being known as the green angels. In my constituency also, there is a school called Moi AIC Kang’itit Girls, which is known by the name ‘white angels’ because of their uniform. When we have the same uniform, we are going to lose this glory in some of our schools. The other issue is that of colour. Kenya is big. It is like saying everybody in Kenya should wear the same attire. I do not believe a tribe like the Maasai can agree because they have their own preferred colour. The issue of colour is unique to everybody. Personally, there are clothes with certain colours which I cannot put on because I have my preferred colours. It is therefore, good to leave our schools to choose the colours they want, but determine the price of uniforms. When we talk about the uniforms, it is not the colour or texture. I can buy any material of the requested colour and take my children to school. 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."
}