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{
    "id": 1247191,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1247191/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 1606,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "value and servicing human capital that is the highest priced factor of production that we have as a country. Because the NG-CDF has been there and a lot has happened in terms of brick and motor, I have been toying with an idea of enlarging the bracket of the bursary that is offered through the NG-CDF, especially from the current band of 25-35 per cent to somewhere around 50 per cent. The reason I have been entertaining this idea is because I have a programme supported by the NG-CDF in Kiharu which we call “Kiharu Masomo Bora Programme”. Parents of Kiharu who have their young ones in day schools pay only Ksh1,000 per term for school fees. Those parents who are interested in having remedial classes for their children can have local arrangements with the teachers. However, they can pay up to a maximum of Ksh1,000 per term. This is to encourage many children in that age group to be in schools. It also makes school exciting. We realised that even us when we were in school, we were kept there for more hours because of other things that happened in school, especially food but not books. So, when we realised that we cannot change that fact, we worked around it and changed their menu. Majority of us when we were in school took staple food from Monday to the last day of the week on Friday. What we have done is to recalibrate the same. We now have rice for three days and the staple food, githeri, for three days. We also provide food on Saturday so that the learners who want to be in school on Saturdays have an opportunity to have meals while in school. I do not want to give just the score card. I am giving facts in terms of how the NG-CDF can be transformative. When we took over, the classrooms of the 112 public primary schools in Kiharu were dilapidated. They never qualified to be called classrooms because the structures looked more like museums. However, with the assistance of the NG-CDF, we have transformed all the 112 public primary schools. All of them look like what we call “academies” and they are tiled. The reason I am sharing all these is because I believe there is a lot that we can do with the NG-CDF as a community fund, especially with how we expend that money. Community money should not be expended by big contractors from big cities. The contractors who should benefit from funds that are community based should be people in areas that we undertake the projects. That is what we have done in Kiharu. We involved the local community in all our projects. We use procurement methods that require all the money to remain around the community. By doing so, we have imparted skills of fixing tiles to 150 fundis from Kiharu who did all the tiling in classrooms. We also trained in-house a team of 150 people who do all manner of professional paintings that we want. The reason I am saying this is not because of the Kiharu NG-CDF. I am using Kiharu as a representation of the 290 constituencies to show the country the level at which the NG-CDF can transform the country. Because of the nature of this Fund, other countries have come to Kenya. Recently, I was with a colleague friend from the Parliament of Zambia. They have a similar Fund like the NG-CDF. They came to benchmark on how we administer the NG-CDF in Kenya. We have to be alive to the dynamics of change in the management of such a Fund so that we do not, again, give stories like the ones we give when Singapore came to Kenya to learn about national development. That is a reason why the NG-CDF should keep evolving so that it continues to address issues that are current. That is part of the reason I believe and entertain the idea that we must enlarge the bracket of the NG-CDF in terms of bursary because many more constituencies can offer masomo bora kind of programmes that lessen the burden on parents, especially those with children in day schools."
}