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{
"id": 1341369,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1341369/?format=api",
"text_counter": 639,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for recognising that challenge. You had given me an opportunity to also weigh in on the Bill before us. Allow me to first take this opportunity to congratulate my brother, Hon. Gikaria, Member for Nakuru Town East, for being considerate to our youth and women, and the challenges they go through in our society. Most of the Members who have contributed have raised some issues which we could reasonably look into. At the same time, it looked like we were being treated so much on the risks of abuse, more than the current risk of lack of employment in the country. We appreciate the recent events that have taken place - which one which has been quoted by Hon. KJ - of our youth being lured into providing data for Worldcoin just because of some monetary incentive. This tells us of the desperation in our country. Not long ago, about a week ago, during the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) recruitment process, they had allocated 350 positions for the National Youth Service (NYS). The turnout in Embakasi was more than 30,000 people, as reported by the media. This tells us about the situation we are in. It is not the duty of the Government to make a profit because it is not an enterprise. Instead, the Government is there to provide services. One of the elements of delivering services is enabling our young men and women in society to get employment. I heard Members saying they should be allowed to register for free, and later, it can be recouped. I want to depart from this and say it is not the responsibility of the Government to make a profit or create a receivable account against our youth and women. My support for this presentation is informed by the direction this Government is taking, especially on matters of the youth. We all appreciate this because this House passed the budget, which focused on training youth in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as a county government function. We need to ask ourselves, after giving the youth technical knowledge and skills, our country cannot absorb all of them. After being subjected to training, it will be unfair to people who took their time attending class to be trained and then unleashed into a market that does not exist. That is why you will not differentiate between trained and untrained youth when you visit our villages and shopping centres. Therefore, this amendment seeks to give policy direction regarding youth training by creating job opportunities for them. It aims to allow young men who are trained in woodwork, plumbing, electrical, technical, and civil works to participate where the Government seeks to spend. According to macro-economics, the Government expenditure is a function of creating employment or income in the country. The formula used is Y=C+I +G+NX. Therefore, why not allow our youth to participate where the Government seeks to put money into water, roads and buildings? One of the policy directions in the country is affordable housing. Why not allow those youths to participate in multi-national contracts like building roads? We need to improve the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act to create a provision that when an international bidder wins a huge contract, they should sub-contract our youths for the specifically tailored work domain so that the Government expenditure can reach our young people and women. This way, we can alleviate poverty and increase household incomes. The biggest challenge in this nation is not the high cost of living. In as much as we want to complain about the rising cost of food prices, fuel and others, the biggest challenge we have is a lack of disposable income. Even if prices were reduced, Kenyans would not afford to spend because they have no purchasing power. We are now creating a legal framework for the youth to participate in income generation. Then, we can be sure of improved livelihood to support their households, families and lifestyles. 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."
}