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{
    "id": 1379547,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1379547/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 337,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "On the Sexual Offenses Act, I come from a community where cases of child abuse and sexual molestation for both girl and boy children are becoming rampant. Indeed, many a time, the convict or the offender will be released and come to threaten and intimidate the witnesses and the victims. For that reason, many cases go unreported because, as they say: “There is nothing I will do to the offender”. It is a good idea that the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary keeps a register so that the information can be shared among various court cadres. However, we need to go a bit further. Just as we have our records at the Registrar of Persons for identification cards, birth certificates and the rest, that conviction for a convicted sexual offender should be part of personal data. For any reason, if they are caught as we see in the movies, one can just key in and get all the unclassified personal data of a person. For a convicted sexual offender, that information should not be considered personal or classified. It should be made available so that when I see a sexual offender probably hovering around children, I should raise an alarm in whichever way so that the offender is not allowed to come close to children especially. The new system they want to come up with should also find a way of incorporating the same. I want to skip the Veterinary Surgeons and Veterinary Para-Professionals Act. I might not understand what the amendment is about because I am not a veterinary doctor. However, allow me to speak about the Universities Act. There are two very critical amendments that are proposed here. Initially, a former national polytechnic could be declared a technical university. That is why the Technical University of Kenya came out of the Nairobi Polytechnic. The Technical University of Mombasa came out of Mombasa Polytechnic. It is all over. This amendment is trying to expand. We are going to declare several Technical Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETs) or Technical Training Institutes (TTIs) technical or national polytechnics. They may not have the requisite infrastructure to get to that position. That is why the amendment under (b) expands the requirements or the criteria to include having the requisite capacity in physical facilities and human resources appropriate for a technical university. Once this passes as I hope, we need to put in place the criteria for nomination to become a national polytechnic because of the geopolitics that have pervaded this country. Bumbe TTI was established and its foundation stone was placed in 1974 when Prof. Julia Ojiambo was the Member of Parliament for the then Busia Central Constituency. Baba Moi opened it in 1977. It has never been elevated to a national polytechnic regardless of the fact that it has the entire infrastructure it requires, save that successive governments and donors have given us money to a point that it is far much bigger than any other. However, it has never been given that status. We keep urging the national Government to give us that status so that we can eventually encourage the community so that Bumbe TTI gets university status. I totally agree with the provision that it remains Government-sponsored to make it universal so that any child going to university, whether private or public university, must meet some academic qualifications. Who can be better placed to set those academic qualifications? That is the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS). 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"
}