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{
"id": 1451703,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1451703/?format=api",
"text_counter": 315,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nairobi County, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Esther Passaris",
"speaker": null,
"content": "them sanitary towels, soap, lotion and toilet paper. The total cost was about Ksh6,000 for both of them. Obviously, their family cannot afford that. When we got to school, I engaged the headteacher who told me that the parents should pay school fees on time because the capitation is little and comes late. It is supposed to be about Ksh21,000 and the Government has paid Ksh11,000 only. So, if parents do not pay school fees, the schools are worried that if they cannot provide dinner, water and firewood, the children will burn the school. The Board held a meeting with parents and they decided to send all the children with school fees arrears home. I asked her what the school fees balance was for the two children! She said it was Ksh30,000. I asked her what amount had been paid and she said that Ksh5,000 had been paid by the area Member of Parliament, Hon. Memusi. They had not received any money from the Member for Dagoretti South. So, the two students, from the same family which lives in Dagoretti South, had school fees arrears of over Ksh30,000. I paid that amount from my pocket and the children remained in school. The headteacher refused to give me a discount even though the children were not in school for two weeks and had not consumed their services. I want to talk about the NG-CDF and the NGAAF because I feel that leaders should be genuine and sincere. All the members of county assembly (MCAs), governors who also have scholarship programs, County Woman Representatives (CWAs) and Members of Parliament should not handle bursaries. This House needs to pass a Bill for free education where capitation goes up to Ksh30,000 and families pay Ksh1,000. But how will a family like the one I have talked about from Dagoretti South, which lost 20 dairy cows during the drought, manage to raise Ksh1,000? The only way we can do this is by going back to what Raila Amollo Odinga said in his Manifesto. He was going to give Ksh6,000 to every family with unemployed parents. I do not think this is sufficient. We should have an unemployment benefit of Ksh10,000 and then we ensure that it is well vetted and the representatives of the people are involved because sometimes the administration fails us. I saw this when we were compensating the people who were affected by demolitions. Many of them did not get their money. If we have an unemployment benefit of Ksh10,000 per household and Ksh15,000 per household with a child or parent with disability, this will cost about Ksh125 billion. To be honest, we can afford an unemployment benefit for 10 million households. Once we do that, we straight away take care of the hardship that citizens are facing. A household can use Ksh1,000 out of the Ksh10,000 as a family contribution towards their child’s education. Then, we can educate them on family planning. Parents would like their children to finish university. Therefore, they will plan their families so that they can afford to educate their children. Once those households are registered, we should enable them to seek employment. We should look at the kind of Technical and Vocational Education and Trainings (TVETs) we can offer employment opportunities. This will give us data of the unemployed people and enable us to guide them on career opportunities. We need a holistic approach to poverty. I feel that we should depoliticise the Ksh75 million allocated to Members of Parliament for bursaries, Ksh1.5 million allocated to CWAs, Ksh4 million allocated to MCAs and Ksh1 billion allocated to governors for scholarships. Let us depoliticise education and make it completely free up to secondary school level. Then, we can ensure that students report to school and we have 100 per cent transition. The first challenge will be books and the second, uniforms, mattresses and toiletries. Let schools provide some of those needs so that no child has to carry a mattress and a box. 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."
}