Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1456646,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1456646/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 4036,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Umulkher Harun",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "we are in the appropriations period or allocation of funds. My current concern is that we keep on allocating funds, but budgeting is never an issue. How the funds are utilised is an issue and that is a subject that we have to address as Members of the House. We need to curb corruption and address the issue of disbursement which delays the many plans that have been put in place. If I focus on the Immigration Office, yesterday, they issued a memo saying they are having a limit or putting a 10-year renewal limit on national identity cards that have been issued. I got my national ID in the year 2017, but I applied for it in the year 2015 immediately after I finished high school. I wonder whether the Immigration Office has the capacity to start a renewal process when they have failed to issue passports and identity cards timeously. Can they take on the burden of having a renewal process when they have failed to even implement the mandate that they have of issuing passports and ID cards timeously? That is my concern because it took me almost three years to get my ID. What guarantee do the people of Kenya have that their IDs will be issued on time? I would want to caution the Principal Secretary for Immigration, Hon. Bitok, that the memo issued by the Ministry yesterday is out of order. It does not speak to the concerns of Kenyans, especially going by the prevailing times in our political weather. Is it even right for them to issue such statements currently when every young Kenyan is up in arms demanding for good services? The process is already slow. I was at the Immigration Office last week on Friday and I had to call the Principal Secretary himself and tell him to help me process some A, B, C, and D documents. Any other Kenyan does not have such an access. Unfortunately, this is something that they are putting out currently. I would want to caution them that, that is a policy issue. It should come through the Floor of the House. It is not for the Ministry to decide to issue a memo to put a 10-year limit. That is wrong. It is out of order and I would want to understand the position of the Ministry for taking such a stand. The second issue is on education. The biggest beneficiaries of education are young people. Myself, as I am standing on this Floor, I am a beneficiary of education. Young people in this country are having a lot of demands in terms of school fees arrears. This is the right time because the country is asking the right questions. The concerns of Gen. Zs are not out of the ordinary. They are simply asking for good governance and for the systems to work for them. We have the NG- CDF which is currently appropriated and Members of Parliament have a portion of it. However, if you look keenly, you will realise that the issue of school fee payment or bursary is not sufficient even in the component of NG-CDF. In the same breath, we have bursaries from the county governments. The county governments have money allocated every year. An average of Ksh300 million multiplied by 47 counties gets into billions. We have NGAAF that has bursaries. The NG-CDF also has bursaries. We have the Ministry which also has bursaries. My proposal is that in the spirit of good faith and now that we are having a conversation of national interest and there is in place a Government of national unity… Should we not lead from the front? I will be told I am a nominated Member and I cannot speak about NG-CDF. Anyway, I will speak as a Member of Parliament with the interest of young people at heart. What if we volunteer to have consolidated funds so that school fees are paid from one docket? NG-CDF can then address every other issue. This is to ensure that we have free education. We already have the blueprint that was done by the Government of the late President Mwai Kibaki. I was a child, but I know that the system worked. We are all here today because of free education. The blueprint is there. Let us implement it so that free education goes up to the tertiary level. 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."
}