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{
    "id": 1476592,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1476592/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 143,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dagoretti South, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Kiarie",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "see that we can implement FPE. However, I find faults in this motion, such as the way it is structured and the way it suggests we move forward. The first fault is that even if we were to collate all these bursary funds listed in this Motion, I am certain that the money would not add up to a sum that would be equal to provide FPE. The funds might look scattered, and it might look like a lot of money is going to these funds. However, collectively, if we put all the money together, it might not end up providing what she is looking for, which is FPE. Secondly, to say that we want to fold up all education funds and give them back to the Ministry is going to run us into problems that we already know too well about. There is money for infrastructural development in the Ministry which is supposed to build classrooms, laboratories, and dormitories in schools. However, if you go to any of the 290 constituencies, the classrooms you will see are the ones constructed by NG-CDF. They are classrooms that have been put up by a decentralised fund. This is to say that centralising money at the Ministry is actually injurious to the progress of this country. That same Ministry that has been unable to administer and preside over collective funds, like infrastructure funds, is the same Ministry we want to fold all the funds and take to. Free Primary Education as a concept is beautiful on paper. However, when you hit the ground, you realise that this concept, initiated by a very brilliant mind in the name of His Excellency President Emeritus Mwai Kibaki, ran into headwinds the moment it was introduced. The headwinds that we ran into include the capacity of the Ministry to account for all the learners that are in our schools. Today, we have a programme called capitation. But if you went to the Ministry of Education today and asked how many students are being funded using the capitation funds that we allocate in the Budget in this House, the Ministry cannot give you exact data to tell you that these are the children that we are taking care of. The faults that I am raising are not faults in the Motion of Hon. Esther Passaris. These are fundamental structural and systemic faults at the Ministry of Education. If we decided to fold up these funds and take them back to the Ministry, what would end up happening is the same thing that has happened with capitation, the same thing that has happened with infrastructure money, and the same thing that is happening with the school-feeding programme, where we end up in a situation where the Ministry presents figures that it cannot back up. When they tell us that they are feeding this number of children in our constituencies, we know that is not the number they are feeding. That is why constituencies like Dagoretti South have decided to have schools feed the children on their own. Today, Dagoretti South is the only constituency in this Republic that has a comprehensive school-feeding programme. The programme feeds over 22,000 learners every day from a decentralised system of a hub and spoke model that feeds our children out of a kitchen built out of a decentralised fund called NG-CDF. The bigger point I am making is that our drive should be towards decentralisation and not centralisation. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I oppose. Thank you very much."
}