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{
    "id": 1483196,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1483196/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 360,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Busia County, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Catherine Omanyo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Culture chaired by Hon. Dan Wanyama. This idea of having libraries devolved is among the best things to happen since the sliced bread. For some of us who were raised in the remote areas, it was evident that even owning a textbook was only left for the “haves”. The “have nots” depended on notes that the teacher wrote on the blackboard. We would copy the notes and go home to read. So, we want those libraries not to be at the centre of the county. As the Woman Representative of Busia County, in Budalang’i, there is a student or a pupil somewhere who is thirsty to read and cannot afford a dollar a day or Ksh100 a day. It will be a challenge to find fare from a place like Bulwani in Budalang’i to just go and read in Busia Town. How does a pupil or a student in a place called Aidomoru in Teso North even start? There is need to have a motivating factor. When those libraries are finally put in place, they should go closer to the communities. They should be put in the sub-counties where people can walk because we are used to walking anyway. Also, libraries are very good for those who cannot afford internet bundles. Just knowing that they have a free library that they can go to read in will expand their thinking. We will be bringing up people who can think for our nation, so that we can stop being described as a “Third World” nation. It will also be easy for students to search for the implied meaning of various things, which they can understand. If one does not have internet bundles, one cannot read a textbook from the introduction, body to the conclusion. So, accessibility is paramount. Centralising libraries is like giving an opportunity to cockroaches and rats to feast on the books because very few people can access a library that is far away. Bringing such a resource closer to the community means that children who come from very poor families in the lowest strata of life will not feel discriminated against because the “haves” and the “have-nots” will both be able to access the books. So, a student from Kosera Village in Teso South will be able to read what a student from the Nairobi Academy in Nairobi County is also reading. In that way, knowledge will be well spread and it will become easier for all the children, even those in the rural areas, to come up with solutions for our many issues. We also assume that everybody can afford android phones and can easily google information. Some people have phones but they cannot afford enough internet bundles to access information. With those libraries, more people will become knowledgeable and thus resulting in higher literacy levels. It will be easier to reason with a knowledgeable person than someone with limited knowledge."
}