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{
"id": 1492116,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1492116/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Chimera",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "I rise in support of this Motion and would like to urge Members of this honourable House to support it. This is an idea whose time has come before us. Many of our colleagues would come out and say we are trying to fight them politically, especially those who are in charge or those who have a fund that can propagate bursaries. We have seen from experience and I know some of the Members of this Senate have sat in the lower House as National Assembly Members, had a chance to interact, run, programme and channel funds known as the bursary funds. Today, a Women Representative has funds under National Government, Affirmative Action Fund, to which I am a proud pioneer fund manager. Today, our colleagues are running the NG-CDF. Today, our colleagues who are governors have various scholarships in their own ways and rights in different counties, that are basically running robust and vibrant scholarship and bursary programmes. We are not fighting these people. We are not saying it is wrong for the County Government of Kwale, for instance, to issue bursaries. However, the question that we are asking ourselves is, how sustainable is this programme? I come from a little-known constituency known as Lunga Lunga in Kwale County. I would like to appreciate that I have been a beneficiary of a bursary programme. However, I was among the few privileged ones who could get access to the area MP. I had parents, who directly spoke to the MP, then. For that matter, I was able to qualify for many bursary programmes in Kwale County to enable me to pursue my education. Today I am here speaking as a Senator of this great nation. How many people out there, have no access to the MP, MCA, or even the village elder? It is time to rethink on the architecture of the bursary fund, and delink it from politicians. Let politicians do their politics the way they want to do it, but allow the Ministry of Education through the State to ensure that every young Kenyan has the right to access basic education. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am not saying these things from the blue. This very Constitution, a very fundamental documents that we all subscribe to, provides under Article 43, that every person has a right to education as a social and economic. It goes ahead in Article 53 and says that; every child has the right to free and compulsory basic education. Madam Temporary Speaker, this Motion by Sen. Thang’wa seeks to make sure that every Kenyan irrespective of their race, political ideology, gender, colour and religion has access to free universal education. It is shocking that a whole Cabinet Secretary can come before this House and fail to tell this nation how much is spend on bursaries. How much then, do we lose in form of corruption or tokenism? It is time that those who are in charge of running these bursaries are put into account. We need to be told how much is capitation per learner. If you look at the MPs, a quick math would give us about Kshs40 or Kshs50 million under the NG-CDF bursaries. Each county has about Kshs0.5 billion earmarked for bursaries and scholarship programmes. If you do that by 47 counties or the figure of Kshs50 million by 290 constituencies plus the Presidential Secondary School Bursary scheme, that gives you roughly around Kshs100 billion that is meant to make sure our students access bursaries. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only.A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services,Senate."
}