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{
"id": 1510321,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1510321/?format=api",
"text_counter": 375,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13217,
"legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
"slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
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"content": "On the issue of bursary, we need to give bursary to our children in secondary schools and universities. I hope the university funding model will be a student-centered model. I am speaking this with the understanding the State of the Nation Address by the President, where he ordered the functionality of Moi University, where I am a proud almamater . We thank the Ministry and the President for those interventions. Reports of the Auditor-General’s on financial status of our many of our universities shows that they are in red. Even Egerton University according to the Office of the Auditor-General’s report is also in red. Most of these universities are in the red, especially after scrapping away Privately Sponsored Students Programmes (PSSP). Many of them were depending on the PSSP students to run because the funding from the national Government was not sufficient. For example, the disease that is in Moi University is because they became a good parent. Moi University is a victim of its own success. The establishment of Maseno University, Masinde Muliro University, Kitale, University of Eldoret, Bomet University, Karatina University and Garissa University were started by Moi University. The reason why Moi University has more than Kshs4 billion in terms of liability is because they guaranteed most of these constituent universities that we have today. I would like to advise the Cabinet Secretary, Julius Migos Ogamba, that the only way to salvage and ensure that Moi University comes back to its feet is to ensure all liabilities are taken back to the universities that were started by Moi University. We are all beneficiaries of the Higher Education Loan Board (HELB), unless you studied abroad. However, for us who went to public universities in Kenya, our only saving grace was the HELB. We need to consolidate. Let a Kenyan child walk to university without the need to pay school fees. Why should we introduce bands? Sijui Band 1, Band 2, Band 4. Let us go to the chief, a local imam, or a priest. If that child is vulnerable, let him or her go to school for free. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, can you believe some middle-income parents in Kenya are paying close to Kshs200,000 to Kshs300,000 per semester for a child in ECDE, but they do not want to pay Kshs50,000 for their son and daughter in the university? We need also to be fair. If you are able to pay, please pay, so that you allow other vulnerable Kenyans to benefit. Why would a parent pay Kshs100,000 in private academy for ECDE? They take their child to private academy and pay more than Kshs200,000 per term, yet for secondary education, they want their children to go to public schools like Starehe Boys Centre or Kapsabet Boys High School? The second President of the Repubic of Kenya, President Moi, was a product of Kapsabet Boys High School as well as the fifth President, Dr. William Ruto. Without bragging, yours truly speaking on the Floor, Sen. Cherarkey, is a product of Kapsabet Boys High School. So, you can see my future, consistently from President Moi, President William and Sen. Cherarkey. A number of professionals in this country are products of that school. I would like to ask parents who are able to pay, to kindly pay, so that we can allow other parents who have vulnerable children to access education. That is my appeal. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}