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{
    "id": 1563772,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1563772/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 180,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Okiya Omtatah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Most of the time, we have heard people saying that at independence, Kenya and some Asian tigers were at par. Some say that Kenya was even better. However, if you look at the development trajectory, you will find that those people invested heavily in education. Disciplines like engineering were heavily funded. You can see what they are doing today. They are using skills to colonise the world. The Chinese are colonizing us here using skills. They are building amazing things because they embraced and funded education of their children. In Kenya, somebody who wants to become a doctor has to pay through the nose and dragged through the marks to get a grade. We cannot develop this country unless we focus seriously on the youth and their right to education. That right must be taxpayer- funded. We are not at a point where you can enjoy the luxury of saying that education should be accessed by those who can pay. No! We must have education for all, so that irrespective of where somebody is born in this country, they can have an opportunity to be tapped and develop. As I continue supporting this Motion, I urge that we consider the possibility of introducing taxpayer-funded education. The Motion could be expanded to state that going forward, the policy of the Republic of Kenya on education should be taxpayer-funded education from ECDE up to the first degree. I am saying this because there is a reason the Constitution wants people to pay. For example, under Article 48 on access to justice, it talks of people paying fees, but they should be affordable. When you look at the right of the youth to access education, no fee is expected to be paid by the consumer of the right. The right holder is supposed to present themselves at an institution of learning and get taxpayer-funded education. They should not go queueing and begging politicians to be given a pittance in the name of accessing any form of education. I fully support this Motion and pray that this House adopts it with the necessary amendments to entrench the requirement that education be taxpayer-funded. If you cannot make it to the first degree, at least let it be taxpayer-funded up to secondary level. When it is taxpayer-funded, it should cover everything and not just tuition. It should cover even school uniform and books. We should return the system whereby school books and equipment are clearly branded to avoid theft and misappropriation. I urge this House to support this Motion to ensure that we get away from the idea of even having bursaries because in a country like ours where people are poor--- If you look at your messages as a MP, you will find that the biggest demand is people asking for support towards education. Let us give people taxpayer-funded education and do it through the national Government which is charged with the primary, secondary and tertiary education. Let us do it through the line Ministries and not through NG-CDF and NGAAF. The other thing is that we have got a budget-making process. Articles 220 and 221 of the Constitution guide us on how we make budgets. There is no procedure for having two parallel budgets. When an MP makes a budget under NG-CDF, where is that budget approved? The budget is supposed to be tabled in Parliament and approved---"
}