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"id": 174579,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ruteere",
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"speaker": {
"id": 92,
"legal_name": "Silas Muriuki Ruteere",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion for Adjournment. From the outset, I wish to say that I support the Motion. As has been said by many of my colleagues, we are here to look back with pride that we have overcome all the challenges that have been on our way. We have done much of the work that Kenyans sent us here to do. If we audited ourselves, without being very proud, we would say that we have measured up to the tasks that were bestowed upon us by the people who elected us. The last few days, especially this week, have proven that consensus building can take us very far and make issues that are very difficult to agree on, to be very easy. By passing the Motion on the Parliamentary Select Committee this morning, it shows that we are a serious lot and are determined to give Kenyans a Constitution for which we were all voted in and given the mandate to come to this House. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a few remarks to make because we will be on recess until March, as I understood earlier from the Leader of Government Business. Schools will open when we will be on recess. There is a threat by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), that unless the teachers have a deal, they may not open schools. I would urge the Ministry of Education to seriously take the threat of teachers and handle the negotiations with a view to finding a lasting solution, so that when schools open, parents are not faced with a situation where schools are without teachers because KNUT may be going out. We are also faced with the challenge of the fees structure, where the Ministry pledged that there will be no increase in fees, but the schools are saying that there will a fees increase, because of the escalating costs of food prices. May I also request that we get clear guidelines, signals and policies from the Ministry of Education, indicating what the fees will be lowered come January, which is only a few weeks to come. It is vital that parents know what they will be paying if they will have to pay. If they do not have to pay, they should know it. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have heard of the hiring of interns who will assist to alleviate December 17, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4203 the shortage of teachers in secondary and primary schools. Let the policy come out now, so that when January comes, it will not be a crash programme. This is the time for planning. Head teachers should know how they will open schools. It is not necessary that they are threatened by the Teachers Service Commission, that if they reject the interns, they will face the music. The culture of intimidating the administrators does not help the schools. Rather, it makes teachers to work under fear and, therefore, do not deliver their best. We have the challenge of the youth. Our youth, especially at this time when there is a high turnout of the youth in villages and streets, should be well taken care of. This is because we have the challenge of drugs and substance abuse. We should empower National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) seriously, so that it addresses the challenges that are there. They should address the youth in various fora and sensitize them on the dangers of drugs and substance abuse. The parents should also be used. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming to the weather patterns, I must say that we are talking of farming, but if the rains do not come in the next two weeks, some parts that receive the short rains- --"
}