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{
"id": 181359,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/181359/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kabando wa Kabando",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports",
"speaker": {
"id": 31,
"legal_name": "Kabando wa Kabando",
"slug": "kabando-kabando"
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"content": "There are many products in our markets, which are not even branded because they are counterfeits and are not regularised. This causes a lot of demotivation to those genuinely involved in enterprise. One example is in the music industry. I had the opportunity to attend one of the most successful local music festival by the people of Gatanga Constituency, where a lot of able and celebrated musicians come from. In fact, in Gatanga they say that music is their cash crop. The show was very colourful and attractive. When you meet with individual musicians from that area and other areas and you assess their success in terms of economic gains, compared to the fame they enjoy because of their talents, you get very disappointed. In a field of science, there have been a lot of cases cited and featured in the mainstream media of people--- Even young girls and boys in high schools have attempted to be creative but their talent is never harnessed, so that it is identified for promotion and ownership by the country. Therefore, this Bill seeks to redress such anomalies so that we can enhance the capacities available and enable people who are genuinely committed to sacrifice time to find new ways of doing business by developing new products and being innovative, so that they can benefit from their efforts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, where I am an Assistant Minister, has flagships of the critical generation in this country. The creation of jobs is a core function. This Bill, while seeking to address the collective issues in counterfeits will excite many young people, who comprise more than 70 per cent of our population. These are people who have had good education, opportunities and have not enjoyed benefits from those opportunities because the environment was not conducive. Therefore, this Bill will entrench the flagship that is Vision 2030 in the creation of jobs and employment. That is good for our nation, because it particularly focuses on the young people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, protecting creativity is important. As a sovereign nation, there is nothing that can benefit our population more than protecting that which we have. What we have is what we should promote. We have so much that we can sell in all the sectors of the economy, and the social services. We can ensure that the little we have, we can do as the ants do; little by little, focusing on it, promoting, ensuring that it is given legal backing and ensuring that the effort is achieved. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is need for us to celebrate the knowledge economy. A nation can never realise itself or celebrate its fortune without giving serious support to the knowledge economy. As a nation, time has come where every year we should reflect. Every year, we watch and witness multitudes of students graduating from the public and private universities and joining the job market. We are not saying that the job market is only within the public sector. For a nation to realise its prosperity, it must have a target, as we have done through Vision 2030. We should create opportunities for our people who are graduating from universities and colleges, particularly from science and technology based colleges, for them to benefit in formal business. Formalisation of business can only be achieved if we reduce, or eliminate, the existence of counterfeit products. October 30, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3193 Therefore, this country needs rebranding of our own culture, vision, which we are doing through Vision 2030; we need to ensure that we do engage in programmes to be facilitated by this Bill. We need to create a new platform for the young generation. These programmes should be largely excluded from the mainstream of economic management. The young generation is not equipped with wealth or material possessions. Yesterday, I was going through a well written out piece in one of the dailies in Kenya, which talked about the need to have a generational transition. The piece enumerated the areas into which we need to mainstream the young people. We need more in ensuring that job and wealth creation focuses on technology. We should mainstream the young generation, so that they can feel that they own this country. Otherwise, if we do not engage in that effort, the problems that we witnessed since Independence will be recurring, and we will find it very difficult to address matters in a concrete and comprehensive manner, a manner that will ensure that, as a country, we are stable, economically successfully and people are fulfilled and are happy and proud to be Kenyans. Economic fulfilment and economic realization are the only ways to ensure that Kenyans speak with one voice, and that divisions that are very visible across the country, particularly between those who have and those who do not have, are abridged. This abridging can happen by ensuring that we introduce a good system through this Bill. That will entrench knowledge and the benefit of initiatives that are going to bring some currency on the table of the majority of our population, who happen to be the young people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, the young generation of this country is a happy generation if it is given some motivation and inspiration. Beyond the passing of this Bill, which I am sure will be done, I urge the Ministry of Industrialization to relate with other Ministries in a more unique and creative way that will ensure that specific targets within each Ministry are set. The Ministry of Industrialization can be the instigator, or catalyst, for programmes in each Ministry, irrespective of the sector, that will ensure that there are budgets and specific quarterly and annual work plans that clearly target young people and ensure that there is stock-taking at the end of the year. I know that it is not the supervisory Ministry. But I am just saying that in order for us to realize the industrialization that we are seeking, we should have a special focus for the critical generation of this country that will benefit from this timely Bill. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}