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"id": 188301,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I had asked my friend, hon. Kioni, to give me a few minutes, but thank you for giving me the chance. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Kenya is 45 years old. Seventy per cent of the population of Kenya are the youth. By any standards, this nation can be called a youthful nation. Yet, for all these years, this nation has lacked a comprehensive national policy on the youth. To me, this is the biggest problem that this country is facing. Something needs to be done urgently. This is because what has happened, so far, is what we can call tokenism on the part of the Government. Looking at the Budget of this year and bearing in mind the role that the youth played in the post-election conflict, we were shocked to see that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, through which the youth are supposed to get support and hope, was allocated less than Kshs2 billion. This money is not enough to actually cater for the needs of the youth of this nation. It shows us that we lack or do not put the youth of this nation as a priority. We have had the problem of unemployment in this nation for many years. No comprehensive policy has been put in place to address the problem. In the last Parliament, hon. Angwenyi came up with a Motion - which passed - called the \"new deal.\" Indeed, the youth of this nation feel that they have been given a raw deal. What they need is to be offered a new deal in terms of employment and empowerment. This has not come to pass because the Government has done nothing to implement the Motion that was passed. The youth of this nation were promised 500,000 jobs in 2002. When this Select Committee goes round the country, it will find that actually this never came to be. We will find youth that are unemployed, frustrated and angry. This anger has translated into violence. It has also translated into hopelessness where the youth have resorted to joining militias. They are known by many names. 2038 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 23, 2008 As Dr. Wekesa said, in Trans Nzoia, we have had quite a number of groups. There have been quite some incidents that have led to loss of lives and property. Many of those involved are young Kenyans who have no jobs and hope. They have nothing to lose. This Select Committee must go out and establish the root cause, because arresting or killing them will not do. Indeed, I believe that we do not have enough jails to hold the youth of this country. We must find a solution to this problem. We must also look at what can be done to empower the youth of this country. We have endeavoured to set up a youth fund that has not really succeeded in giving resources or empowerment to the youth of this nation. As this Committee goes out to the villages and many parts of this country, it will find that many youth have never accessed the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF). Indeed, it will find that now there is a popular demand that the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) Act should be amended, so that instead of having the YEDF, 10 per cent of the CDF should go towards the youth. This is something that must be done urgently to empower the youth, instead of the tokenism that we are seeing in the Budget; setting aside Kshs1 billion to buy the youth uniforms, balls and sports facilities. This will not do. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we also need to come up with alternatives. Look at other jurisdictions. What has happened in other countries where there have been conflicts and the youth have played an important role, like Rwanda and DRC Congo? I was recently in Washington DC and privileged to meet colleagues from these countries. They did indicate to us that after the conflict, the groups that we have here, that existed there also, were absorbed into the National Youth Service (NYS), military and police. We need, indeed, when this Committee goes out, to come out with specific plans of action to address this menace. I believe that unless something is done urgently, we will continue having these problems. The human resource, being the most important resource in any country, you will find that the youth are an important part of that resource, yet we have not tapped it. We have not tapped their potential and utilized them. We have found that because of the frustration that the youth have been subjected to - being called leaders of tomorrow from 1963 to now - we have grandfathers and great grandfathers in this House, whose sons and great grandsons have come of age, yet, they have been part of our history. We read about them when we were in primary and secondary schools, and even at the universities. They are still in this House. They have not given the youth of this country a chance to lead. Recently, there was the issue of recycling of Permanent Secretaries. We have people who have served this country for over 30 years. There are Permanent Secretaries who are over 55 years old whom we still retain and recycle. Yet we have youth; people who have qualifications, whom we have invested a lot in their education. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}