HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 189665,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/189665/?format=api",
"text_counter": 173,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Otichilo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 131,
"legal_name": "Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa",
"slug": "wilber-ottichilo"
},
"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, first, I would like to thank the Ministry for coming up with this allocation. Secondly, I wish to thank the Ministry and the Ministry of Finance for allocating more money for the first time for development, unlike last year when so little money was allocated to it. The youth, as my other colleagues said earlier, are the biggest resource for this country. If we cannot invest in the youth, then we are not doing a lot. So, I would expect, in future, that this Ministry should be allocated a lot of money because the youth constitute over 70 per cent of our population. So, I hope that in future, we could have more allocation for this Ministry. Of particular importance, since we are dealing with the youth, we should focus more on technical skills. We have a lot of youths who go through primary and secondary schools, but who do not make it to university. The best we can do, particularly for this Ministry, is to establish youth polytechnics in most of the constituencies, so that our youths can acquire technical skills, which will enable them to get jobs, or set up their own businesses. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would like to stress the importance of technical training for our youths. In this regard, I believe that we, as a country, lost track. In the early 1980s and 1990s, we stressed more on setting up of youth polytechnics and centres of science and 1818 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 15, 2008 technology. Later on, we deviated and went back to normal education. This country tends to put more emphasis on university education. Most of the people coming out of the universities do not have the technical skills required for them to undertake technical jobs directly. So, they end up looking for jobs. So, we, as a country, need to focus more on enabling our youths to acquire technical skills. Madam Deputy Speaker, even in Europe, the United States of America and Asia, more emphasis is given to middle-level training institutions, which train people to do jobs. However, in this country, we have adopted a trend whereby most of our middle-level colleges are being converted into constituent colleges of public universities. Therefore, we are not having the real technical people to carry out the work. So, basically, we are going for the upper end of training. That is why we have so much unemployment in this country. People have degrees, but they cannot get jobs. Neither can they do anything for themselves, unless they are employed. I want to emphasise that this Ministry, in my opinion, is the most important in this country. We should focus more on technical training. We should not allow our polytechnics to be converted into constituent colleges of public universities. If we do so, then the process should be such that institutions like the Kenya Polytechnic are allowed to graduate into technical universities, and not just general universities, which give general degrees. Madam Deputy Speaker, another area I would like to emphasise on is that of leadership. The youth need leadership if they are to conduct any business. So, leadership is very important. I would like this Ministry to work in collaboration with the Ministries of Communications, particularly with the ICT sector. The ICT sector has a very high potential for creating employment for the youths. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, therefore, this Ministry should work in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications, so that they can work together on the programme of creating digital villages and digital kiosks within those villages, so that they can create employment. So, these are areas I feel the Ministry should take a lot of interest. Madam Deputy Speaker, regarding the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, I would say that it is a good initiative. As my colleagues have said, the YEDF needs to be well managed. Given that our youths do not know how to access this money, a mechanism must be put in place, so that our youths can have better ways of accessing this YEDF. I also support my colleagues who said that these funds should be channelled through the constituencies, where the youths' problems are most understood, and where they can be helped to write proposals and address other necessary aspects to access these funds. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, sport is very important for the youth. It is high time this country took sport as an enterprise, and not just an activity for relaxation. We need to make sport an enterprise. This is an area where I would like the Ministry to collaborate with the private sector to start making sport an income generating activity. That way, sport will be an activity which will earn youths money. The youths can know that if they excel in any sports, they can make some money. So, this is an area I wish to highlight. So, in the long-term, sports should be commercialised to earn dividends to those who will participate. Finally, I would like to commend the Ministry for coming up with the youth empowerment centres. This is a very innovative idea. Those centres will provide all the essential information the youths require, in terms of their professional development and otherwise. So, I wish to support this Vote. Thank you very much."
}