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"id": 189666,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. J. Onyancha",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for National Heritage and Culture",
"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Joel Omagwa Onyancha",
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"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. From the outset, I support the Motion. July 15, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1819 The 2008/2009 Budget underscores employment creation for the youths as a key cornerstone for the development agenda of this country. The reason is that it was realised that the youths can be a source of social instability if their agenda is not addressed. We are likely to suffer a huge economic burden on the youths, both in the household and in the nation at large. Therefore, I want to commend the Government for placing the Department of Sports where it belonged from the beginning. In the last Parliament, the Department of Sports was domiciled in the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services. It is now in its rightful place, where the youths should be involved in sports as well. So, that is commendable. I think it is the right direction to go. The youths in this country constitute over 70 per cent of the population, but are we addressing their agenda adequately? The other day, a veteran politician, Mr. Martin Shikuku, told me that a young journalist had to ask him, when he was with other freedom fighters, why they think they are so special. Of course, the young journalist may have erred, because he did not respect the elderly, but he was communicating something to them. He was saying: \"Why we do not understand you is because you do not speak our language.\" Are we adequately speaking the language of the youths in this country? What is it that persuaded the youths, during the post-election period, to behave in the manner they did? Why was it not possible for most of the youths, even during the electioneering period, to identify with the Government of the day? Are they communicating something we have failed to notice? That is why it is very easy for the youths to be misused these days. It does not matter what somebody has done. It is easy for a politician to go out there, bring the youths together and tell them: \"We must bring somebody out of his office\", and like the Jews of the old, all that they will say is: \"Do you want Jesus or do you want Barnabas?\", and they will shout: \"We do not care what he has done. Release Barnabas and crucify Jesus.\" Those are our children and we are not addressing their needs and concerns adequately. That is why they are causing strikes in schools now. It is because we do not speak their language. We do not understand them. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, is what is allocated to the youth in terms of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund sufficient? Are we still in the back door insisting on some form of collateral to be able to provide this funding to the youth? What is it that they have, in terms of collateral? I think that something more should be done. a feedback from what has already been distributed to the youth, in terms of usage, are issues we should address and look at emergent issues after issuance of these funds. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, turning to village polytechnics, how adequate have we staffed them? Are we addressing these inadequacies in terms of staffing? We are aware that village polytechnics are not even supposed to receive money from the Central Government in terms of salaries. They are assumed to be generating their own income, so that they can pay salaries, and whatever the Government gives is supposed to provide other services and not salaries. Is there something more we can do other than just the money that was given to one village polytechnic in every constituency last year? I think we should, if we expect these polytechnics to be relevant. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, who inspects the curriculum and evaluates performance in village polytechnics? Are we turning our village polytechnics to be like adult education in this country that for a long time was never supervised by the Ministry of Education? It was in a different place, and there were no supervisors and nobody to ensure that curriculum implementation went on properly. Can we do something about supervision of the curriculum in our village polytechnics? Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, sport is an important activity just as my colleagues have said. We are looking for a day when sports will be able to generate real income for this country. I have had the privilege to serve as an Assistant Minister for Sports in the last Parliament. 1820 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 15, 2008 I want to say that the budget given to sporting activities in this country is so little. We need to increase the budget for sports. However, we cannot contain the cartels in sporting activities if we do not have a legal framework to control the functions and operations at the Ministry. The Ministry came up with a sports policy. However, that policy has been lying at the Attorney-General's Chambers for over two years. It has not come to Parliament for debate, so that it can be adopted to provide guidelines on the operations of sporting activities in general. So, the Minister may have grand ideas. You may want to do a lot in terms of soccer activities in this country, but we have cartels who will speak with FIFA directly. The Minister will just be there and will do nothing if that sports policy is not debated in this House and passed to provide a legal framework. I think this is what should be expedited. The Attorney-General should look at that policy, fashion it and bring it to the House so that we assist the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the Kshs1 million kitty that has been set a side for every constituency to fund recreational activities is commendable. However, I think we can do more. Let us also know the framework in which this money will be spent in our constituencies, so that, as leaders, we are involved in the constituencies. Kshs1 million is too little to even run activities in the constituency. However, I think we can supplement this with funds from the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). We need to know the framework in which the Kshs1 million kitty will operate, so that we can chip in. In the Western World, especially the United Kingdom (UK), 70 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated by creative arts. The youth in this country are involved in many activities, for example music, theatre, art, design and fashion. More money needs to be allocated into these activities, so that, as a nation, we can provide a way out for our youths to generate money for their up- keep. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we can talk and talk about our youth, but if you do not find a way of creating jobs for them then I think what we saw in January is what the Swahili people call \"manyunyu\" . Proper rain is coming! The youth of this country are listening and are depending on us, as their leaders, to chart out their agenda and speak their language, so that together we can move ahead as a nation."
}