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"id": 189907,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/189907/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Mathenge",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 77,
"legal_name": "Esther Murugi Mathenge",
"slug": "esther-murugi"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I wish to congratulate the Minister for Youth and Sports because, being a first-timer, she has done a wonderful job. I wish to tell all the hon. Members here that we all need this Ministry. It is the heart and backbone of this country. I am very pleased to see that the Minister has sat down and thought very seriously. I am happy about the polytechnics that she has promised to give us in every constituency. The only thing that I would like to ask is: Can we move away from the traditions? Most of the village polytechnics were used to doing masonry, carpentry, et cetera. Let us move from there, and go the way the world is going, that is, the Information Technology (IT) world. We also have the youth resource centres. I believe we are going to use these centres to promote the education of our youth and sports. We have talked a lot about sports today. These youth resource centres should be used as an exposure for the sportsmen and sportswomen of this country who are developing their national or international talents towards sports. As we all know, Kenya is recognized worldwide as a sports power house. We need really to exploit this. In the past few years, we have exploited it only in athletics and a little in football. Let us start looking elsewhere. Let us move away from the traditions. There are also other sports like river boating, cricket and rugby. We have many of our youths who are doing very well in rugby, but we do not see the Ministry or Government really encouraging them. I think it is high time we started looking at all the sports that are practised in this country. When you give every constituency Kshs1 million to promote sports, I feel very happy. After the general elections, we saw the energy that the youth had. That energy has to be harnessed positively. Otherwise, it will backfire again on us like it did in January. With the sports going to the rural areas and everywhere in the Republic, we shall be able to harness that energy and use it. If the youths could pluck a whole railway line using bare hands, you can imagine what we can do with that energy. That energy has to be used. I believe the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is the one that will harness this. July 10, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1777 We are now using youth to construct roads in the rural areas. I am happy to see the Minister for Water and Irrigation here. We are also constructing dams. Why can the youths not also be used to construct those dams? Let us not only use machinery, but also the youth. We have been saying that we are sitting on a time-bomb. That is true! Anybody who was in Kenya saw it in January. This happened only because the youth are idle. If we can use them well, I am sure this country will go to places we have only dreamt about. About 38 per cent of our population is made up of youth. An amount of Kshs7.5 billion is peanuts. This is because we are looking for ways to create jobs and enhance the education of our youth. As we all know, an illiterate person is also defined as somebody who even has a degree, but has no skill. So, we need to really sharpen the skills of the youth. We need to ensure that every youth leaving Form Four or university can go out to the world and be an entrepreneur. If we are only producing Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education graduates or other professions, but they have no skills, we are doing nothing. So, we need to really revitalise this Ministry. We need also to add skills to whatever we are giving our youth. That is why I said that innovative ideas should largely be adopted. This is a Ministry that used to work across board. We have the Ministry of Information and Communications which is creating the digital villages. I believe the digital villages are really being created for the youth. So, we need to really work in conjunction with that Ministry to ensure that the digital villages are in place and our youth are already computer literate. That is why I am very happy about the Youth Resource Centres. They should be established where the youth can access information, say, about what the youth in other parts of the country or in other countries, are doing. That way, they will be able to exchange ideas. I, therefore, wish to support this Vote. Next year, the Vote should be allocated more money than Kshs7.5 billion if we really expect to help our youth and ensure that they reach where we want them to reach."
}