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"id": 189917,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwaita",
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"legal_name": "Sammy Sila Komen Mwaita",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this important Vote, Vote 42. Before I start, I wish to take this opportunity to commend the hon. Minister for the manner in which she moved it yesterday. She did it very ably, although we had not got the books; she did it well. The youth in this country comprise a substantial segment of our population. It is known that the youth comprise close to 70 per cent of our population. So, the Ministry handling the affairs of this segment of our population ought to be allocated sufficient funds. When you look at what was allocated to it, according to a summary distributed this afternoon in the House, it comes to less than Kshs2 billion against a Budget of about Kshs768 billion. When you do simple arithmetic, that boils down to below 1 per cent. It is about 0.2 per cent. That shows the lack of seriousness to that segment of our society, which is 70 per cent of the population. To me this Ministry, should be given sufficient resources in order for it to develop and empower our youth, particularly the youth in the rural areas. Our youth polytechnics across the country have been neglected, and are nearly becoming moribund. They need to be upgraded, modernised and equipped with modern equipment in order to be able to train the youth, and enable them to contribute adequately in creation of wealth, particularly in the rural areas. I looked at the Vote and noticed that there is an Item that is marked \"Supplies and Specialised Materials\". I do hope that the Ministry will use the meagre resources factored into its Vote in this financial year to procure items such as modern computers and other equipment for our polytechnics, particularly those in the rural areas. With that they will be able to train students in those polytechnics in computer skills. This is the computer era and the Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) world. They do not have to be in towns, or urban areas, for them to be computer literate. We Should be able to project that in two or three years most polytechnics will be fully equipped with modern computers, and not the obsolete types. Since the Government plans to come up with ICT \"village kiosks\", our youth, who graduate from those polytechnics, will be able to contribute to our economic development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also note that there is an Item known as Capital Grants to Government Agencies, where an amount of Kshs500 million has been set aside. I hope that this amount will be distributed to agencies which tend to focus their activities on empowering our youths. That being the case, that amount is too little. It should be doubled or even increased ten times. I hope those who are planning to do strategic planning for the Ministry should be able to project such a figure to be ten times in the next two or three financial years. That may go a long way in enhancing skills transfer for our youths. On the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), I note that Kshs500 million was factored in this Budget. To me, this amount is also still low. When the Minister moved the Vote, she stated that this Ministry is a newly-created Ministry. We can understand that, but I hope that, July 10, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1787 that amount will also be increased in the next financial year. There is another Item known as the Youth Empowerment Centres. This is a good idea whose time has come. I wish to applaud the Minister and Ministry for this move. To set up, at least, one youth empowerment centre per constituency is an excellent idea. The Ministry has allocated Kshs1 million per constituency, so that, at least, one model polytechnic can be developed per constituency. This is also a good idea whose time has come. It is only the resources that are limited. An amount of Kshs1 million is a drop in the ocean. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about sports. Indeed, it is a good move to allocate Kshs1 million per constituency to develop sports. I am more particularly interested in athletics. In this country, athletics has been bringing in a lot of foreign exchange. We know that we have many talented youths in the rural areas. We have many Kipchoge Keinos and Tergats in the rural areas, but, unfortunately, their talents are not being developed. The Government should come out and identify ways of developing those talents. I have an idea. We should make an appeal to the international organizations which sponsor the so-called Grand Prix in the western countries, to be able to develop training centres in our country, particularly in areas with potential for athletes. I have in mind the North Rift. Even in my own constituency, there are two good high altitude areas which can be used to set up a sports complex centre. A good example is Mochongoi. We need about Kshs5 million to construct an ultra-modern athletics training centre which will churn out the Tergats of tomorrow. When we get many Tergats in this country, for sure, they will bring in a lot of foreign currency, particulary with the current situation after the Minister harmonized taxation locally and overseas. While still on athletics, our athletes do not have to change their citizenship to the Arab countries in order to bring funding to develop stadia in this country. This is wrong. The Ministry should be able to send ambassadors of goodwill to solicit funding from sports or athletics lovers in the world, particularly the people who organize Grand Prix. They should come and develop stadia in strategic places in this country, particularly where the potential for athletics is feasible. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I note also under sports that we have a serious shortage of sports officers. This should not happen in this era. We have many university and middle level college graduates who are unemployed. Since this is the Ministry of State for Youth and Sports which targets youth empowerment, it should be the first to create positions for sports officers, particularly one sports officer per constituency. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}