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{
"id": 197226,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197226/?format=api",
"text_counter": 22,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Sambili",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Mogotio",
"speaker": {
"id": 28,
"legal_name": "Hellen Jepkemoi Sambili",
"slug": "hellen-sambili"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for this opportunity to address this House. I want to begin by congratulating you on your election as the Deputy Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to also express my gratitude to the people of Mogotio, who made history by electing a woman Member of Parliament. I want to assure them that I will do my best to meet their needs, trusting God to help me. Secondly, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our leaders, His Excellency the President, Mr. Kibaki, and Mr. Raila, the Prime Minister-designate, for signing the Peace Accord, and saving this country from problems. In the same vein, I also want to thank the National Mediation Committee, comprising of our colleagues here, and the international mediation committee, led by Dr. Kofi Annan. Thirdly, I want to congratulate all of us because the challenges we faced to get seats in Parliament were very many. They have not been lost to us. I want to congratulate all of us for making it to this House. It is a historic House given what has been happening in this country, and even what we did yesterday. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Presidential Speech, which I support, was comprehensive in focus. I would like to just touch on, maybe, three aspects. I will begin with education and, specifically, higher education. Before I was given this opportunity by the people of Mogotio to come to this august House, I had been working in a university for about 16 years. I would like to say that in seeking to promote equitable opportunities for Kenyans, particularly for those from semi-arid areas - and Mogotio is one of the semi-arid districts in this country - I want to propose or ask that the admission policy to universities be reviewed, so that students who meet the minimum entry requirements to universities, that is C+ and above, are admitted on the basis of constituencies rather than districts. That will give them an opportunity to build capacity. We will have more people from such constituencies. It is important to give the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) more money, so that students who get into parallel programmes in public universities are given loans like their counterparts in public universities. At the moment, students who get admitted to private universities are given loans. But those who are admitted to parallel programmes in public universities do not get loans. I think that is not fair. I want to request that HELB should be given more money and those students who get admitted to parallel programmes in public universities should be given loans. That is because those programmes are very expensive. I say that because, as we know, out of about 276,000 students who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) last year, only 16,000 will be admitted to the universities. What will happen to the 260,000 plus students? They will try to get into parallel programmes and they cannot afford. If we are willing to support - and we should support people from marginalised areas in this country - they need to be given loans. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say that the re-tabling of the Employment Policy Paper that was mentioned in the President's Speech is eagerly awaited. I think it is very important that we seek means of creating employment in the rural areas in this country, so that our youth, who comprise 70 per cent of our population, get an opportunity to contribute to national development. In the same vein, I want to say that the livestock sector, which has been mentioned by my colleagues, should be supported. In Mogotio, which is a semi-arid area like I have said, people rear goats, sheep and cattle. I would like to request the Kenya Meat Commission to open a branch in Mogotio, or Baringo Central, so that the people could get employment and sell their livestock. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in facilitating the realisation of the enormous potential of the tourism industry, as is mentioned in the Speech, I want to say that Mogotio is the home of the unique hot springs of Lake Bogoria. I do not know how many of us have been there. That is an March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 231 attraction to the tourists and even us in this country. Yet, those hot springs are hardly accessible! There is no road. I want to request that the development of those roads that lead to the hot springs be given priority alongside other infrastructure like electricity and water. Finally, I want to congratulate all of us, specifically, for what we did yesterday. As we implement the Peace Accord, I would like to mention that it is important for us and everyone to be sensitive in the way we express our views. I know that many people were affected by the problems that followed the December 2007 General Elections. I know some places where nursery school children are so scared of the police because they heard gunshots. Those are babies who have been traumatized. There is a lot work that needs to be done. I know that we will be responsible in discussing these issues, so that we put our country where it should be. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Presidential Speech."
}