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"id": 197276,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/197276/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Musila",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Mwingi South",
"speaker": {
"id": 94,
"legal_name": "David Musila",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. I stand here to support the Motion on the Address by His Excellency the President from the Chair. Let me also, as it is the tradition, thank the people of Mwingi South for electing me for the third time. Certainly, this confirms that they have confidence in me and I will definitely do my best to serve them. Let me also, and I think it is not late, congratulate all my colleagues for having been elected to this august House. I am sure we will bond and work together for the betterment of our nation. Yesterday was a historic day for this House. We passed the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill and an Act of Parliament that will promote the reconciliation of our nation. Those are some of the points His Excellency the President mentioned in his Speech. Therefore, that is now behind us. But the challenging months lie ahead of us. I am sure we will take the challenge and take bold steps in ensuring that we reconcile our nation. One of the biggest shameful things that this country is going through is the presence of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in our country. No matter what we say or do as a nation, as long as we have IDPs in our midst, we will not be counted amongst the civilised nations of the world. Therefore, I am imploring the leadership and all the hon. Members to play their part and ensure that these IDPs are re-settled as quickly as possible, so that they contribute towards the building of our nation. I am sure it will be in the interest of all of us, as Kenyans, to see that this is done. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President touched on many issues in his Speech, and I would like March 19, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 267 just to refer to three of them. First, he touched on the delivery of health services. There is no doubt that we have come a long way in improving the delivery of health services in our institutions. However, a lot remains to be done. As we speak, hon. Members, through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), have constructed thousands of dispensaries, which should serve members of the public. It is sad to say that these facilities, which have been constructed using public funds, lie idle while members of the public are not receiving the service which they deserve to receive from the Government. I am calling upon the Government to see to it that all the dispensaries that have been put up using the CDF funds are put into use through the provision of health workers and drugs. These facilities should be used to reduce the sufferings of our people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is my 11th year since I came to this House and every time I take the podium, I never sit down without talking about water. Water remains one of the biggest challenges that we face in my constituency, which is semi-arid. For how long are we going to continue lamenting about the shortage or lack of water 45 years after Independence? You will recall that sometimes back, the Government had said that by the year 2000, all households will have piped water in their homes. We are now in 2008 and our women are walking up to 20 kilometres to fetch water. I do not think this is acceptable. Therefore, I am calling upon the Government to put in place measures to ensure that even if we do not get water in our houses, families walk a maximum of two kilometres to access water. As long as we continue to allow our womenfolk in this country to spend all their time looking for water, we cannot claim to be amongst the civilised nations in the world. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the Government to take immediate measures and sink more boreholes and construct more water pans. The same goes for water for livestock. That is one of the challenges that the Government has to face. I hope that this time around, the issue of water shortage in some parts of this nation will be addressed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about education. Let me commend the Government for providing free primary education during the last five years. There is no doubt that, that was a major and bold step by the Government. But as you are aware, that programme has not gone on well without challenges. We have over-enrolment of pupils. We have classes with over 100 pupils. We also have classes without teachers. Therefore, that has negatively affected the quality of primary school education in this country. So, the appreciation of free primary education is lacking because the quality of education has been lowered tremendously. Therefore, unless the Government addresses the issue of providing additional teachers and ensuring that the teacher to pupil ratio is sufficient enough for the teacher to give the pupil the attention required to succeed in education, the free primary education will be meaningless. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about free secondary education. I want to congratulate His Excellency the President for fulfilling one of the pledges that he made when he was campaigning; that he will provide free secondary education. I dare say that the three major Presidential contenders; namely, His Excellency the President, hon. Mwai Kibaki, His Excellency the Prime Minister-designate, hon. Raila Odinga and Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs, hon. Kalonzo Musyoka had offered free secondary education in their manifestos. I think Kenyans were very lucky this time around because whichever way they voted, they were going to be winners. So, congratulations to the Government and the President for offering free secondary education. But, again, like in the case of primary education, unless we are careful and ensure that free secondary education is handled properly, we may end up even lowering the standards of secondary education badly. That is what is happening to primary education. If I were to talk about my constituency, I have quite a number of secondary schools which, up to now, have not seen the funds that were supposed to be given to those schools - the Kshs10,625 per pupil to enable schools to function. There is, of course, the excuse that the bank account numbers have not been provided by the schools. But my investigations have proved that, that has been done. There is some laxity at Jogoo House in releasing those funds. So, I call upon the Minister for Education to ensure that free secondary education takes off quickly and smoothly 268 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES March 19, 2008 by ensuring that funds are released to all secondary schools. But, again, the issue of teachers comes up again. As I speak now, in my constituency, we have secondary schools with four classes - Form I to Form IV - with only one teacher. One teacher handles four classes and yet, at the end of the year, the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination is done. Then you publish the top 100 schools. My schools miss in the top 100 schools. Then you say that education is not being done well in Mwingi South. How do you expect a school without teachers to compete with another one which is \"loaded\" with teachers? There must be equitable distribution of resources and teachers in this country. Unless we do that, we will continue talking about free secondary education, and it will not work. Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has messed up examinations in this country. It is time KNEC was probed deeply, particularly on the way they handled the examinations of last year. They have been reversing results every now and then. Something is wrong with KNEC! It is time that KNEC was disbanded! I beg to support."
}