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{
    "id": 213201,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/213201/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 281,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 159,
        "legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
        "slug": "robinson-githae"
    },
    "content": " The figure is 30,000 hawkers! Sorry! In fact, I am being corrected by the Minister in charge! More than 30,000 hawkers would be employed in Muthurwa Market. I think that is a step in the right direction. Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for Local Government. I think he has put a lot of effort in that market. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my constituency has been a beneficiary of market construction. The Ministry is constructing a market at Kibingoti, but the contractor has taken more than three years to construct the market. I do not know where the problem is. Every time we confront him, he says that he is going to finish it. But I understand that the Assistant Minister for Local Government would be visiting the market on Friday, in an effort to make sure that the market is completed. What I am saying is that the Government is taking the right steps to create employment. One of the reasons being cited by youths who are joining Mungiki is lack of employment. Whereas we cannot condone the things that they have done, we can appreciate some of the reasons they give. If we offer employment opportunities to our youth in either market stalls July 18, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2599 or in some other places, this attraction to join Mungiki sect will come to an end. So, we need to commence these steps. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other thing I would urge the Minister for Local Government to do is to copy what a city like London does. On certain days, particularly during the weekends, especially Sundays, they close certain roads. They allow people to come and sell their items. We need to come up with ways where, probably we can close the whole of Tom Mboya Street on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, so that people sell their wares. That has worked very well in London where there are free markets. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another very innovative way in which we can employ our youth is through afforestation. We need to employ youth to plant and re-plant trees in all our forests. This is the message that the hon. Member, Prof. Wangari Maathai, has been passing on to us. By so doing, we can reduce unemployment in addition to increasing our forest cover and reducing carbon dioxide emission. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we appreciate the efforts that the Government has done. It is now time for the private sector to carry on. Sometimes in 1979, the former retired President Daniel Moi, instructed all private companies, parastatals and Government Ministries to employ ten per cent of the youth. I know a lot of people who were employed during that time. I would like to call upon the private sector to see to it that at least ten per cent of its labour force comprise of the youth in an effort to appreciate what the Government has done. They should employ graduates who have no experience because that is the major problem. When companies ask for experience, where will our young unemployed graduates get experience before they are employed? You must be employed first to get experience."
}