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"id": 229017,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/229017/?format=api",
"text_counter": 77,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mganga",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
"id": 255,
"legal_name": "Boniface Mganga",
"slug": "boniface-mganga"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the Speech by His Excellency the President during the State Opening of Parliament. First, I want to commend the President for a well articulated Speech, well focused, very varied and one which covered almost all areas of development on what has been happening, where we are and where he intends to take this country. Moving further from that is the issue of economic growth. I recall during the presentation of the Budget by the then Minister for Finance in 2003, he promised this House that the Government would improve revenue collection by sealing all loopholes that had been allowing revenue leakages in the past and make sure that everybody pays tax and that whatever is collected is prudently utilised. That seems to have been done very well. Now that the economy appears to have been turned around, it is time, therefore, for the Government Ministries and the various departments to turn their attention to areas which have been neglected for a long time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, my first focus is on education. A lot has been said about education, and specifically the Free Primary Education (FPE) Programme. For people who come from Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), like myself, the FPE Programme is a big deal. Before it was introduced, many of our children could not afford to go to school. However, many of them now are able to go to school. For the FPE Programme to be successful, it is important for the Ministry of Education to look into two areas which are tight, even before we talk about offering free secondary education. One, the Ministry of Education should take over the running of nursery schools and start paying nursery school teachers. All over the country, nursery school teachers are really suffering. Many parents are unable to pay fees to enable them pay teachers. These teachers are also parents and are unable to take their children to school. Even though we know that the Minister for Education gave an undertaking in this House that a new policy would be put in place to ensure that the pre-primary teachers are absorbed by the Government, I would like to appeal very strongly to him to expedite the process to ensure that, at least, from the next financial year, the pre-primary teachers are paid by the Government. Secondly, cost-sharing in public universities has brought untold suffering to our students. Today, a public university student is more worried of what will happen after classes and where his or her next meal will come from. This is affecting their academic performance in our universities. Now that our economy is growing, why can we not go back to the old system to ensure that every student who joins the university automatically gets a loan by simply filling the loan form so that there are no students suffering? Our students are really suffering. They resort to cooking in hostels. Some resort to hawking so as to make ends meet and that is a problem. I am appealing that every student who joins the university should be assured of, at least, three basic things. One, every student should have a book allowance to enable him or her buy books because, at the moment, books are very expensive at the universities. Secondly, every student should be assured of accommodation at the university being paid through the loan system. Thirdly, every student should have an allowance for meals. Students should be able to have meals. Without those three basic things, our academic standards will be affected. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to add my voice to what has been said by many hon. Members who have spoken before me about the just concluded World Cross-Country Championships. If you recall, a few years ago, this country was given the opportunity to host the All Africa Cup of Nations, but it was not able to do so. Now, we are able to do so. While I congratulate our boys and girls who brought fame to our country, I would like to congratulate the local organising committee for a job well done. At least, we were able to show the world that Kenya can make it. Now, we can even bid to host the World Athletic Championships, because we have the facilities, the human capacity, hotels and the human resource to compete in the March 28, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 205 championships. I urge the hon. Kamanda and his Ministry to start bidding for the World Athletic Championship because it will bring so much publicity and positive light to our country. It will also promote tourism. As you know, of late, in the world over, tourism is diversifying from the traditional beach tourism and game tourism to eco-tourism, culture and sports tourism. In that area, we have plenty of resources. It is time also that the Government considered putting up an international stadium in Mombasa and Eldoret. Once that is done, we will be able to host international games of any standards. At this juncture, I would like to congratulate our media. It was one of those rare occasions that our media exhibited patriotism, and true professional orientation, through their reporting and through the many editorials that they put after the World Cross-Country Championships. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I want to add my voice on the issue that was raised this morning, about the amendments proposed to the Firearms Act. I was very surprised to hear an hon. Member opposing those proposed amendments. Let it be known that a firearm in the hands of a person who is not licensed to carry it is meant to injure, maim and kill innocent persons. We cannot have mercy on a person who is holding an illegal firearm. I urge my colleagues to fully support---"
}