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{
    "id": 236295,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236295/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 286,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Odoyo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 340,
        "legal_name": "Peter Ochieng Odoyo",
        "slug": "peter-odoyo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to add my voice to the very positive points made by the immediate hon. Member who has contributed, and who is a good friend of mine. I know he was agitated during his university days. However, he has turned out to be an eloquent speaker on university matters. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as a former Assistant Minister for Labour and Manpower Development, I wish to urge the Government, especially the Acting Minister for Education, to talk to the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) members. He is not talking! The way you manage university professors is not the same as way you would manage other trade unionists. I urge the Minister to talk to the professors and lecturers. It is not possible to replace professors and lectures at the universities. The gestation period is five to ten years. We cannot replace these professors. If they go home, we must find a way of bringing them back. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we did something with teachers when the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) was agitating for their remuneration. We agreed on a three to four year programme with them. This is what the Minister should be doing as far as lecturers are concerned. He must talk to UASU members so that we can have a graduated system of paying lecturers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, during the first strike led by UASU, I was the Assistant Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development. At that particular time we talked, and a major strike was averted. On this occasion, I believe that an Assistant Minister for Education has valuable insight which is not being utilised in negotiations at present. As a former agitator in UASU for better salaries, his experience must be made use of. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the formation of this university, I wish to say the following. First, we must set up our universities to be world-class centres of knowledge. In the current rankings of Africa and the world, Makerere University is nowhere. The University of Nairobi is nowhere. Dar-es-Salaam University has moved. What has happened? Part of this problem has to do with the promotion of professors who do not write or publish! Promotions are given in universities without full---"
}