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{
    "id": 236303,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236303/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Mwendwa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 275,
        "legal_name": "Winfred Nyiva Mwendwa",
        "slug": "nyiva-mwendwa"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, fir giving me an opportunity to support this Bill. I would like to appreciate and commend the Minister for fast- tracking this Bill. This is a commendable effort. I would like to appreciate the creation of this university. Although the university is based in Western Province, it belongs to all Kenyans. I hope that when the Minister will be inaugurating the university, he will invite us to share the joy with him. I would like to support the hon. Member who has requested the Minister to rename the university and use the name of the late Muliro. The name is befitting. The late Muliro was a great Kenyan and should be remembered, not just in Western Province, but all over Kenya. I would like to request the Minister to consider upgrading other institutions which are long overdue. We need many more universities. We now have one university in Western Province, one in Nyanza Province and one in the Rift Valley Province. We should have two universities in the Rift Valley Province. We also need to have a university in the southern part of Kenya. I would also like to request the Minister to upgrade the Ukamba Agricultural Institute (UKAI) to a full-fledged university. It is already in the process of being integrated with Kenyatta University. If the institute is made into a fully fledged university, students would have an opportunity to learn how to farm in dry areas, because it would be an agricultural university. It would offer a range of agricultural courses that have to do with management of farming in dry areas, bearing in mind that most of our country is dry. We need to have more universities and that should not cost us more than we are already spending because we use a lot of money to send our students out of the country to study. We have been sending our students to Uganda and other African countries. Therefore, if we had enough universities which are set up properly, we would also attract students from other countries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it would make a lot of sense if we implemented the free secondary education programme, since we already have the Free Primary Education (FPE) Programme. If that was to be implemented, where would our students go after completing their secondary education, if we do not create more universities? We cannot afford to be sending them 3448 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 7, 2006 out of the country. Therefore, we need to establish more universities. I look forward to a time when we will have a university in the North Eastern Province and another one in the Coast Province so that we can share our country's resources. I support the former contributor who said that secondary school education should also be offered for free. Our CDF bursary money cannot meet the cost of our secondary school education. The need is too high and the Government must meet the cost. I would also like to request the Minister to think about creating middle level and tertiary colleges because we have many students who drop out of schools and others who do not make it to join universities. We also have students who cannot afford to go to secondary schools. We cannot afford to leave our children idle, and therefore, we must keep them busy doing something. We need to have enough polytechnics and colleges. If you go to certain countries like Switzerland, you will find that students attend small colleges, but they eventually upgrade their courses to attain degrees. Students are trained very well to work in different sectors like planning, mechanical and electrical. They work very well and manage to earn a living. I would like to comment about the problem we are currently experiencing in our universities, regarding lectures' salaries. We are very concerned about what is happening at the universities. We hear that some lecturers are paid high salaries while others are paid very low salaries. I worked very hard and could not manage to become a professor. I left teaching at the university at the level of a lecturer, while still trying to become a professor. I am sure that it is not in order to be a full professor, and at the end of the day, be able to afford to drive only a pick up. Let us look at the welfare of our professors and the teaching staff because we have lost many of them to other African countries. Many of them have been relocating to Botswana and South Africa. I think Kenya is better than Botswana and South Africa. It is lecturers from those countries who should be coming to Kenya and not the other way round. Let us look at the welfare of our academicians so that they can do a good job. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}