HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 236308,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236308/?format=api",
"text_counter": 299,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. ole Ntimama",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 200,
"legal_name": "William Ronkorua ole Ntimama",
"slug": "william-ntimama"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill on the University of Western Kenya. I want to thank the Ministry and the Minister himself in person for bringing this Bill to this House right now, because it is part of spreading education to the people of this country. We know that education is the basis for any development of any nation. The question of spreading, financing and establishing universities and their constituent colleges is very important. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a few days ago, I said that this country is notorious for inequality. There are some areas in this country like the pastoralist communities which are never considered at all for education. Let us take the example of USA when the Mayflower ship crossed the Atlantic and went to establish education in America and the education that came later. Look at the civil rights struggle. They had to admit students to white universities from the slave communities. We are not saying we are the slave communities, but I do not think that in the history of this country, the Government has tried to develop the whole country, especially the far-flung areas. It has not. 3450 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 7, 2006 In the USA, Colorado is an arid area, like some of our areas, but they have not been left out. They have universities, because the Government is particularly interested in all the people, especially by giving them education and all the other necessary services. The same is not true in Kenya. The whole thing started with the white man. By discriminating against the pastoralist communities, all they wanted was to rob us of our livestock and conscript our people to fight in the First World War and Second World War. That is what we were needed for, but when it came to education, we were not needed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want the attitude of the Government to change in such a way that they will go to every corner of this country to try and bring up the people as citizens of this country, and note areas that are supposed to be developed. We must go to those areas that have been left out for many years, in education in particular. If you do not give education to the pastoralists, then you are definitely marginalising more people. Why do we not just establish two pastoralist constituent colleges; one in the north and another in the south? It is so important. We come here and glorify Western Kenya, Maseno and everybody. What has ever been given to us as pastoralists? Nothing! Yet, when it comes to all these parties going round and about, we are the first to be wooed; kuja tutawasaidia. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must reach all the borders of this country. In fact, I do not want to talk too much about other areas. But if you look at the education of the Maasai in Tanzania, they are now better than us in Kenya. The Government is going into all those areas to see that primary and secondary education is given to these people free of charge. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on this question of establishment of universities and constituent colleges, we must take affirmative action, just like the Americans did to the blacks, the Red Indians and the Latinos by enabling them to get into universities even with lower grades. As we are here, our children are not stupid; they just lack opportunity. If you lack opportunity, then there is nothing you can do. We must now come to the realisation that when we admit students to the Western University of Science and Technology, good luck for them, or any other university or constituent college, which we do not have in the pastoralist areas, we consider affirmative action. We must consider people who have been left behind. They need to be propped up because they are Kenyan citizens so that we can reach everybody and bring the whole country together. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was told by some intelligent people, who know sociology very well, that if you leave certain people so much behind, definitely, you are creating conflict in some of those areas, because the country does not move together. That is why we have conflict all over our borders. People living on the Kenya/Ethiopian border think that they do not belong to Kenya. They think that they belong to Ethiopia. Some of the Kenyan Somalis living on our border with that country say that they belong to Somalia. The Turkana people living on the Kenya/Uganda border think that they can join their Karamojong brothers in Uganda, because Kenya is a \"foreign\" country. We must not allow these things to continue. They are not small things. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are some things which we must start thinking about very seriously. The other day, I pointed out the issue of serious shortage of teachers in some pastoralist areas. This is because people do not want to go and work there. People from traditionally agricultural areas, and those from developed districts, do not want to work in the North Eastern Province or in certain remote areas of Masailand, because those areas do not have roads and other infrastructure is poor. The only persons who can teach in those areas are the locals, but they are not there. They are not trained. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other day, I said in Narok it was unfortunate that the Government had raised the admission grade for Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs) from D+ to C plain. I am glad that the Minister for Science and Technology, who also holds the education November 7, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3451 portfolio in acting capacity, Dr. Wekesa, is listening. Former President Moi had lowered the admission grade to D+, so that the pastoralist communities could have their own admitted to TTCs and other colleges. It was not for nothing that he lowered the admission grades to colleges. I want to repeat that children from pastoralist communities are not stupid. They just lack the opportunities, and the Government decided to \"guillotine\" them out. If they do not have teachers and the essential facilities, nothing can happen. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say very frankly that even during the colonial days, headmasters of some very famous schools in this country, like Dr. Carey Francis of Alliance High School, Dr. Clockard of Kagumo High School and the headmaster of Mangu High School, where His Excellency the Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs went to, went out of their way to areas like Narok and Kajiado to pick up students to join those schools. Normally, students from those areas would have been of lower academic standards but when they joined those schools, they excelled and were admitted to universities like Makerere, where they became doctors and very good professors. However, we no longer do this in Kenya. There is a lot of discrimination in this country. We are considered as outsiders, and as people who have no value to this country. Therefore, I would like the Government to lower the minimum qualification for admission to university from Grade C+ to D+ for students from some of these areas. Doing so would be affirmative action to the people of those areas. I would like to repeat again that children from those areas are not stupid. They just lack the opportunities. Children in pastoralist areas have no teachers or books. Secondly, the education inspection teams do not reach those areas because there are no roads. What would you expect of children from such areas? Would you expect them to compete favourably with children in Central Province and Nairobi, who are already using computers? How would you expect children in pastoralist areas to compete with children in Central Province and Nairobi? There is no way they can do so. They are going to be \"completely\" guillotined all the time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must start thinking about equality. We must start thinking about bringing our people to the real forum. This is marginalization. If you deny education to a people, you want them to continue to be slaves of other people forever. We are, definitely, not building that kind of situation, where you want all the communities from the north, and from our own areas, to remain slaves of other people for a long time. That is the ultimate effect of not giving them education. That is the effect of marginalizing them. That is the effect of leaving them out. I am glad that my friend, Dr. Wekesa, was here. The other day, we had a delegation. We wanted to see him, so that he could lower the minimum entry points to colleges for students from pastoralist areas, to D+. He did not give us a chance. The other day, I carried out some research and established that we have more than 50 students in Narok who had scored Grade C plain and C+, who had applied for admission to TTCs, but they were not accepted. I would like the Minister to check out that one. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if that position is correct, then it is an unforgivable sin that our people can be denied entry into their own teacher training college in Narok just because some silly education officer wants to admit to that college students from other tribes. It is true that any institution established in any area, the Western Kenya region included, must reflect the development of the community around it. I am glad that this argument has the backing of a gentleman from Western Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the community around that institution must not be isolated. You cannot start importing everybody. You can bring people from the Coast Province and 3452 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 7, 2006 elsewhere. My friends here from the Coast Province are, definitely, going to talk about their university, because they have also been left out. Such an institution must reflect the development of the community. If Narok Teachers Training College does not reflect the development of the community around it, then it should be moved elsewhere. Just uplift it and take it elsewhere. If even our children who have scored Grade C plain and C+ cannot be admitted there to train as teachers, we can as well forget about that college. The Government can as well send bulldozers to lift up the buildings and take them elsewhere. We will, definitely, have no use for it if our children cannot be admitted there."
}