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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, October 18, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3037 Sir, for the privilege and chance you have given me to make my maiden speech. First of all, I would like to thank the people of Laisamis Constituency in Marsabit District for giving me this great chance to represent them. I promise to do my best to serve them. I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessor, the late Ngoyoni for serving our people well. Laisamis Constituency is the fourth largest constituency in this country. It covers an area of 20,266 square kilometres. As most of us know, our livelihood is nomadic in nature. We rely on livestock as our economic resource base. Without livestock, we cannot raise school fees to pay for the education of our children. We cannot also get food to eat. We will have a host of other problems. The importance of education which many people in this country enjoy, includes the fact that with good education, we have improved health. Young people who have undergone primary education are less likely to contract the HIV/AIDS virus compared to those with little or no education. Education also leads to higher wages and economic growth. In poor countries, each additional year of schooling brings ten per cent higher wages. No country has ever reached continuous and rapid growth without reaching an adult literacy level of over 40 per cent. Education also supports democracy and political stability. It leads to the growth of the civil society and democracy. It also enables many people to learn about their rights and how to exercise them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, education has been a very tough thing in Northern Kenya, especially for girls. I am committed to serve my people and make sure that girl-child education gets one of the best priorities. A woman with over six years of education is more likely to seek prenatal care, assisted child birth and postnatal care, hence reducing the risk of maternal and child mortality and illness. Unfortunately, most of the women in my constituency do not have that education. Also, educated mothers are 50 per cent more likely to immunise their children. The majority of farmers in the developing countries are women. Greater female education leads to productive farming and declining malnutrition. I, as the Member of Parliament for Laisamis Constituency, have done my research and found out that we have a 53.7 per cent and a whooping 93 per cent increase in the number of boys and girls undergoing primary education respectively, since the introduction of free primary school education programme. How do we expect to cope with those numbers when the number of teachers remains the same as before? How are we going to increase our education levels if the same number of teachers is maintained? We have two secondary schools in my areas. One is new and the other one is Laisamis Secondary School which has been in existence for 16 years. In those 16 years, it has never produced a single student who has qualified to join a public university. We need a great deal of help in the education sector. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Education should actually promote northern Kenya. I request that it should take over the building of schools and provision of teachers in order to ease our economic stress. We can deal with the rest through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). I would also like to recommend - and I am sure it has been done before - that the CDF allocation to needy areas like northern Kenya be based on the literacy needs of the constituents. We cannot have someone in Nairobi or more affluent areas getting the same 10 per cent allocation as me. The last drought killed almost 90 per cent of our livestock. How are we supposed to educate our children, if we are only allocated 10 per cent? So, I am asking the CDF Committee to consider basing the allocation on the needs of constituencies. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we would also like to share the great cake of scholarships offered to students of this country to study abroad. I do not remember the last time someone from my constituency got a scholarship, yet we are a part of this country. As I said before, the economic development of our people depends on livestock. Now that we have lost 90 per cent of it, I appeal to the Government and the relevant authorities, with the help of all Members of 3038 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 18, 2006 Parliament representing nomadic areas, to institute some policy that would actually help us in livestock development. Insecurity and cattle-rustling affects education. You cannot study. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that to get economic growth, there must be security. Without security, there is a situation of poverty and lack of opportunities. We get discouraged because we cannot conduct normal activities. We would like that to be changed. Infrastructure is very poor in our area. We do not have a single electricity pole. We have very bad telephone facilities and extremely bad roads. Even the ones with Safaricom mobile phones have to go to Dr. Kuti's Constituency in Isiolo or Mr. Sasura's Constituency in Marsabit District to charge their phones. Both are 120 kilometres away! When I listened to the debate on the Energy Bill the other day, I was appalled by how much we have never benefitted from that sector. We want some projects to be started in our areas, so that we can move forward. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, to conclude, I would like to say that, with all those problems, we have a resource called the sun. The Ministry of Energy should invest in that. We have strong winds near the lake. We should invest in that wind power."
}