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"id": 246550,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/246550/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Onyancha",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 126,
"legal_name": "Charles Onyancha",
"slug": "charles-onyancha"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wish to support this Motion and congratulate the Minister for Finance for a well-thought-out Budget Speech. We should give due credit to the Government where it is due. A lot of resources are now being channelled to the Free Primary Education Programme (FPEP) that appeared initially to be a dream to other people. The FPEP is now working. Everyone is in agreement that this is a vital programme that is pushing literacy levels in the country to what was not precedented. The FPEP needs to be supported. A lot of money needs to be sourced, so that its sustainability is maintained. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as much as we are addressing the FPEP, we should also remember our children in primary schools are now being admitted to secondary schools. This is also putting a lot of pressure on the classes and human resources in terms of the teachers. We need to address these issues very seriously. As much as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) is pursuing the Government to implement their salary increment in one phase and pay it in lump sum, I think if there is any saving in terms of money, then it should be channelled to employment of new teachers. We all know that teachers are now overstretched in primary and secondary schools. The Government should address the issue of employment of additional teachers in primary and secondary schools. It is critical that this is done. This aspect of simply replacing those teachers who retire or leave through natural attrition is not the best way to address the shortage of teachers in our schools. I wish to support the Minister for the amounts of money he proposed to channel to the education sector. This is something that other countries are beginning to appreciate, that the Government is really doing very well in terms of support for education in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other area that we have done very well and we should congratulate the Minister for is increasing the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) money. While programmes supported by the CDF are now seen on the ground, money that is channelled through the LATF programme is not really visible in the grassroots level. The LATF money has been misappropriated. Initially, it was meant to fund various programmes, but now it is addressing the allowances of councillors. This is something that should be looked into so that projects supported by the LATF money are seen in the rural areas, just like the CDF projects. We have put up many dispensaries. These dispensaries are now complete, but without staff. This is also an area that the Minister for Health, in conjunction with hon. Members, should address so that those dispensaries are utilised. We want staff to operate in those dispensaries so that when 1460 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 20, 2006 drugs are given, the people on the ground appreciate that the CDF has done something and has brought services closer to them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have no problem with taxation of allowances of constitutional office bearers and hon. Members. However, this issue has been talked about as if hon. Members are really never taxed. It must be emphasised that hon. Members earn salaries that are taxed. What is not taxed are their allowances. However, we have no problem with this proposal and the law should be changed so that allowances for hon. Members are taxed like any other allowances given to other Government officers. We do not have a problem with this proposal because, after all, the Government is raising revenue through taxation. We, as hon. Members, are the ones who pass these taxation measures. This should not be a problem for us to have our allowances taxed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we want to thank the Minister for allocating funds to the youth. This will go a long way in alleviating unemployment amongst our youth in the whole country. The Government needs to source more funds so that we address unemployment which is now rampant amongst our youth. The best way to do so is to allocate money for our youth so that they can start profit-generating programmes. This will ensure that they survive without necessarily looking for white-collar jobs. We welcome the proposal by the Minister to channel the youth funds through the constituencies. Having presided over the CDF, we think that hon. Members together with leaders in constituencies, are best qualified to decide on which programmes the youth can undertake. This is a positive attribute for this Government to address the problems facing the youth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also welcome the zero-rating of computers. However, we think that something more should be done to ensure that we have electricity in the rural areas. It is one issue to zero-rate computers, and a completely another matter to access these computers so that they are seen to be working within our schools. In my constituency, I have only two schools that are served with electricity. If we zero-rate computers and buy them, yet we cannot make use of them, it is not right. We need to address the issue of electricity alongside the zero- rating of computers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of youth polytechnics, we want to congratulate the Minister for allocating funds to one youth polytechnic in each constituency. We need to address this issue much more vigorously so that we can equip our youth with skills that can enable them start income generating programmes to survive on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to address the issue of corruption in this country more significantly, if only as a measure to raise savings, so that we can run the Government efficiently."
}