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{
    "id": 328696,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/328696/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 399,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kabando wa Kabando",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 31,
        "legal_name": "Kabando wa Kabando",
        "slug": "kabando-kabando"
    },
    "content": "are streamlined. They will be systematic, predicable and the audit will be received and annual reports expected. Therefore, the necessary corrections of any area that will be discovered to require improvement will be made as a matter of routine engagement. We have had scenarios where areas or schools have gone for years without any serious audit. We have had instances where institutions have been mismanaged and there is no report that can cause any correction. This also provides an opportunity for such reports to document easily the achievements of those managers that do very well because the evaluation or assessment of governance in institutions of learning will enable stock- taking and below performance assessments. Therefore, the staff that do very well in financial management and in administration, in tapping the best resources and utilization of resources can easily be marked. I also note that in this Bill, there is provision for guidance by the County Boards on school based assessments and certification of school assessment tests. This is very important so that the commercialization of these exams, because of the competitiveness that we experience currently, and particularly, the disadvantaged positioning of public institutions because of personnel and in many instances the infrastructure, is reduced. The platform that schools get will be equal to those which are well placed. I am very excited by the definition of who the sponsor is. Hon. Bett has mentioned this. It is good to laud and congratulate those sponsors particularly, religious organizations that pioneered the development of schools and have continued, at the level of secondary schools, to give attention and support. They have done very well and this cannot go unmarked. We know that the synergy between religious bodies and communities under the supervision of the District Education Boards as previously constituted have made very important strides. However, we will be hiding our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich if we do not accept that there have also been great challenges with some of the sponsors. This has been there and it has been experienced. There are those who have raised concerns as the Minister said when he was moving this Bill and those concerns need to be taken on board for the improvement of this Bill. However, a message should go out that if institutions have made significant contributions to the development of schools in infrastructure and in human resource; contributing significantly to the sustainability of good performance and ensuring that school expansion is achieved in a way that is acceptable, they need to be brought on board so that we bring quality on board. This is especially in the composition of the board of management of these institutions. I know the qualifications have been set which is again an overhaul of the current scenario where you may have institutions where members of the Board of Governors have been in place for two or three terms but their input has been challenged. We know that everybody comes on board in good faith to give additional value but it is also important to note and enact expectations which this Bill has brought. My colleague here was talking about the involvement of the County Governor, saying that he or she should be on the Board. I think the Minister needs to rethink that. He will receive comments from many of us but I think the Governor is a mini-president in the county and should not be expected to sit in those levels. The report will be taken to the Governor of Education or other sectors. So, the person we should expect to sit is, Mr. Minister, the person for the time being chairing or in charge of the county executive committee addressing educational matters. Otherwise, bringing the attention of the Governor down will be telling the mini-president of that county that he developed a report that I cannot criticize and also audit it in that regard. Finally, the very fact that we are moving from primary elementary education, Standard 8 as basic education, to High School or Form Four is a milestone. We, who work in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and my boss is here, know that for one to now qualify and take examinations in a youth polytechnic, you are advantaged if you have gone up to Form 4. There are many youth now with good grades of C+ and B-. These are people who are just slightly below the mark of the Joint Admissions Board in Public Universities who go to polytechnics to acquire skills that are essentially not very basic in technical areas. Therefore, this Bill enables the youth of the Republic of Kenya to be part of the strength that will ensure that the capacity to engage in professional or career courses and also benefit the nation by their technical skills is achieved in a very fast way. With those remarks, I feel that time is due. I congratulate the Minister for bringing this Bill on board. I strongly support it."
}