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{
    "id": 34565,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/34565/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 355,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Njuguna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 20,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njuguna Gitau",
        "slug": "peter-gitau"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for this opportunity to also make my contribution to this very important Motion. Let me start by thanking the Mover of this Motion and indicate that this Motion is very timely, useful and workable. You realize that girls in our schools have been neglected for quite some time and we have even given a blind eye to their plight. Therefore, this Motion calls for serious attention to the plight of girls in our schools. I recall that in the 1970s, I was a headmaster in some schools and in my memory, I recall seeing some girls in the class caught up in this very serious predicament. I would not have been in a better position other than to pray for the young innocent girls. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, it is important as a country that we take seriously education for girls. We need to make sure that retention and transition are really maintained if our girls are going to engage and participate in the social, economic and political life of this nation. Failure to provide this basic facility will generally affect the dignity and personality of these girls. Again, they will not be well placed to compete with the boys. Therefore, this Motion calls for restoration of dignity and confidence for our young girls in schools. To allow the girls to excel in whatever they want in the field of education, we need to provide those basic requirements. When girls drop out of schools, there are very serious consequences that really affect the parents and the country at large. These girls engage in very poor employment because they are not educated. They also engage in early marriages and even go to far away countries to look for jobs where they are enslaved and mistreated. These are our young daughters and we should think more about them. These drop-outs are sometimes in the slums and in the city of Nairobi. They sometimes get messed up and their future is also messed up. It is important to guarantee proper education for these girls in our schools. Therefore, sanitary pads must be mandatory especially for the needy families. The entire girl population must be given this life requirement. You cannot talk about the right to education if you are not giving adequate attention to this facility. The Prime Minister and the Grand Coalition Government started so well by allocating Kshs300 million but this is a drop in the ocean. More resources must be allocated to make sure that transition in our schools and particularly for girls is ensured. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you realize that we have lost a lot of resources in the Ministry of Education. If that money had been given out to the schools, it would have benefitted our girls in the schools. Money getting misappropriated or embezzled to the tune of Kshs4.2 billion is not a laughing matter. I note with great concern that the Minister for Education denies during the day that he was not involved. The current Permanent Secretary also says that he is not aware. The former Permanent Secretary has also been cleared in the scandal. Then who has “eaten” that money? We want to be told who has “eaten” the money for the young innocent children. We want the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) to move with speed and make sure that the culprits are arrested and taken to court Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I concur and fully support that in the modern Kenya today, our girls must be in the frontline in participating and ensuring that there is equity and fairness in the provision of these facilities. With those few remarks, I fully support this very timely Motion."
}