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{
    "id": 365288,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/365288/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "National Youth Council is, indeed, the appropriate forum through which young people – their own elected leaders – will propagate and champion their rights in Government and other agencies. Many young people are, indeed, suffering from unemployment. If we want to deal with the issue of unemployment, we must focus on young people. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, young people also deal with issues of moral standards. We saw recently a case of young girls in school participating in prostitution. All this is because our young people have lost hope. I left campus just a few years ago. I know that many of my classmates who graduated with first class honours are still “tarmacking” along the streets of Nairobi. It is an unfortunate circumstance. Indeed, this House must be seen to not only support the youth, but also to push for the issue of young people being mainstreamed in Government and getting opportunities. Without anticipating debate, I intend to bring a Bill that will eventually put into law the 30 per cent promise that was given to the youth on procurement. Unless we amend the Procurement and Disposal Act, that will just remain a promise. Young people are used to getting promises which are never actualised. As I say so, I must applaud the Jubilee Government because, for a long time, we have seen young people being used in politics. However, in this instance, I am personally a living testimony of the fact that young people have found their space. Young people are no longer errand boys and just bouncers to be used by political parties and their leaders. Young people have come to the table to claim their stake. The large number of young people in this House is testimony to that fact. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as a House, we must also consider re-working the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and the entire programme of the youth fund because throwing money at young people will not solve their problems. Telling young people to form groups of ten so that they can be given money will not solve their problems. We need modern digital solutions to address the issue of youth unemployment. If they are, indeed, going to be equipped to qualify for both jobs and 30 per cent of Government tenders, which amount to about Kshs105 billion, we need to empower them. We can have a youth capital fund for building the skills of young people through training and mentoring of their businesses or having incubators for their businesses such that. by the time a young person owns a business, he knows how to handle the accounts, how his products will sell and how to balance his costs. As I say so, I also want to note very deeply and strongly that the young people of this country are probably our last line of defence when it comes to fighting tribalism. On Sunday and Saturday, I was in the great County of Kisumu where I interacted with many young people. As the Chairman of TNA, I have gone round this country and I have seen young people. I can say unequivocally that the issues of the young people I saw in Kibos, Kisumu, are very similar to the issues of the young people I have interacted with in Kiambu, Mombasa and Mandera. In this country, there is a new tribe called “youth”, which does not look at one’s skin colour or one’s background but rather, at one’s qualities and character."
}