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{
    "id": 381678,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/381678/?format=api",
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    "content": "(b) establish procedures for ensuring that Harambee contributions are tax deductable and; (c) provide clear directives on accounting for Harambee collections and reporting in the use of which such collections are made and to report to the Senate in three months time and that the Committee will compromise the following members:- 1. Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o 2. Sen. Elizabeth Ongoro 3. Sen. G. G. Kariuki 4. Sen. Daisy Kanainza Nyongesa 5. Sen. Peter Mositet 6. Sen. Janet Ong’era 7. Sen. Hassan Omar Hassan Mr. Speaker, Sir, you will recall that when harambees first started in the 1960s, in fact, soon after Independence, the intention then was mainly to build schools because there was a tremendous deficiency of schools, particularly high schools in Kenya. At the dawn of Independence, a lot of our people were airlifted either to the United States of America (USA) or the Soviet bloc of countries for higher education. Quite often some of these people had not gone to high school. They had to finish their high school studies in the USA. I remember, for example, the late Mrs. Pamela Mboya, when she went to the USA, she had partly to go to what is called junior college which is equivalent of “A” level in our system, so as to get entry into college. After that experience, the founding fathers felt strongly that basic education should be available in this country. Legend has it that – I do not know whether this legend corresponds to history or it is something that was just said – but there used to be a man in the sugarbelt of Kisumu called Omollo. When the late Jomo Kenyatta and the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga went there to visit a school and talk about education, Omollo is the guy who came up with the word “Harambee” and urged the leaders to pull together to build schools. He was subsequently known as Omollo Harambee. The word “Harambee” then caught on. I do not want to go into the sociology of the word “Harambee” itself, but that is how it started. Many schools were built. In fact, my former primary and intermediate school called Ndiru started as a harambee high school and subsequently was taken over by the Government. There are many schools which were subsequently taken over by the Government through voluntary contributions. They were built through harambee. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the spirit of harambee went on to facilitate in building of medical facilities, dispensaries and health centres. Nonetheless, as all good things sometimes become, they get corrupted through misuse and are a burden; to the extent that, over time, the voluntary contribution of funds has spread so extensively that one now wonders the extent to which we should lose the original intentions and get burdened by poor practice. My former colleague in Parliament, in fact, my predecessor, Member of Parliament for Kisumu Rural Constituency, who is an extremely humourous man - I am referring to Hon. Wilson Ndolo Ayah. An individual once went to him and said: “Mheshimiwa, I want you to come and raise funds for me because my wife was expecting and is at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and the bill needs to be paid. We need The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}