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{
    "id": 382808,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382808/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "June 27, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 22 Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to thank you for giving me this chance to reply and to also thank my colleagues who have eloquently contributed to the Motion. I think if there is something very dear and very heavy in my heart, it is the question of education. This is because I know education is an equalizer and it gives us equal chances. Some of us would not have been here had it not been for the opportunity we got to go to school. It is through education that we were able to know many people, travel everywhere and even get an opportunity to become Members of this House. It is important that we clarify certain things from the outset. First, this Motion is seeking to only transfer the function of infrastructure and equipping of primary and secondary schools to the county level. If you look at Schedule Four, there are more other functions that are going on at the national level, for example, the functions of quality assurance and hiring of teachers which cannot be transferred because it is under a constitutional commission; the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). These include, curriculum review, policy making and issues related to admissions, among others. These are functions that will remain at the national level but if you go back today, you will realize that my primary school which I went to was only built through two things: harambees and Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). Sen. Karaba will appreciate and has confirmed to me that the largest percentage of CDF when he was a Member of the National Assembly was basically going to building schools or medical institutions. What we are now saying is that because the local people have the capacity to decide which school they want to put money into and how they want to build it, it is better that the resources be given to them for purposes of building infrastructure. When we talk about infrastructure, we mean classrooms, laboratories, houses for teachers, dining halls, toilets, among others. We are not saying that we devolve any other function but infrastructure. Equipment means that if you build a dormitory, then you should buy the beds. The national Government cannot come to buy beds at the local level. If you build a laboratory, you buy the laboratory equipment. If you build a hall then you must buy the desks. If you build a classroom then you must buy desks for the students. If you build a library then you must also buy textbooks. How many of us go for school open days where the teachers ask parents to go with text books. This happens because schools do not have books. If we take this function to the local level, we would have the opportunity to equip those schools. I was not there but Sen. Obure and Sen. Kittony must have been there in the 1960s when education was a function of county councils. This went on until 1967 when devolution collapsed. At that time, the schools were well equipped and the teachers who were hired did not necessarily come from the locality because the community cared about results more than getting a person from their tribe to come and teach in the school. At that time, everything was at a local level except policy making. We are saying that we need to transfer building of infrastructure and equipping of infrastructure at the local level. Madam Temporary Speaker, currently there are few schools which are being run by the City Council of Nairobi. There is even a department of education in the council. When you transfer functions to the council of Nairobi, you cannot tell them that Schedule Four says that the function is a function of the national Government and so schools should be surrendered to the national Government. It would not add any value that the city primary schools can now be transferred to the national Government. So, you cannot 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."
}