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{
    "id": 440589,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/440589/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 246,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I beg to support this Motion and to thank the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson for having reversed the roles; they moved and seconded this Motion very ably and in an extremely informative manner. I am always very proud of my former student. I think what everybody has said confirms the faith I had in him right from the very beginning. I do hope that one of these days; he will establish what I call a leadership training centre to pass on these qualities to younger Kenyans who should inherit what we have here. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is always a silver lining in a dark cloud. Most people look at the Senate and say “well, the Senate has a very limited role in the Constitution.” Indeed, there are many articles in the Constitution and a few are on the Senate. But the role that the Senate has been given – to look after the affairs of the counties – is an enormous task. What this Committee is doing – and, of course, it is our Committee too and I want to take you to task, but I excuse you – by going around the country, visiting the counties and talking with people on the ground is an extremely important exercise. I was talking to our county assembly – I had discussions with them twice – and I was telling them that before they take off to go even to Uganda, Israel or Malaysia to find out what is happening to devolution or local governance there, they should just take time off to visit each other’s wards to find out what is happening in the wards in Kisumu County. Because if you are not aware of what is happening in your own county, it is rather difficult to go and learn something else out there and come and apply it. I really enjoyed your contribution, Sen. Elachi, and I think the warning you have given us – to pay more attention to our local environment before we jump on the planes to go and benchmark elsewhere – is very important. I was in the National Assembly for 20 years, and I remember going on a National Assembly trip only once during those years. The trip I took was to Botswana when I was in the Special Committee on Corruption Chaired by hon. Musikari Kombo. It is only because that Committee was set up to look into the possibilities of establishing the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and this came out of the Public Investments Committee (PIC) discussions when I was its Chairperson. So, that is the only trip I ever made, to Botswana, and not to all these other exotic countries that people go to. But I do not regret it because I think that our responsibility is here locally before we go elsewhere. In any case, you can get most of these things through the internet before going to any other place. So, I think that issue should be taken very seriously and applied in reality. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to say something about this Report, especially what has been raised today in terms of local level educational initiatives. Although county governments have been given the responsibility to only look after the Early Childhood Development (ECDs), which has an enormous impact on education, as all the speakers who have spoken here today have said, it means that from the very beginning, children should be given an education that makes them Kenyans. You will be surprised that children begin learning at the age of three months in the womb – and I have a practical experience in this, which I do not want to say now – but a child will begin learning a language from the age of three months in the womb."
}