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{
    "id": 453432,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/453432/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 334,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "sufficient fidelity is built into institutions that give those qualifications. I stand here as an engineer and I know as an engineer our profession is one of the most abused. In the villages you find people who repair bicycles being called engineers; people who empty full pit latrines being called engineers and all that. Nevertheless, that still, for me, is not reason enough for us to come up with a Bill like this at this time because even the institutions that we have, in more ways than one, are failing us. If you look at the objective of this Bill as proposed, it says the purpose of this Bill is to establish a framework for the recognition and standardization of qualifications obtained in institutions within and outside Kenya. That objective may be noble but what becomes of those qualifications and standardization when even at the basic level, we do not seem able to give fidelity to the qualifications that come from even basic examinations? I will give you an example of the recently released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams. It is likely that the school which had the highest number of A and A- (minus) qualifications in the country was not even graded. It is also possible that while this grading is being, there are some counties which out of no fault of their own, the total number of candidates who registered for the KSCE in last year’s exams are just about double the number of students who registered in a particular school in one of the counties. So these disparities mean that if we are to standardize, then it has to be an issue that looks at: What are you standardizing? If you are going to compare, for example, a county that has enrolled 15,000 students with a county that has enrolled 900 students, I think that is unfair. Even as we discuss this Bill, last week I stood here to request that, as a House, we have to be alive to the issues that affect the people of Kenya. You have listened to the debates that have been coming from hon. Members and you realize that even as hon. Members we have difficulty understanding really what this Bill intends. In my view, that is tragic. It is tragic because Article 94 of our Constitution is clear that we draw our legislative authority from the people of Kenya. If we are drawing our legislative authority from the people of Kenya, it means we are here to serve as the servants of the people. But if you look at our country today, if you ask even the average people on the street whether this Bill is what concerns them, I am sure the things that they will tell you that concern them most have to do with the cost of living and the youth unemployment. This is tragic because I read somewhere recently that in Africa, youth unemployment in Kenya, we are second only to the dysfunctional DRC. These are the issues, in my view, which should concern us. Look at the issue of insecurity in our country today, what is going on, for example, in the border between Kisumu and Kericho? That is antediluvian engagement; things that a modern society that aspires to be a middle level economy should never have time for. I think it is incumbent upon us to address these issues that concern us instead of delving, for example, in vague pieces of legislations which even us, hon. Members, really do not understand. Look at the matter of the rich/poor divide; the matter of corruption in our institutions; the matter of national cohesion; the matter of the transport sector; last week there was a total lock jam in the city of Nairobi; the matter of education and healthcare. These are myriads of issues; issues that the common man will understand. I want to tell you and fellow colleagues that the standards of leadership the world over have been raised and we may be sitting here thinking that we are doing very well for ourselves but The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}