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{
    "id": 472493,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/472493/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "that has been advertised and win it? What we are creating here now is exploiting our young people more than helping them. That is where the tycoons come in and sponsor the registration of companies. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, anything is possible in this country. They will sponsor certain groups to form companies and participate in the tendering process using them as proxies. At the end of the day, it is now the same tycoon who will win the tender. By doing so, we are actually discriminating against the young people. The playing ground in business must be open and people must be allowed to stretch and build their minds by facing the challenges and knowing how to face them. The youth will be kept out of this and there is no way they will do business in this country. We should create avenues to avail loans to the youth to enable them to tender. You must not make money out of a Government tendering system. This country has about 40 million people in which 70 per cent are youth. In fact, what you are creating are misunderstandings. Let us allow our youth access to loans. Let them be trained on how to engage in trade. They could start selling chicken, eggs, goats, mboga and so forth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must stretch the minds of the young people. For example, if the Government sets aside Kshs16 billion on printing materials and you spread that in the 47 counties, it is a message of hope that helps nobody unless they get that information. I believe in every county less than 0.5 per cent will benefit. So, I challenge the Amendment Bill the way it is. For example, what is the description of women groups who need to be given these tenders when it comes to this Amendment Bill? Is Sen. Chelule or Sen. Nabwala prohibited from participating in the tender and actually being given the first chance? What are the women groups that this Bill is targeting? If it is left in general the way it is, frankly speaking, it will not help those who deserve to be helped. When we talk about women, we talk about women who are drawing water from the rivers in the villages. Those are the women who should be uplifted. We are talking about the women who are selling vegetables and mitumba in Gikomba and all over the country. What will stop the Cabinet Secretary in a certain Ministry, being a woman, from participating in this tendering process? The beneficiaries of this Amendment Bill are those who have the political muscle, the capacity and the will to drive things the way they want to. For us to assist the dear women we are targeting in Murang’a, Machakos and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties, we need to allocate them funds. We should give them money, for example, to participate in zero grazing. We could even buy grade cows for them to produce milk so that they can sell it. That is the way forward. But when you advertise a tender in a newspaper, it is a complete joke. To purchase a newspaper in order to know that a tender has been advertised takes money. The cost of a newspaper is Kshs60 which is close to US$1. Statistics in this country shows very clear that about 60 per cent of Kenyans live below US$1. How can the same people be told that a tender has been advertised and they need to purchase those newspapers to know the details? How do you expect them to buy forms at Kshs2,000 in order to tender? For a group of women to be able to present a complete 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."
}