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"id": 498277,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Ong’era",
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"legal_name": "Janet Ongera",
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to also rise to support this Bill. From the outset, I would like to applaud my sister, Sen. Elachi, for seeing it fit to bring this amendment to the NYS Act by amending Section 13 to devolve this unit to the counties. This will be a very good thing to do because we shall be devolving some of these services to what we think there are some security aspects of essential services like the police services and the national youth that should be taken to the counties. As we are aware, the NYS plays a very important role in this country, in vocational training for the youth and also in teaching some of these youth patriotisms and a sense of self-worth. I am sure that if this is devolved to the counties, we shall be empowering our youth out there, so, that they are not trained at just one place at a national level. We know that some of these youth have actually found themselves in the police forces, Administrative Police (AP) and also the armed forces. We know the number has not been sufficient, for example, in the year 2008, only 6,500 of the NYS members were recruited to join the armed forces. In the year 2010, only 2,550 were recruited. These are already trained youth and they should be given the first priority to get to the armed forces. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am an alumni of the NYS. I was there and I trained for one year in 1986. Some of the things that I learnt there up to today in terms of discipline, I actually apply them. It made me a more organised person. I hope that my friend Githinji, the new director, who I have a lot of respect and faith in, can actually revolutionise the NYS. He will look at the best practices that we have in the world. For example, in Israel, the NYS has been used by taking youths of between 18 and 22 years and conscripting them. They can work in the armed forces for two to three years. When they finish, they can go back into the Kibbutz system where they help in the farming or assisting farmers to learn best practices. Madam Temporary Speaker, Israel is not the only country where these best practices are applied. In the United States of America (USA), for example, the youth have been taught on how they can create new jobs for themselves, they have been taught new technologies and have been used for public education campaigns. I think that these best practices can also be brought here to Kenya so that we can have our youth participating in some these very best practices. However, as much as we are supporting that, the NYS should be devolved to the counties. I think that my sister Sen. Elachi will consider adding an amendment to this Bill that county governments, especially the governors, are involved in the recruitment of these youth and also that recruitment is not skewed by just the director deciding how they are going to recruit. Madam Temporary Speaker, I hope that in devolving these services, we are not going to devolve the youth service so that the Jubilee Government uses it as a way of scoring up against the CORD Coalition. I hope that this will not be used during the general elections by our opponents to score against us. I also hope that as we devolve these units, it will not be a way of encouraging corruption in this country. 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."
}