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"id": 5403,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mututho",
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"legal_name": "John Michael Njenga Mututho",
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"content": "First of all, the youth do not have the baggage. By baggage I mean those big offices, big cars, many secretaries, security and what have you, all of which the consumer and the Government for that matter, will have to pay for. So the goods and services will be cheaper to the Government. That is a plus to the Government. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, since all of us do appreciate that some of these goods and services we are talking about, like medical equipment come from a company, for example, in Sweden, there will be nothing to lose either way. Therefore, there will be a win-win situation. There is another draconian requirement, may I put it that way, that most of these organizations must put an advertisement in the local newspapers and dailies. Currently, there are about three or four dailies. These dailies are getting bulkier by the hour and soon or later, they are going to be as big and as fat as that one of the Edge of Australia, Melbourne. This is a newspaper which is about one and a half kilogrammes or two kilogrammes in weight. An advertisement pinned there, surely, is not meant to be read. Why do we not then put it this way; that we revise the procurement rules and regulations so that the Government website becomes the principle media for advertisement? We have 14 million mobile phones in the Republic of Kenya and more. All Government institutions have computers. Most of the chief offices have computers; most of these young men can afford at least basic computing even from their mobile phone. They can scan through and check those tenders that are forthcoming from the Government websites. By saying that you have to advertise in the dailies, truly very few people can be able to buy all the three or four major newspapers and work through to pick up these advertisements. Therefore, we need to amend the principal Act so that, other than advertising as a requirement, you must also be specific that it must appear in the official Government website. That is the way we need to work out Section 34 of the principal Act. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, why do we say this again? The same money which the Government is squandering in advertisement which I would estimate at not less than Kshs6 billion annually, can be used as a security bond for this young people. You will excuse me for that. The amount of money we are plundering with full three pages of advertisements that are never read, safe for a few, is already adequate. Therefore, we do not require additional funding on this particular aspect. I said earlier and I am repeating without causing any contradiction, that the Government, if willing, can follow the Malaysian model. In Malaysia, what they say and what they do is this; if a young man has invented a product, say how to bind a book like this or mineral water like this, the Government enters into a partnership with that particular young man. Since the Government has the funds, there is a specific parastatal or body that deals with that. At the point when business begins, the Government will win its equity position with time so that the young men or the youth for that particular matter, are left doing the business. That way, they have been able to enter into serious manufacturing in Malaysia. They have been able to convert people who are not sons of Queens and Kings, but ordinary youth to be millionaires and they are out there doing very serious business in the world. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, Mr. Eugene Wamalwa, with or without saying whether he is aspiring to be a President or whatever he wants to do, if he can aspire to give us this good law that will ensure that somebody in Ikolomani down in the village who has a mobile phone that can hook into the Government website and sees there is a tender for the supply of pens, who meets the requisite conditions of the order, with the help of those instruments we are putting in place, can supply and convert himself into a millionaire without necessarily breaking into a bank; that will be very remarkable. That is the essence of this amendment the way I see it. I do not expect it to get very kind reaction from the multi-nationals of this world, the sons of Kings and Queens. I do not expect it to be very acceptable by the sons of millionaires and billionaires of this world. We do not expect it to go well with the people who trade in billions. However, with or without their support, our cardinal role as Parliamentarians is three-fold; representing the people. The youth are crying. They are saying that they also want to participate in nation building. They have the brain power which is critical to any serious development. Our role is representing those people. It does not say we represent a certain class of multi- nationals or certain business people. Our second role is to make laws. That is the legislative function. We amend them, append them and repeal them. That is where Eugene Wamalwa comes in with this particular one. We must make amendments to accommodate the very spirit of our working together with our youth because as they say, old people must die, but young people may die. We do not want them to die. We want them to participate in the building of this society. The final function is oversight. That is later on when this Act comes to fruition. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I conclude by saying once again, that we have gone in all media houses, we have spoken in all rallies, I see some men at 70 years trying to call themselves youth because they admire the youth. However, the youth we are talking about here are those between age bracket of 18 years and 35 years. They are the people who are likely to be converted to paupers because of some legislative framework that we can be able to amend. That is why I sit by supporting this particular Bill wholeheartedly. Thank you."
}