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{
    "id": 555631,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555631/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 33,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "HELB be guided in a way that is in the law. It should treat all students equally, whether they are in polytechnics, private or public universities. The system that has existed has been discriminating against students who join two-year colleges such as the Kenya Medical Training Colleges (KMTC), the Kenya Technical Training College (KTTC) and similar institutions. We want to make sure that any student who is pursuing higher education, not just at the public universities, has a fair chance and access to HEPB. That is one of the improvements that we will be making at the amendment stage. The second part that is very important is to make sure that students will be given a grace period that is not too long but not too short, so that the Fund is able to recover some of its money and regenerate some of that money to help future students. In this country, we have a bad habit where people go in and ask for HELB in good faith and when it is time to repay, they do not repay it. So, HELB has no money and is always languishing. It does not have enough money to give to the new generation of students who need that money desperately. We will be making an adjustment to make sure that the grace period within which to start paying the loan is reasonable, perhaps a maximum of one year after you complete your studies. Employers have to deduct it and you repay the loan or you start a business. If at that point you cannot start paying, you have to seek a written waiver or extension. But the issue of people just disappearing and not repaying the HELB loan and denying the next generation of learners a chance to get funding, is an issue that we must address clearly in the law. We should make sure that there are stiff penalties. A Member here has spoken about the credit reference bureaus. That is something that Kenyans must come to terms with. If you sign a document for a loan and promise to pay, you will have consequences when it is time to pay and you refuse to pay. That is what the problem is. But we can put it in law that you can seek an extension. You do not just disappear or go quiet. You will be held accountable and that is a good part of the amendment and the law that should be there. Education, the way I understand it, is not an expenditure for the Government but an investment in our future. Of all the resources our country Kenya has, whether it is the potential for oil in Turkana, wind, natural resources such as coal, wildlife and tourism, our most important and precious resource is our human capital. The possibilities that lie amongst our young people and students like those from Precious Blood, without education, they will amount to nothing. With proper investment in education, they will turn into the next generation of inventors, employers, doctors, teachers and leaders of this country. This is something that we must take really seriously if we are going to address Vision 2030. This House must find a way to keep topping up the amount of money that HELB gets to make sure that all our young people looking for education have the money to go to college, whether it is technical trade schools for two years or for a university degree. Even those who are seeking opportunities to go beyond their first degree to do Masters should be allowed to apply on an equal footing and to sign contracts that they will pay within the stated grace period. The HELB should be funded in two ways, namely through the returns and the small interest rate of maybe 2 per cent at the maximum, that the students pay back once they have benefitted from the education and also through more levies, perhaps benefits and profits from the big SGR or some other way that the 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."
}