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{
    "id": 555730,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555730/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 132,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Oyugi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 444,
        "legal_name": "Augostinho Neto Oyugi",
        "slug": "augostinho-neto-oyugi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I would like to, first of all, congratulate my very good friend, Hon. Irungu Kang’ata, for bringing these very useful amendments. First is to speak to the fact that he proposes to bring student representation to the board, which is going to be useful in terms of adding the students’ voice in the board. That is a good amendment. The second amendment stipulates that nobody is going to be denied a chance to access the loans simply because he or she is a minor. To that extent, they make parents to be trustees for purposes of making sure that students have access to the various loans. That makes those students who go to school fairly early to also have a chance to have a bite at the Fund. The third thing is the creation of an appeals process and giving a chance to the students to appeal the process. An amendment that would also have been good is to show what that appeal process is going to be. This is so that you are not just saying there is going to be an appeal to the same people who refused to give you the loan. We need to create a different appeal process, perhaps, an appeals committee that is slightly higher than the executive committee of the board itself. Lastly, on the amendments is the fact that it gives space for loanees who do have employment in the first year having finished school to have a chance in terms of when they start repaying the loan. There ought to be an amendment that speaks to how to verify the loanees who would not have had a job in the first year. I have listened to hon. colleagues speak to the fact that because of the nature of various employments that are given, you might not be able to easily track where the loanees work. So, there ought to be a proper way. That is the reason why most people stay for too long without repaying their loans, thereby denying the board the chance of getting back the repayments in good time. So, there ought to be a proper mechanism so that even if you are going to be giving a chance to the people not to pay loans because of unemployment but, at least, there should be a methodology of tracking the people and where they work. Out of the various amendments, I would like to speak to three things. First, my hon. colleagues have spoken to timely disbursement of the Fund. You find that most students go to the university in time, half the loans take too long to disburse and so, they end up doing all manner of odd jobs so that they can keep themselves at school. Some of them are not able to join schools in good time. It would only be fair that because 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."
}