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    "id": 571939,
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    "content": "country. If you are in a village for far too long, you tend to believe in some of those stereotypes that are peddled about other people. We must ensure that even as we set up these universities in the counties, we do not create a situation where we will end up with some “ethnic nationalism” where we will ring fence and block our brothers and sisters from getting opportunities outside. Therefore, I hope we are very clear in our thinking. When a university is set up in a county, for example, Laikipia, we are not saying that it is only students from Laikipia who will go there. The admission process must be opened up. We should allow people from other parts of the country to go, integrate and benefit from the opportunities in that county. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the same time, I see a real danger. We are killing technical institutes so that we can bring up universities. There is nothing wrong with establishing universities. However, at the end of the day, the transition rate, those who score grades that can allow them to get to the universities is far much less than those who score lower grades. Technical universities and village polytechnics are areas that we must look at. In my county, we have seen a situation where we want to convert the farmers training centre into a university. The local residents have raised genuine concerns. If you convert this into a degree awarding institution, then what happens to the farmers who previously benefited from the training offered there? We should not kill technical institutes so that we fulfill our desire to have a university in every corner. The CUE has let Kenyans down in certain aspects. I say this with reference to the ongoing debate on accreditation of engineers. Once the CUE has approved a course or programme at a university, then students have been admitted through the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) that took over the role of the defunct Joint Admissions Board (JAB); students have sat in class for four, five or six years only to be told after graduating that the course they did is not accredited by some professional body. The CUE must consult with these professional bodies so that hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters whose parents have slaved to pay their school fees and university fees are not dumped in the streets after acquiring what they expected to be legitimate education. I hope that the issues that have been raised over accreditation of courses from some public universities will be sorted out quickly. When doing so, the best interests of the students must be given priority. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the way we have handled this issue of accreditation reminds me of the way we have been running around over second general alcohol. In fact, I can comfortably call these courses that we now disown, “second generation” degrees. Competent bodies approved them only for them to be rejected at the last minute. Similarly, with second generation alcohol, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS), county governments and all competent Government bodies have made certain approvals for some organisations to manufacture hygienically, and in quality controlled environments alcohol which is safe for consumption, then we 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."
}