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{
    "id": 571946,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/571946/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the area of engineering, we know that at the moment, our education leaves a lot of room for us to suspect that we could do much better. I remember one incident in our educational system where a young boy in Kiambu made a contraption of what he called an aeroplane. He actually ran it across the school field ready to take off. Unfortunately, the aeroplane did not take up to the sky and it crushed at the end of the field. What dismayed and disappointed me seriously when I saw the incident is that the area chief arrested the boy. This incident is one of the major turning points why we do not have a Kenyan- made aeroplane. This is because there is no initiative or appreciation of original knowledge that is within us and we cannot capture and use it. This is what we want our universities to do. We want our universities to nurture, encourage and finance initiatives so that we could use our engineering skills and innovation as an economic activity and an export product for our country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, universities should identify talent and use it. There is a whole area of traditional medicine, especially in the pharmaceutical area. Universities which have extensive research come to our country to collect material which is used for the most needed; the first level cadre of medicine which is used to heal people is collected from our material, particularly, there is a fungal product which is harvested in the hot water springs of Baringo County. It is the only place where you can find them in the world. That product is used in drug manufacturing company in the United States of America (USA). That product is exported and it is a huge economic activity. It is beyond our universities to lift research to that level. In that respect, I request the CUE to make universities to be good at something. We have many universities but we do not know what they are good at. Some years back, we knew that if you went to Makerere University, you will be probably a very good doctor. If you went to the University of Dar-es-salaam, you would probably come out as a good lawyer. The Technical University of Kenya (TUK) was known for engineering. It is important for the university set up in the counties to strive to enhance the quality of research that is going on. I know that we have a big challenge in handling personnel in our universities. We already have serious challenges on how we deploy our personnel and their expertise. We do not lack experts in the county but it is the way we deploy them considering our ethnic sensitivities and how we feel about our deployment that has a challenge. I hope that the CUE will address the way we deploy our personnel in the whole country in a wholesome and professional manner so that we do not have incidences which we have had in the past. I have personally been exposed to incidences where Prof. Langat was sent to Kisii University but he was rejected by the community. Prof. Serem was sent to Narok University and he was rejected by the community. Currently, we are fighting a big problem where a similar thing has happened in the Technical University of Eldoret. I hope that the CUE would sort out these kinds of issues so that we deploy our best personnel in the most appropriate places and advance the university in the 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."
}