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"content": "(b) award certificates or diplomas to candidates in such examinations; such certificates or diplomas, shall not be withheld from the candidate by any person or institution” The law is there. I am told by stakeholders, that I erred in not putting a sanction on this amendment, that after you withhold a certificate, what happens? Later on, when we go to the Committee Stage, I will introduce an amendment to this clause, so that we penalize the person who withholds certificates from students. I say this because everything has been done by the Government. Madam Temporary Speaker, I forgot to say that on 5th June, 2014, while sitting in KICC, the Senate, passed a Motion again, urging the Government to have these certificates released. That was followed immediately by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Education, Prof. Kaimenyi, issuing a directive to all heads of schools to release these certificates. A few weeks later, none other than His Excellency the President Uhuru Kenyatta, issued a directive that schools should release these certificates. Another pronouncement was made by the Deputy President but nothing happened. The teachers unions issued a Statement to say the certificates will not be released unless the Government paid whatever fees that was pending. Here, we have a situation whereby the authority of the law is being defied by heads of schools; the authority of the Executive is being defied by heads of schools and unions. Therefore, I urge that this House puts a full stop to this. People have argued that schools are owed money and, therefore, they have the right to keep these certificates. However, the certificates cannot be lien. There is no security to the bills that are unpaid by students. Furthermore, this contravenes the Constitution. Article 43 sets out the economic and social rights of our new Constitution that accrue to every person. In particular, Article 43(1) of the Constitution confers on every child the right to education. The right to education ends with completion of the requisite examinations and award of certificate. Therefore, this article recognises education as a basic socio-economic right for every person. Therefore, the practice of withholding certificates - I repeat - from students is a clear limitation of this right as enshrined in the Constitution. Let me emphasize again that the certificate of a poor child cannot be a lien or security. The school enters into contract with a parent and not a student. Therefore, the student cannot be punished because the parent has not paid school fees. Madam Temporary Speaker, I will propose that the KNEC, after it gives and passes examinations and these students have already paid the fees for the examination, it is, therefore, their right to receive their certificate. I have suggested in Clause 45(a) that the certificates by pass heads of schools, who have become notorious for refusing even to obey the Executive in releasing the certificates. Further, the Executive takes responsibility of these certificates by directing them to County Directors of Education. Each candidate would collect his or her certificate from the County Director who has jurisdiction over the area where the examination centre was. That, in my view, would cure this problem of teachers withholding certificates. Unless this House comes up with a better solution, I see no other solution. We had meetings with TSC and the Principal Secretary (PS) over this matter, and I was amazed that all of them appeared helpless and that there is nothing that they can do because the teachers have refused to release these certificates. This is a country that respects the law. The law is there that, certificate should not be withheld. For how long will we plead? 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."
}