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{
    "id": 59606,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/59606/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Kamar",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 33,
        "legal_name": "Margaret Jepkoech Kamar",
        "slug": "margaret-kamar"
    },
    "content": "If you look at the way our examinations are done, we have 72,000 students doing Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) whereas we only have 50,000 positions for them to join Form One and only 80,000 in the universities. We have a lot of backlog and God knows what is going to happen to our youth because the pyramid is extremely sharp and we have very few people realizing their dreams in various positions. We must restructure the way we do things. I am hoping that this Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will come up with a law very fast so that we are able to sort them out. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is also important that we start sorting out the employment sector. It was very worrying that when the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance cut down the Budget to support the Constitution, he cut down more on the areas that are dealing with youth programmes; the Kazi kwa Vijana was almost knocked off and fish farming by the youth has been stopped. So you ask yourself; if we move in circles, then we are going to be stranded as a country. It is, therefore, very important that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports that has been given the opportunity re-looks at this law and brings it as fast as possible. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund is another programme that needs restructuring. At least the Women Enterprise Development Fund has been restructured slightly, and the women can now get money through their own co-operatives. The youth are still going to the same banks which are exaggerating the interest rates. You find that the youth are actually cocooned; they do not know where to go or what to do. It is very important that we reconsider how we approach this area of our youth programmes to ensure that where we cannot provide jobs, they should be able to create jobs for themselves. Again I am calling on the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, that because the President in his Speech has given them a window, we need to restructure how the Youth Enterprise Development Fund is utilized so that it can be accessed very easily and also so that it can cover more youth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one problem that I have personally observed is that the Ministry does not have anybody who trains these youth. When you tell the youth to apply for money and return it after one year and yet they do not know what to do with it, they consume it and then they default the repayment. When they default, there is nothing they can do. They are simply blacklisted and cannot get any more support. These are youth who have no training. As I had said, these are youth who have dropped off at various levels without any skill. It is also very important that we restructure the way we train them. In my constituency, there were only two polytechnics when I joined this Parliament, and I have increased them to four. But those are just four youth polytechnics for a population that is over 200,000 youth. How do you ensure that our youth actually acquire skills that can help them? It is very important that this Ministry uses this window. I am stressing that issue because the President himself picked it and said that it should be fast-tracked. I hope the Minister will take advantage of it. With those remarks, I support."
}