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{
    "id": 601584,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/601584/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 59,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. At the outset, I support this Bill. I thank the Committee for a work well done, though this Bill has been long overdue. Wednesday morning is normally time for private Members’ Bills. I was just wondering how come we are debating this Bill. It is supposed to come in the afternoon. In view of the fact that the Access to Information Bill by Hon. Nyokabi is also on the Order Paper, I do not know how we are going to go about that. Education is very critical to the success of every society. Article 43 of the Constitution stipulates clearly that every Kenya citizen has a right to education. In the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, education is one of the critical basic needs that one requires. Education has a correlation with the improvement of welfare. At Independence, this country was fighting ignorance, poverty and disease. Right now we still have a lot of diseases, poverty and ignorance. It is through education that we are going to improve the state of this country and move forward. For the first time in the history of this country, we have had a very bad teachers’ strike. We have never had this before. As we debate this Bill, I hope that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has paid teachers their September salaries. I have seen the role of the church as a sponsor. The church has played a very critical role in as far as the quality of education in this country is concerned. I congratulate the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) and the African Inland Church (AIC). These churches have played a critical role as far as the management and quality of education in this country are concerned. As one hon. Member mentioned, in the performance of schools, the top schools most of the time are those sponsored by the church. However, when it comes to management, it is unfortunate that the enactment of the Basic Education Act was rushed. The churches were excluded from the running of schools. You can find a convent in a school, yet the Catholic Church has no particular role as far as the running of that school is concerned. So, I congratulate the Committee for developing this Bill through a wide consultative manner, in line with Article 118 of the Constitution, which says that all stakeholders must be involved in the legislation process. It is, indeed, important that the church is 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."
}