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"id": 65721,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/65721/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "operators that we are talking about today. We need to now come up with affirmative action programmes. One of the programmes I am suggesting today is that this Government should set up a special fund to be known as the Boda Boda Fund through which the youth of this country can actually receive funds for special training. This will help in bringing down the rate of accidents, particularly through subsidized driving schools. For example, if a young person cannot afford to pay Kshs7,000 or Kshs10,000 for training for a motor cycle driving licence, he can access training through subsidized special schools set up by this Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will be surprised to know that we have very few traffic commandants who train young people to drive in this country. We do have a few regional ones. In the North Rift, for example, we have one commandant who comes twice or quarterly to Kitale to train those who are undertaking driving lessons. This one commandant is supposed to serve all the districts all the way to West Pokot and Turkana. The Government should now come up with driving schools that can actually have more commandants in every district. We can also start by posting commandants in every county, so that the 47 counties have a commandant who will train, test and issue driving licences to those who want to go to these training schools. We are proposing that we can start this. We are urging the Government which is now in the process of preparing the budget to consider setting aside at least Kshs1 billion to start this Boda Boda Fund which will then be utilized to establish special driving schools for boda boda drivers in these counties. We can start by ensuring that these driving schools are accessible and affordable to the majority of young people who are currently not able to go to these driving schools. In the process, they have resorted to driving motorcycles without driving licences. They have been avoiding the police. In the process, they have been causing many accidents. Many of our wards are filled by young women and children who have been affected by these accidents. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, apart from facilitating training, we do know that the Government has tried to set up the Youth Enterprise Fund, but what we have had is a token. We have this habit of practicing tokenism where we start a Ministry for Youth Affairs and Sports, but do not give them enough money to empower the young people of this country. We set up a youth fund and put in it maybe Kshs1 billion or Kshs2 billion. This money is not sufficient to empower the young people of this country. Talking about my constituency, you will find that in Trans Nzoia you will have about 1,000 youth groups. However, when they apply for the youth fund, you will find that very few will benefit from it because the funds provided are a drop in the ocean. It is not enough. We are saying that the boda boda sector is a sector in itself. It has grown. It is providing employment to thousands of young Kenyans. It is also contributing greatly to our economy. Like in the 1990s when former President Moi formally recognized the Jua Kali sector and set it aside as a sector in itself, the time has come for this Government to now formally recognize the boda boda as a sector that is providing very important means of transport to many poor Kenyans who cannot afford to hire or board matatus or buses. They are now able to use these boda boda as a means of transport. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this city when you wake up in the morning you see many people walking from Kawangware and Kibera to Industrial area because what they earn cannot allow them to actually board a vehicle. So, when we do this and empower the boda boda sector, we are also empowering many Kenyans who are poor and cannot afford to use vehicles. They can now use this means of transport that is accessible and affordable. We are urging that the Government should now formally recognize this sector. The Government should also come up with a specific policy to now formally recognize and regulate it, and also set up this fund, so as to create empowerment for the many young people who are earning a living from it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are also urging the Government through the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Ministry of Finance to come together and frame this policy and look into the issues affecting this sector. They can also address issues that touch on the health of these young people through the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). If the Ministry of Health is also involved, it can come up with a framework in which we can have special packages through NHIF to ensure that these boda bodas are fully covered and that their families are able to access healthcare in this country. Once we do this, we will be able to have done what many of these young people are dreaming about; to be empowered and earn a living. They have plans of setting up their petrol stations where they can get fuel and service their motorcycles. This is one way of empowering the young people. Let us now, through this Motion, seek to empower the boda boda drivers of this nation. With those few remarks, I beg to move and ask my learned senior, hon. Olago Aluoch to kindly second. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}