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{
    "id": 65777,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/65777/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Ethuro",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 158,
        "legal_name": "Ekwee David Ethuro",
        "slug": "ekwee-ethuro"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I will be very brief. First, I want to thank my good friend, hon. Wamalwa, for coming up with this very brilliant idea in terms of a Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is one sector that has gone ahead to create employment; a commitment that the Government made in this House. If you remember, in the last NARC Administration, we were talking about creating 500,000 jobs per annum – a commitment that has remained a pipe dream. But the boda boda sector has made a substantial contribution in engaging our youth in meaningful employment. The thrust of this Motion is to urge the Government to catch up with the sector. It is urging the Government to create a policy and legal environment that will give protection; that will create opportunity to our youth; that will ensure boda boda, which is affordable. It has come as a big thing in this country. Uganda, for a very long time, had this sector which was thriving. Boda boda is affordable and you can actually get to transact your business. So, I think this particular sector requires the support of this House and the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it must also be appreciated that those elaborate programmes by the State of Kazi Kwa Vijana - you know what is being said out there, Kazi kwa Vijana, pesa kwa wazee! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund is not doing anything to improve the youth of this country. Hon. Members of this House, you know that in our constituencies, where the Ministry is allocating Kshs1 million per constituency, you can get up to Kshs50,000 per youth group. What can Kshs50,000 do in this day and age? The multilateral institutions that are supposed to be intermediaries when you are looking for more money are not accessible in some of our areas like Turkana. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you will appreciate that even the Women Enterprise Development Fund, just the other day the Minister issued instructions that they were even divorcing the supervision and involvement of the hon. Members. You will appreciate that in this country, nothing can move unless hon. Members and this House can provide that necessary oversight. It is because of the failure of these good-intentioned Government policies that certain programmes are failing. Somehow the Government has no capacity to supervise or translate policy intention from the national level to its officers at the constituency and district levels. But, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the boda boda sector is already thriving; it is already moving. What our youth need is a facility; a fund where they can actually go and access some little money in the range of Kshs50, 000 to Kshs100,000 and you have a boda boda which can enable you to make a decent living. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is no other major contribution that we can make to this House if we cannot pass this Motion and demonstrate to the country that the Tenth Parliament has seen it fit that the priority of this nation should be to ensure that the youth have gainful employment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}