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{
    "id": 670077,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/670077/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 261,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Simiyu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 141,
        "legal_name": "David Eseli Simiyu",
        "slug": "david-eseli"
    },
    "content": "drive to serve the people especially when we talk about the political arena. This is somebody who is out to serve the public. It is not a question of a degree. If it is a question of a degree, then this country would not be where it is. One of the greatest Ministers for Planning was Tom Mboya. He did not have a degree. When we keep saying that that was then and now there are many people with degrees, then we are losing the plot. That is not the way to go. This should be left open. The only test that should be done, which was removed but should be brought back, is that the electoral management body should only test those people to ensure that they can understand, read and speak English and/or Swahili. That should be it. We do not need more than that. There is also the issue of people leaving their public jobs a year before the elections. I suffered it. I had to leave my job six months before the elections. I was a university lecturer in Nairobi, but I was contesting for a seat in western Kenya. The reason the requirement was put there was so that public officers do not misuse their positions and campaign, therefore, gaining an unfair advantage. It is not the public officer who is entirely at fault, it is our system. It is a highly corrupt system. Corruption is what makes public officers misuse their positions to campaign. We are trying to apply first aid to the problem. The problem is corruption. It is an integrity problem. This law alone will not stop it. In my view, it should not even be there. However, for the sake of making sure that the public officer transits early enough, let these people take unpaid leave or else, keep the period at six months and not one year. There has also been the issue of mobile registration centres. That is a very dangerous thing. I saw it because I participated in a petition at the Supreme Court. These centres should be done away with. If the centres are in pastoral areas, then I agree with the gracious lady who spoke earlier and said that mobile centres should just be called mobile because it is not in a classroom or a school. It should be at a specific point which is known and gazetted, so that during elections or registration of voters, the centre is opened there. However, it should not be mobile such that it will be here today, tomorrow there and another place the day after. We are opening up an avenue for mischief and we will later on clash with the electoral management body. As I conclude, because Dr. Shaban mentioned most of the things I wanted to mention, if we talk of degrees, we are fuelling a new industry of colleges churning out fake certificates and degrees. As a Member of the National Assembly, I am sure the MCAs go through the same. They hardly have time to enroll for proper school programmes or go to college and gain proper education. We are encouraging shoddy, questionable certificates and degrees, some manufactured at River Road and some issued by registered colleges. People will go to the extent of hiring people to do their exams just because we have put in place a law that states that you must have a degree. We are encouraging a failure in our education system because this law will drive that failure. You will have colleges mushrooming to award certificates to MCA and make money. Let us not go in that direction. Let us leave education out of this. As they say, people get the leaders they deserve. If fishermen want a fisherman to be their Member of Parliament, so be it. If market women want their market woman to be their MCA, so be it. People get the leaders they deserve. Let us not put barriers on who can be elected in this country. 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."
}