{"id":686520,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/686520/?format=json","text_counter":266,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. ole Lemein","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":2531,"legal_name":"Korei Ole Lemein","slug":"korei-ole-lemein"},"content":"Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Bill. I do not want to dwell so much on what has been said by my colleagues. The backbone of this Bill is research and development. We must allocate funds for that vote-head. A number of people have been speaking about the marginalised areas and communities. One of the areas of interest to me and, perhaps, to others – and that is an amendment I would wish to propose to this Bill – is the creation of county universities. In the rest of the world like in America, India and Europe, there are State universities. If county universities are created in this country, they will be the equivalent of State universities, without compromising quality. The creation of county universities will cure some of those problems we have as marginalised areas and communities. I believe parallel programmes are there because of the huge number of students which the Government cannot accommodate. As soon as we create the two levels of university – county and national universities – I believe every single Kenyan, wherever he or she is, as long as they have Grade C+ and above in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), will get an opportunity to be sponsored by the national Government and the respective county governments. That will drive this nation to greater heights. I believe that collaboration between universities and the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) is lacking. A number of research papers which are very important for this country lie in NACOSTI. As soon as there is a link between our universities and NACOSTI, most of the research done will assist this country in a better way. Hon. Deputy Speaker, I support this Bill."}