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{
    "id": 728708,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/728708/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 181,
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    "content": "1 billion for Affirmative Action to promote equity and for social development. I have also set aside Kshs30.9 billion for the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF). Hon. Speaker, since 2013, over 100,000 community youths have been engaged in various development programmes in the National Youth Service (NYS). Also, over Kshs25 billion has been cumulatively availed through the Uwezo Fund, Women and Youth Enterprise funds. Over Kshs26 billion worth of tenders have been awarded under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) platform. These interventions demonstrate the commitment to empower our youth for their future prosperity. Hon. Speaker, to continue supporting our youth and women, I am allocating Kshs18.3 billion towards the youth empowerment programme which will help facilitate mentoring of youth on leadership, national values, and entrepreneurship skills and further entrench digital literacy. In addition, I am allocating Kshs600 million for the Youth Enterprise Development Fund; Kshs0.7 billion for Youth Employment and Enterprise (Uwezo Fund) and Kshs800 million for Women Enterprise Fund. Going forward, we shall review all the existing distinct funds to ensure there is no duplication and make them more relevant to today’s youth requirements. Hon. Speaker, in order to operationalise the constitutional requirement under Article 227(2)(b), the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 provided Preference and Reservations clauses that offered the disadvantaged groups an express opportunity to competitively participate in public procurement without discrimination. The Preference and Reservations aims at promoting the local industries and enhancing participation by disadvantaged groups in public procurement. Mr. Speaker, we are at an advanced stage of establishing the Preference and Reservation Secretariat which will oversee the implementation of Preference and Reservations as provided for in the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015 to advance the interests of youth, women, PWDs and other disadvantaged groups in public procurement. The Secretariat will expand the monitoring and evaluation exercise to cover all procuring entities including county governments. In order to ensure the target groups are benefiting from doing business with the Government, the Secretariat will among other responsibilities, focus on monitoring to ensure that prompt payments are made for duly executed contracts to these disadvantaged groups under the Preference and Reservations. Hon. Speaker, the Secretariat is expected to link small and medium enterprises owned by the disadvantaged groups with the procuring entities through its mandate. Further, it is expected to ensure that preferences in public procurement are extended to candidates offering goods locally manufactured, assembled, mined, extracted or grown in Kenya. For purposes of ensuring sustainable promotion of local industry, all foreign tenderers participating in international tenders will be expected to source, at least, 40 percent of their supplies from Kenyan citizen contractors. This will enhance the competitiveness of the SMEs, spur economic growth and enhance job creation which will help in addressing the unemployment challenge. This will not only add more jobs to the youth and women, but will also provide further impetus to our objective of industrialisation. Hon. Speaker, to enhance the implementation of the tax incentive for employers who engage apprentices, last year I proposed to gazette some regulations. Since then, the 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."
}