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{
    "id": 743004,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/743004/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 107,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "(Sen. (Prof.) Kindiki): Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was talking about the various conditional grants. I had mentioned Kshs605 million as a conditional grant to counties to supplement county allocation for the construction of county headquarters. I must declare my interest beforehand; that the five counties which have been the beneficiaries of the sobriety of this House and with the support of the Treasury, is Tharaka Nithi County which I represent in this House. For the last two years, this Senate, through a report which was done by a select committee that went around the entire country, came out with a list of five counties that were most needy in terms of lack of facilities and the fact that they had not inherited a single structure from the defunct local authorities. This is a Senate Committee that tabled a report here which was adopted. To me, as the Senator for Tharaka Nithi County, and on behalf of my colleague Senators from other counties that benefited from this support from the Government, we are grateful. We have seen some construction work going on in Tharaka Nithi, Isiolo, Lamu, Tana River and Nyandarua counties. Those county governments are able to do so with the support of these conditional grants. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this year, Kshs605 million will go to the five counties as usual to supplement the financing for construction of headquarters by five county governments that did not inherit adequate office space. These five counties are Isiolo, Lamu, Nyandarua, Tana River and Tharaka Nithi counties. I would urge the county governments concerned, both the outgoing and the incoming, to make use of this conditional grant so that these counties can have dignified facilities. These facilities will assist them perform their constitutional functions as enshrined in the Constitution. Apart from that, there is a conditional grant of Kshs2 billion for rehabilitation of village polytechnics. This proposal of supporting counties to build village polytechnics has come from the interactions and the inter-governmental relations between the county governors and the executive through the Inter-governmental Budget and Economic Council. This Kshs2 billion will go a long way in reviving our village polytechnics to supplement the ongoing work of the Jubilee Administration to build Technical Training Institutes (TTI) in every Constituency. That process has started although some constituencies are yet to have their facilities in place. However, in over 100 constituencies out of the 290, the Technical Training Institutes have already been built and they are being equipped as I speak. We require counties to supplement the TTI and upgrade them to village polytechnics which are critical to the revival of rural economies. For a long time, village polytechnics were neglected and underfunded. They were thought to be places where only those who failed their primary education would go and their tutors were not paid. So, this grant will rejuvenate these institutions of learning which are critical. In fact, for Kenya to move on to the next level of development, Tertiary and Technical Vocational Education is the future. In this country, if you have a vacancy for an Electrical Engineer, you would get ten applicants for one position. However, if you ask for a holder of a Certificate in Electrical Engineering, you will not"
}