HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 839651,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/839651/?format=api",
"text_counter": 341,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "were discriminating against Africans, when an African was called a rat catcher, a mzungu was called a rodent officer. When an African was called a chura, a mzungu was called a sanitary engineer; and so on, and so forth. We should have titles that also encourage people, such that you can have an engineer grade 1, grade 2, grade 3 up to those who have degrees. Then when you are looking for them, he is an engineer with a certificate, an engineer with a higher certificate, an engineer with a diploma and then an engineer with a degree, or something like that. That will help. Thirdly, Madam Temporary Speaker, it should also be appreciated that the national Government currently pays Kshs30,000 as tuition fees for every student in technical institutions. I have seen this because students in my county have been benefiting. We should, therefore, align what we are doing to see how, when we create these polytechnics, we can tap into national resources so that we can help children, particularly from disadvantaged and poor families, poor neighbourhoods and regions of the country. Fourth, Madam Temporary Speaker, we also need to conduct a skills needs assessment. We are moving into the oil production and extractive industry sector where prospecting, mining, excavation and value addition of various minerals will be done. Therefore, when we train these young people in these technical institutions, we should not just be training them for the sake of transition; but in preparation for being productive in a growing and changing economy. This will be helpful. Fifth, Madam Temporary Speaker, we also need to condition investors to know that when they bring an investment into this country - whether you are an old prospector where you are mining; whether you are a Chinese building another railway line to somewhere – a certain percentage of people employed in these structures must be recruited locally, if we are satisfied that we have enough skill. When you go to any road construction today, you will see Chinese nationals holding survey sticks and all manner of equipment, a job that even our own youth can do. You do not need any special skills to hold survey equipment to see that the road must be on a straight line; or to mark the width of the road. We are seeing all this happening, yet we have the capacity to train our youth to do these kind of jobs. Lastly, Madam Temporary Speaker, as we want to train these young people, we need to realize that in this country, a certificate is the key to everything. We must, therefore, strive to make sure that we do not train them, spend money on them and then they go back home to become boda boda riders. We must find ways and means of absorbing them into the economy so that they see the worth of going to a post-secondary The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}