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{
    "id": 839679,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/839679/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 369,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jr.",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Motion. I wish I had read this Motion before. We have had a problem which I would like to bring it to the attention of the Mover. While this is a devolved function, national Government has not funded it either through conditional grants or shareable revenue. To the extent this function has not been funded, the little the counties are doing, we have not managed as Senate, to interrogate and audit up to what extent the budgets of counties are incorporating this part of Schedule Four into their budgets and implementation. In the last budget, we requested the national Government to consider a grant specifically to every county in excess of Kshs5 billion, which will enable these counties to set up these village polytechnics. The issues raised by Sen. (Prof.) Kamar are without doubt. In Makueni, when you need plumbers and carpenters, you have to go and look for them in Machakos. Why? It is so because the technical institutes – except now that we have one – is highly technical. It does not offer the sort of labour that you would require for simple things as electricity or carpentry. Although the national Government is now building technical colleges, one in every constituency, it is not enough. As we go along, there are more young people who cannot access universities or secondary schools and they are becoming criminals. Some are in Nairobi. It was a mistake to convert Mombasa Polytechnic and the Kenya polytechnic into universities. We have a crisis in the country. The ultimate goal, Sen. (Prof.) Kamar, is to sit with the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) and in the recommendations they will make for purposes of county budgets, we must have a specific figure, like the one we have done for roads, on village polytechnics. Once we ring fence a certain amount of money from the national Government for the creation of these facilities, the next objective would be to check whether that conditional grants – and that is the reason why I am saying ‘conditional’ – if given to governors, they will find a way of putting it into budgets for reasons other than village polytechnics. The Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) are busy chasing for their Equalisation Fund and most likely, we would not see this as a good thing to do. A conditional grant where we are supervising would ensure that at the first instance, because I am not quite certain whether we can, as proposed by Sen. (Prof.) Margaret Kamar, that you can establish youth polytechnics in every location. This is extremely difficult but we can come up with a structure. In a county, at the beginning, we can have one polytechnic in every ward. It would make it easier so that we can have things that we can target. Makueni County has over 3,217 locations. It will take us a lifetime to attempt to do this vis-a-vis the sort of allocations counties are getting. I would have proposed a faster method; put them in every ward. It is easier to manage them that way even if we make them flagship projects. But the first time we begin defending this function, the way we defend the function of roads and health, the better so that we can offer an opportunity 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."
}