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{
"id": 904548,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/904548/?format=api",
"text_counter": 80,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
"speaker_title": "The Senate, Majority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 440,
"legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
"slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
},
"content": " Therefore, with dedication, passion and commitment, they will go far. Like Sen. Sakaja, I was a student leader at the UoN from day one. From the Christian Union (CU) Leader in my class, to being the Chairperson of the first Kenya Law Students Society (KLSS) in second year; to being the equivalent of SONU that time, after SONU had been banned, to being the Chairperson of all the CUs in the Country. I, therefore, understand the position they are holding. I am saying this because there is a disease that came to the university around my time, and thereafter. I am sure that if Sen. Orengo was to tell you here, he might have used almost nothing to campaign to be the SONU chair. However, nowadays student leaders – and I am sure that they have even approached you – across the universities in the country tell you that they have a budget of Kshs200,000, Kshs300,000, Kshs600,000 or even Kshs1 million to be elected to student leadership. We are preparing a generation – Sen. Sakaja, I want you to listen to this – of young people that will provide leadership into the future. However, there is a rot that in the university where campaigns are costing up to Kshs1 million for one person. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I stood to be a student leader at the University of Nairobi, I used Kshs500. The only amount I needed was to photocopy the posters and distribute them for people to know me. However, nowadays, university students that we are looking up to change this country ask their fellow leaders to give them something small so that they can vote for them. Today at the university, there are mobilizations along tribal lines or whether a person supports NASA or Jubilee before he or she can be voted for. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we want to change this nation going forward, we must go back to the universities and high schools. It is not long ago when I was in the university where I never quite internalized that a person was a Kikuyu or Luhya. I came to realise that issue when I came to elective politics. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when I was in the law school, I had about 300 votes to become the Chair of the Kenya Law Students Society (KLSS). However, there were only five Kalenjins from first year to fourth year. If I had to rely on my tribe, I would not have The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}