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"id": 91245,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Nyagah",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Co-operative Development and Marketing",
"speaker": {
"id": 269,
"legal_name": "Joseph Nthiga Nyagah",
"slug": "joseph-nyagah"
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"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I stand here to support the Vote of this very important Ministry within the Office of the President which, once upon a time, I had the privilege of being a Minister for. I know it is an area where great men in this country are doing a wonderful job. Some of the best brains in Kenya work in this particular area. It has a team of well- trained people that I have personally worked with. I know they are very capable people. So, it is for that reason that it is my privilege to support them. Let me support the good work they are doing in the Sudan. My Ministry is actively involved in the Sudan and this particular Ministry has been given the responsibility of training the Sudanese people. When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was negotiated in Nairobi, it was agreed that the Government of Kenya would continue training all the people whom the Southern Sudanese Government would require. My Ministry is involved in this; they are training people at the Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA). I want to confirm that I know that the Government of Southern Sudan is very happy with what this particular outfit is doing. May I propose that next year they be given more resources. Our foreign policy and image in the region will improve, if we do more of this in the region. I think it requires about US$4.5 million. That is petty cash. We should be able to get to a much higher figure, so that the impact of the super power, Kenya, can be felt in this area, because we have qualified people who can train civil servants in the surrounding countries, especially with the forthcoming referendum in that particular country. I want to thank this Ministry for helping my Ministry. When I joined the Ministry of Co-operative Development and Marketing, our people were very lowly paid and were in low job grades. This Ministry came in and helped us. It restructured our Ministry and now our officers feel that they belong to the rest of the Civil Service. For many years, they had served on the same job grades and had never had any promotions, but now they have been able to help and motivate the staff of my Ministry. So, I want to thank this Ministry and encourage it to continue supporting other areas. Training is important. The Government Training Institutes (GTIs) that we have around the country play a very important role in ensuring that civil servants are well trained. We need those institutions. May I ask the Ministry not to try and turn them into universities. GTIs play a very important role. Please do not make them universities. We need training of middle level civil servants. We need places where they can go for further training and exposure. Let us not do what we have done with other middle level institutions in the country; we have converted all of them into universities. The GTIs have, over the years, played a very critical role in ensuring that the quality of civil servants across the board is of high calibre. If I remember from my good old days, this is an area that requires more funding. I know that over the years the GTIs have been assisted with buildings, lecturers and facilities, but I think we could do with more funding in this particular area, if we are going to retain the quality of civil servants that we have. In particular, given that we are now moving into the new constitutional dispensation in three days time, we need to train people to get used to the new system that we are developing. The devolved Government will require a lot of training and re-training of public servants. It is for that reason that these institutions should be given additional funding to cope with the huge demand that the public sector, particularly the 47 counties, will thrust on them. Change in the thinking that has been there over the years will not be easy. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, let me thank the Minister and his team for a job well done in the last year, and they can count on our support. Thank you."
}