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{
    "id": 918793,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/918793/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We had a policy framework in 2012, and a sectoral plan 2013/2017 for science, technology and innovation, whose performance and public awareness plans are marginal. I am sure many of us are not even aware that we have these things. We then have to task the Government, because this is a national Government issue, but it is an issue that is affecting our young people. We can see the levels of desperation among the young people, and we have a duty, as leaders, to provide these platforms for them to be able to tap their innovative blood, because they are very innovative. There is no question that they are very technologically savvy and able. I think Kenya ranks as one of the highest in the globe when it comes to our use of technology. There is no doubt that M-PESA is a global innovation that is celebrated, and which has come from one of our own here. There are very many others. When you interact with the young people and you hear the ideas they float about, and you know that all they need is just a platform to advance those ideas, give them a bit of capital to start up and then they become entrepreneurs. If we do that, then we shall begin to say that we are actually creating jobs in this country. Whereas we appreciate the Big Four Agenda of the Government, we still question where jobs for the young people are. Where is this Big Four Agenda? Where does it place the young people? We get these questions all the time. Every time we are out there, speaking to the young people, the first question is: “Can you explain to us how the jobs have been created? However, the truth remains that global trends do not lie; that innovation and entrepreneurship are the way of the future. They are the way that we shall provide more jobs. We live in an era of technology; the Government needs to step up and actualize that two per cent of the GDP. When you actually compare what other countries in the world are doing in terms of research and development – countries like South Korea, Israel, Japan, and Switzerland – they have almost five per cent of their GDP geared towards research and development. The world is fast-moving. This Motion is self-explanatory. It is time we called upon our Government to build capacity of our institutions of higher learning by doing what the Act prescribes. That way, we will have done something for the youth who are extremely desperate. Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move this Motion and I call upon Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve to second. I thank you."
}