Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 945874,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/945874/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tigania West, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mutunga",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13495,
        "legal_name": "John Kanyuithia Mutunga",
        "slug": "john-kanyuithia-mutunga"
    },
    "content": "force outside the boundaries of Kenya, we must create that level of technical training at advanced level. It should be specific to the needs and policies of a given country. On the other hand, we have also not been able to absorb our youth after technical training because of the expansion of the economy. Our economy is not growing at the speed it should be growing. If you look at Vision 2030, at this point in time our economy should be growing at 10 per cent per annum, but we are doing around 5.2 per cent per annum. The question should be: Where did we go wrong and what happened? Why have we not grown at that level? What have we been doing as a people and as a country that has affected the growth of our economy? We realise that the greater majority of people who should contribute to the economic development of this country are not actively involved in the productive growth of our country’s economy. The reason is that they do not have the requisite supply levels of resources and also governmental recognition. A good example is the agricultural sector where I have done most of my work. I know that it is a sector we should have supported long time ago in order to grow this economy. I know that many countries have grown through agriculture because they decided to improve their agricultural systems. Through various forms of transformation, they have managed to create jobs. Kenya, presently, is unable to create jobs through the manufacturing sector. It can only do 13 per cent so far. Manufacturing has never been able to exceed the 13 per cent contribution to the nation’s GDP. At least, agriculture sometimes goes beyond 50 per cent. We can have 30 per cent direct contribution by agriculture and 27 per cent through related activities. If we improve on the possibility of creating jobs, say, through various transformations like value addition, we will be able to absorb many of the technicians. It is one way of encouraging the youth to join training institutions. When it comes to the actual training, we need to ask ourselves what exactly do we train our youth for in those institutions. How are the courses they are taking valued in the market? How does the market treat and absorb them? What mechanisms are used to ensure absorption? There has not been any serious consideration about these factors. Therefore, we need to structure our education. We need to have the middle-level training as much as we have the degree level training. Our universities ought to open up a lot more of the technical level training so that we can have most of the youth joining universities and getting certificates and diplomas. Besides getting certificates and diplomas, we should have a transition mechanism where somebody who did not necessarily pass very well at Form Four can pass through a technical training institute and get a grade that would enable them to join university. I know this happens but not in all universities. We should also be able to link the TTIs with universities in the sense that high performers within the TTIs should be able to be accorded positions within the university so that they are able to do university education and get degrees. I know most of the youth would like to have degrees. How can we facilitate those who dropped out in Form Four to get degrees? The only way is to pass them through middle-level colleges and have a mechanism of transition from the middle-level colleges to universities. I know of people in this country who passed through the long route. They are now seasoned individuals and very productive in the development of the country. It is because they have been able to sharpen their edges with time. They have done very well. Hon. Speaker, coming to my last point, we need to reduce the number of youths who are out there doing anything that comes their way. We need to organise our youths.We need to ask ourselves how many opportunities we are creating in terms of training so that we may be able to absorb the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}