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"id": 94710,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/94710/?format=api",
"text_counter": 197,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
"slug": "eugene-wamalwa"
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"content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is a real menace that we, as a nation, need to address and think about very carefully. However, these are not only chains of tribalism, but they are chains that limit our educational system that has been celebrated as one of the most successful ideas in introducing universal free primary education. We are a nation that still has limits to the potential of children born in this country, who because of the poverty of their parents cannot realize their God-given potential. There are issues that we came across. We met young people in prison cells, some of those were in SLDF and many are school dropouts, who wished to pursue education and lead a decent life in this country. However, because of the poverty of their parents, they could not. There are those who went up to secondary schools and many dropped out in Form Two. Many whom we spoke to, who are in Mungiki and other gangs, expressed their interest in carrying on with their education, but they could not because of the limitations of the pockets of their parents. They dropped out of schools, yet this country never looked at them. We never followed up to know that over 40 per cent of those who sit for the Standard Eight exams drop out. They remain at home and we do not follow up to know where they go and what they do. Our entire education system is an issue that we need to look at and review it. We want to see how the 40 per cent that drops out is followed up and taken to polytechnics and assisted to realize a decent and honest living, not out of extortion, killing or crime. I was very surprised on 30th October, 2009, in Committee Room 9, to come face to face with the spokesman of the Kenya Youth Alliance, the so-called Mungiki . The late Njuguna Gitau was a well spoken young man who expressed himself to us and we were surprised to realize that he was not a graduate, yet his widely read achievement could be seen through his reasoning with the Committee. He said that him and many of his team would have wished to be university graduates. This gives us the feeling that, perhaps, we need to review our Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to allow as many Kenyans as possible from truly poor backgrounds to access university education and realize their God-given potential. When we let them down as a country, what do they do? Out of bitterness, they fall back and move into these gangs. Instead of becoming an asset to this nation, they have become a great menace. But how have we dealt with them when we have found them? Indeed, we only need to look at the extra-judicial killings that have taken place. I have only mentioned a few like Njuguna Gitau. We have Moses Mwangi and Boniface Mwangi who were arrested and died in the hands of the police. When we have had the United Nations Rapporteur visiting this country and raising the red flag about our Police Force and the need for reforms, we have been quick to defend our Police Force. But as we read this report, may we reflect and truly know what is happening. Perhaps, this report will bring to the fore the impunity and the extra- judicial killings that are going-on of many young people who disappear and whose bodies, like in the case of Boniface and Moses, are never found. We need to know how we can reform our Police Force, so that we are able to deal with this menace. It does not mean killing and killing. They are so many and even if we kill, we cannot kill all of them. We must find a system of carrying out reforms to ensure that we deal properly with this menace, not just from the point of arrest, but the entire criminal justice system of this country right to the courts; the Judiciary needs urgent reforms, to the correctional facilities like the jails where we take these young people. We mix them with hardcore criminals and when they come out, instead of having been rehabilitated, we have hardened them into hardcore criminals. When they come back, they still have no employment. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, to all the groups that we came across, this is one message that we got from them, namely, lack of employment. In this country, we seriously need to think about unemployment because as they say, an idle mind is the devilâs workshop. There are so many idle young people. We have been told that by 2012, we will have 16 million young people aged between 18 and 35 years. We are not even looking at the millions below the age of 18. That is why when you put together all this, you are talking of a population of about 70 per of young people. Unless we come up with proper policies that will address the issue of unemployment, we will still continue having these gangs. We must congratulate the Government for trying. For the first time since the NARC Government came to power, we saw changes that we had hoped and fought for, for many years. Indeed, there was a pledge of creating 500,000 jobs every year which did not come to pass. However, we are happy that in the Constitution that Kenyans passed on 4th August, there is a provision now that it will be among the rights of the young people of this country to be entitled to a job. It will be a legal duty of the Government to grow our economy and create more jobs. Indeed, for the first time, we have the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to particularly address issues touching on the youth. These are some of the achievements of the Grand Coalition Government that we must celebrate. The Government has come up with the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF). We are saying that if only we realize the enormity of the menace; the problem that is facing this country, we will not give the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and hon. Wavinya is here, Kshs1 billion or so, but we would put more money to this Ministry. We would give them a bigger kitty that would help the youth of this country. The money given to the YEDF is a drop in the ocean. We have more groups than the money. For example, in my constituency, we had 1,000 groups and those who benefited were about 50 to 100 groups. Where do the rest go to if they cannot help themselves? We have come up with Kazi kwa Vijana initiative. Indeed, the Government set aside money, but this was a plan that was not properly thought through. It was half-baked. We went out and asked the youth to dig trenches and dams, get Kshs250 per day and after three weeks, the dams are done and the money is finished. After they used the money, then they went back to where they came from. This has not had the impact that was desired. But if we thought through properly and came up with proper policies and plans that would be more sustainable, we would be able to help the youth of this country. We have also come up with a concept of jobs abroad where we have taken our young people to countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Amongst the gangs that you have heard about like the Taliban, which has been known for the most terrible atrocities, you will find a story of a young lady called Aisha, who was only 18 years old. When she was drugged by her in-laws and her nose and ears chopped off because she was divorcing the husband. This does not only happen in Afghanistan. That was happening in Kenya not many months ago, and not far from here. So, we need to look at what can be done. We send our young people to theatres of war like in Afghanistan and Baghdad â you have heard of the âBaghdadâ Boys in this Report; they come back after a while, for those who are lucky to come back, and that is it! What will they do after getting training out there, having lived in theatres of violence and experienced it first hand as security guards in a short contract and coming back home? We have heard of young men going to Somalia and getting recruited as fighters. We know what Al Shabab is doing across our borders. What happens when those Somali youths come back home? What happens when they do not stay in Mandera or Wajir but come right to Eastleigh, in the heart of Nairobi? These are some of the issues that, as Government and policy makers, we need to look into. We need to come up with a sustainable programme to create jobs in this country and get the youths of this country properly employed and engaged. We have also heard of the land reforms that for a long time we have desired. We are happy that we now have a land policy in place. We have a Constitution that also provides a farm foundation for land reforms, police reforms, and reforms in the Judiciary. In the case of the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), there was a land problem in Chebyuk, and this is one of the areas we must address very quickly. The land issue is a time bomb. The problem of landlessness is still here with us. We have not done much to settle the squatters of this country. The Mount Elgon District problem has had a spill over in Trans Nzoia District, where I come from. There have been killings in Trans Nzoia District over land. So, it is not only in Chebyuk where there have been killings by the SLDF fighters, comprising of young people like the late Matakwei, who was shot and killed. He was a young man. He was the same age as Njuguna Gitau. This was a product of Kenya, and we must ask ourselves: How could we have produced Kenyans who turned into such killing machines? It must still be our focal point to ensure that in areas like Mount Elgon and Trans Nzoia District--- Sub-division of land has not been completed in places like Chebyuk; therefore, title deeds are yet to be issued by the Government. Let us ensure that the process is speeded up to ensure that we have proper reforms and title deeds are issued, and that long-standing schemes like Chebyuk are concluded. Amongst those I met from some of these groups, there was an issue of ideology, which was very worrying. To quote Njuguna Gitau, he did argue that when our founding fathers founded this nation, we had the concept of African socialism based on Sessional Paper No.10 of 1965. In those days, we had J.M. Kariuki, who once talked of a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars. Today, we speak of a Kenya of 40 billionaires and 40 million beggars. This is the basis of the ideology of most of these groups, where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. Indeed we speak of a tale of two Kenyans. Charles Dickens in his time spoke of a tale of two cities, but in Kenya today we talk of a tale of two Kenya â a Kenya for the superrich and a Kenya for the many poor. The gap continues to widen. Groups keep springing up and mushrooming in every town, driven by bitterness of poverty. What we are saying is that this issue is a time bomb. Our recommendations are clear in this Report. Hon. Kioni has very ably presented our Report. I just want to emphasise that time has come when, as a nation, we must come to terms with the reality of the youth menace. We have the greatest resource in the youth of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}