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{
    "id": 959203,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/959203/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 581,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndaragwa, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jeremiah Kioni",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 49,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Ngayu Kioni",
        "slug": "jeremiah-kioni"
    },
    "content": "participation and the rest. There is also the issue of relooking at these Funds and assessing their effectiveness given the time they have been in operation. This idea should not be totally killed; it needs to be taken back to the drawing board. We are at a time when we need to look at this whole concept again. I support the issue of having a Women Enterprise Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and perhaps another fund which we call the Uwezo. It is important to check their effectiveness and how efficiently we are managing them. We have also lost a lot of money. In the past, we know the amount of money that was lost in the YEDF. Recently, we saw the Auditor-General say that we have lost money in the Uwezo Fund. It is also important to give room to that idea. Annulling these Regulations perhaps gives us and the people in the Executive an opportunity to look at this idea all over again. It was an affirmative action. It is the norm everywhere that all affirmative actions have a sunset clause. When do we need to perhaps shape these Funds differently? Under Standing Order No.210(3)(c), the Committee has every reason to look at what is before it and if it is substantive like it is the case today, perhaps provide that it should be done through a Bill as opposed to through regulations because it is a major change in the way we do things. The Executive seems to want to introduce it through the backdoor. It is important to look at this thing. Let them come head on. Let us provide statutory instruments for it and Acts of Parliament to guide us so that we can inform and perhaps fill the gaps like the ones mentioned by the Member for Seme. There are certainly gaps in the structure. I know that in some constituencies these Funds may be functioning well, but in other constituencies, they are completely absent. I saw the Uwezo Fund at the beginning of this Parliament and then the officers disappeared. Yesterday, we were quarrelling and I have meetings with them in the coming days, but they are not helping across the board. They work depending on the efficiency of the officer who is in your constituency. When you leave institutions to function at the mercy of individuals, it is not very useful. We need to address the management structure so that its functions benefit all. I do not know why Members mention it as the last thing. This is with regard to men. The whole thing will collapse as long as we continue thinking that men have the capacity to approach commercial banks. In my constituency, I do not think I can get 1 per cent of men who can walk into a commercial bank and get a loan. If these Funds do not address that issue, we have failed. We need to make sure that men are also able to access these funds. We especially wanted women. We were trying to help the young people have a base. We wanted women to become economic partners and help grow the country. We also wanted to see the full potential of that gender. What has happened now is that men have completely disappeared from the scene. If they do so, are we achieving anything or are we helping one side and losing the other? If it is not an issue in the constituencies of Members who are present in this House, then you must be in another country not Kenya. Where we come from, this is a major problem. The men have a serious problem. If you remove men from being economic partners and people who drive the economy in your area, you will have a lot of problems. We have very high levels of drunkenness. There are many drugs like muguka . It is not an English word. You will have to help me with the English words for muguka and miraa in this country. Those things have taken away men. If we cannot help the few who cannot walk around straight and make them proper people who can help with the economy, all these Funds are not useful to us. While it is a good thing to annul, we cannot kill the idea of relooking at this whole issue and allowing men to access this 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."
}