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{
    "id": 99118,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/99118/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 371,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Duale",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Livestock Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker. From the onset, I want to commend the good work done by the Committee on Education, Research and Technology led by my good friend, hon. Koech. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, on the onset, again, I want to commend the good work that the current Vice-Chancellor of Kenyatta University, Prof. Mugendi, is doing. I want to state here that you can even look at the infrastructure that is in place today in Kenyatta University and compare it with ten years ago and you will accept that it is an institution with progress and development; you can tell that just from its infrastructure before you even go to the details. So, we are saying that she is one of the very few women Vice-Chancellors in this country whose work we are very happy with. Secondly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the problem in this country that is bedeviling all sectors, whether we are talking of the private sector; whether we are talking of our higher institutions of learning; whether we are talking of the Government bureaucracy, it is the element of politics. I think, as a country, we must say no to politics in all our major or crucial institutions. We have transferred our politics to our universities and to all important institutions in this country. You will find party and regional politics finding its way into national universities. Recently, we had the University of Nairobi SONU elections; the information we have is that even the coalition politics – the PNU/ODM politics – has found itself in even student politics and in SONU elections. Politicians and political parties want to control the kind of leadership that university students want to have! When you want to become the chairman of SONU or of Kenyatta University Students Organization, give us a break! The mandate of a students union is to promote the welfare of the students; so, we should not take our party politics to student’s institutions or organizations! Thirdly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we do not want the leadership of the universities to get involved in student politics. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi was accused of meddling in the SONU elections. He either worked for his own interests or for the interests of a political party. So, if you are a Vice-Chancellor or if you are a member of the Senate of an institution, or you are a council member, a lecturer or a professor, you must operate within the rules of engagement of the university! We are taking regional politics to institutions of higher learning. At present, Kenyan students are paying dearly for their education! There are so many innocent students who want to finish their courses in four, five or six years. I think it is time now that we must say that if you are a student in either of the universities and you want to get involved in party politics, you have the right to leave the university, go to Orange House or to PNU Headquarters and become a politician; you must leave the 90 per cent of Kenyan students who want to finish their courses within the stipulated time. Fourthly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think the university administration must not get involved in student elections. One of the reasons that caused the riots in Kenyatta University, after going through this Report, and the evidence of all the stakeholders who met the Committee, it is very clear that when the University administration decided not to work with the new leadership of the Kenyatta University"
}