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{
"id": 99139,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/99139/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology",
"speaker": {
"id": 190,
"legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
"slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
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"content": "intelligence service and it took forever for them to go and intervene. And the politicians themselves are to blame! Very unfortunately, the issue of deadline points to the problem many of our students are experiencing, that they were not meeting deadlines because many cannot pay. It is not because they want to do it; many of them is just because they cannot afford to pay within the given time. So, obviously, it points to the need for us to do much more in terms of empowering poor students and ensuring that universities do not increasingly become the property of only the privileged. This is a problem and, therefore, we need to ask questions about how we can support them more. I think under the circumstances, KU did well even in terms of punishing the students. We appealed to them that the punishment should not be so severe and it was not. There were cases where we made specific appeals for students from disadvantaged communities and those who were caught in it. Unfortunately, these kinds of blanket punishments sometimes take place because students themselves did not object to what was happening. Most of the students did not stand up to say: âWe cannot allow a few students to be the cause of trouble in the university!â They should also stand up. Even the students that elect those student leaders, or even us as politicians, I think we have a responsibility to ensure that a few ethnic chiefs are not the ones who determine the direction we take, even if it is bad. So, in that respect, most students are also to blame. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to say that as we blame the institution and the administration, and as we complain about all those problems at Kenyatta University, we also need to appreciate, as many hon. Members have said, that many good things have taken place at Kenyatta University. I think this is a fact. It is very evident. I taught at Kenyatta University. I go to Kenyatta University these days, and I note that it is a very different place, not just in terms of the big structures that are being put up, but even when you look at the environment and the programmes of study that have been introduced, it is better. Now they are doing engineering, medicine, they are building a referral hospital and the best library amongst all the universities. There are some very good things happening there. A lot of these good things come out of the money that is paid by the students not from the Government. So, we should also appreciate the fact that Kenyatta University has come up as one of the best for several years in a row, in contract performance evaluation. It was the first university to be ISO compliant in the country. Before this one it was a long time since there was a riot at Kenyatta University. This is something to be happy about. Many of you have been to universities. In my time when I was a lecturer and a student, riots were the order of the day. Even as we talk about riots at Kenyatta University or University of Nairobi, let us also not forget this may be the first riot that you have seen in five years. The same applies to Nairobi University. So, things have improved because there is a conscious effort by the administration and the Government to give much more freedom to the institutions, and talk about the need for negotiations and so on. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, there are issues that we should address. Mr. Munya spoke about responsibility. We cannot always excuse people even when they do the wrong things. Students must also be ready to be judged by the law, after all many of them are mature. If you have a complaint, destroying property or going to hit motorists who are passing by, and who are not to blame for your problems, is diverting attention and being"
}