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{
    "id": 99755,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/99755/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Shabesh",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 377,
        "legal_name": "Rachel Wambui Shebesh",
        "slug": "rachel-shebesh"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. As I listened to debate on this Report by the Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology, I was appalled, to say the least. I have been writing down what the Chair and other hon. Members have been saying. I see only negative terminology coming out about what Kenyatta University is supposed to stand for. I hear about theft, arson, curriculum failure, security failures, elections that are totally influenced by outsiders, negative ethnicity, decision making that is centralized, no dialogue, issues of remuneration, the normal programme versus the parallel programme. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, because I do not want to speak for long, I just simply want to ask both the Committee and the Minister how it is that a university that is supposed to be churning out the future of this country, the professionals of this country who, then, must run our economy and our social systems can have such a negative atmosphere and we continue to say that we have leading university institutions in this country, which are going to give us professionals--- Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think that on this issue, and also on the issue of Nairobi University – which also went on strike the other day – and all other universities, I think it cannot be business as usual. How to deal with strikes, lack of communication in the universities and the many issues that the Committee has enumerated cannot be business as usual. I really want to thank the Committee for going into details. I just want to plead with the Minister that when he comes to respond to this Committee’s Report, not just to give the normal response that the Ministry will do this and say; “we have taken these issues into consideration”. He should really put in place a reform strategy for Kenyatta University, which has been a leading university in this country, and other universities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, reform means that even amongst the leadership, as we have said, the Vice-Chancellors and the lecturers--- We cannot have lecturers who incite students. Also, amongst the students, a hooligan is a hooligan and can be detected, if you have security systems that are working in those universities. You will tell who the inciters are, which students can lead strikes, those who will go ahead and burn buildings and steal computers. I believe that these are students who can be identified and they can be separated from student activism. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must not stifle student activism in this country; the right of students to be heard must continue to be safeguarded in our society. To be part and parcel of the running of the universities is not a new thing; actually, it is the new way to go. Universities have become more stable and viable due to closer interactions between students, lecturers and the administration. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, all I want to ask is that it should not be business as usual; we need a real reform strategy for universities so that, at least, we can stop churning out the same kind of characters that are being bred by this kind of atmosphere in the universities. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}