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"id": 1562842,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562842/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
"speaker_title": "The Temporary Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Sen. Karungo Thang’wa, I believe you are the one moving this Motion. It is your Motion. As you do so, under Order No.8, you will have 20 minutes to move that Motion. You may proceed."
},
{
"id": 1562843,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562843/?format=api",
"text_counter": 282,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "CONSOLIDATION OF BURSARY FUNDS FOR EQUITABLE ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN KENYA"
},
{
"id": 1562844,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562844/?format=api",
"text_counter": 283,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity to move this Motion. Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion on consolidation of bursary funds for equitable access to education in Kenya- THAT AWARE THAT, Pursuant to Article 53 of the Constitution, every child in Kenya is entitled to free and compulsory basic education, and the Basic Education Act provides that, basic education should be guided by principles such as equitable access to all youth and equal access to education or institutions; The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1562845,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562845/?format=api",
"text_counter": 284,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "FURTHER AWARE THAT, many students in secondary schools and higher education institutions come from financially disadvantaged backgrounds, making it difficult for them to afford school fees and access education opportunities; NOTING THAT, over the years, various interventions have been made, including the issuance of bursaries through the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NCDF), National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), the Ministry of Education and county governments through various county bursary funds; CONCERNED THAT, despite these efforts, school fees remain unaffordable for many parents and the allocation of bursaries has been plagued by nepotism, favoritism, and political manipulation, lack of transparency and accountability; FURTHER CONCERNED THAT public learning institutions are primarily funded by the Government through the Ministry of Education, and in the Financial Year 2024/2025, approximately Kshs656 billion was allocated to the education sector, making it difficult to ascertain the specific funds granted to each student and that the lack of transparency in the disbursement of bursaries from various agencies makes it difficult to determine the total amount allocated in a financial year, thus hindering efforts to ensure equitable access to education for financially disadvantaged students; NOW THEREFORE, the Senate urges the Ministry of Education, to: 1) audit the funds allocated to bursaries by both the National Government and county governments; 2) consolidate the funds distributed by various government entities and agencies, with the aim of directing these funds directly to schools as supplementary capitation to facilitate the achievement of free secondary education; and 3) calculate the cost of education per learner and make this information public for primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, including a detailed breakdown of the annual financial requirements for each student across the country. Madam Temporary Speaker, we just concluded a Session with the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Education. How I wish he could have sat in to listen to this deliberation because once the Senate concludes on this matter, it will be taken to the Ministry of Education to at least implement on the proposals and recommendation of the Senate. Madam Temporary Speaker, I would like to be on record that this Motion, is not fighting bursary because, bursaries are lifeline. Without bursaries, so many students could not have attained education, gone to school and the rate of dropout and illiteracy rate could have been higher than it is today. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1562846,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562846/?format=api",
"text_counter": 285,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "This Motion is trying to achieve only one thing - to fight discrimination when it comes to issuing of bursaries. Who gets the bursary? The person who gets the bursary is that person who probably knows the Member of Parliament (MP) or fills those forms or is in the campaign team of those who are issuing bursaries. So, when we look at it that way, we see that not every child gets bursary. This begs the question, what do we do to make sure that the needy gets the bursary, goes to school to learn, especially in secondary education, without paying any school fees? Madam Temporary Speaker, the Constitution of Kenya 2010, under Article 53(1)(b) says, “(1) Every child has a right (b) to free and compulsory basic education;” Secondary school education is part of it, and so, if we continue disbursing bursaries the way we do it today, we will find out that sometimes the needy among the needy do not get these bursaries. I want you to remember that the bursaries are also part of the national goal of achieving universal basic education and fulfilling Kenya Vision 2030. So, everybody agrees that we require bursaries. Everyone agrees that we need to send our children to school and pay for their education. So, this begs the question, are we providing that within the current setup or within the way the bursaries are issued? That is the question that I will be answering as I move this Motion. Before I get there, let us ask ourselves, who currently issues bursaries? Who gives bursaries and how much is involved? We have the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF); that is, the Members of Parliament. They give bursaries for secondary school and tertiary education in the amount from Kshs20 million to Kshs70 million per constituency. We have National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) by Women Representatives. They give bursaries of between Ksh10 million to Kshs20 million per year per county. We have the county governments, that is, the governors and the Members of the County Assemblies (MCAs), who give bursaries. The Ministry of Education also gives bursaries. The president himself gives bursaries and his bursaries are in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. So, the only person who does not give bursaries from the six people who are voted for by Kenyans, all the way from MCAs to the President, are the Senators. That is probably a good thing because now we can discuss this issue from both perspectives; those who give and those who do not give. If you do the maths, if every constituency gives an average of Kshs50 million and we have 290 constituencies, that will be about Kshs14.5 billion. I want you to keep in mind that the constituencies give about 14.5 billion for bursaries every year. For the Women Representatives, Kshs15 million, multiply by 47. That is about Kshs700 million. The county governments give bursaries from Kshs200 to Kshs500 million per year per county. We go with the highest, Kshsh500 million per year, that will be about Kshs23.5 billion. Who knows what the Ministry of Education gives? We do not know how much they give as bursaries. We do not know how much the President gives as bursaries. That The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1562847,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562847/?format=api",
"text_counter": 286,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "is why I am calling for that consolidation and making sure that we get to know how much and if we can approximate that will be about Kshs50 billion going to bursaries. Now that we know how much goes to bursaries, let me now tackle the question of how it is disbursed and why this Motion is very important. There is a lot of fragmentation. Fragmentation means five people are giving bursaries, but nobody knows who is giving whom because there is no coordination. The president will give somebody in a certain constituency in a certain ward. The MCA, does not even know who that person is. The Woman Representative will give a bursary to a certain county in a certain ward, the MCA will not know who got a bursary from the Woman Representative. The MP will give a bursary to a certain constituency in a certain ward, the MCA will not know who was given a bursary by the MP because there is no data. We cannot be able to know who was given a bursary and by whom. Even when the governor is giving or issuing the bursaries, sometimes you do not know who received the bursary. Even when the MCA now is also giving a bursary, the MP does not know who was given by the MCA, the Woman Representative, the President, and even the Governor, probably do not know the person who was given a bursary by the MCA, and this brings about multiple allocations. So, if somebody is in the village and as we say, his or her aerial is way higher, they will know when the bursary is given by the governor, when it is given by the MCA, when it is given by the Woman Representative and when it is given by the MP or even by the President. So, you will find that such a person will benefit from every politician. Some of them even get more than they require for their children in school. That is why we are saying we need to align this; that an MCA should know who was given a bursary by the MP. The MP should also know the person who was given a bursary by the MCA or Woman Representative or the President, so that we deal with inefficiency and duplication. If we cannot cure this duplication, we are losing money. That is why this Motion is suggested that instead of sending an MP, an MCA, the President or anyone, the question I ask here before on this Floor, why can we not take all these bursaries and put them in school, especially secondary schools, so that we can make secondary education free of charge? What stops us from doing that? We can add it to the capitation so that one does not have to go kneel to a politician to get bursary. That way we will know how much is needed for education. When the Cabinet Secretary for Education was here, I asked him if he had costed the education of every child. The Cabinet Secretary said that they do not know. So, we even budget for things that we do not know. So, this Motion is telling the Cabinet Secretary and the Ministry of Education to calculate the cost of education per learner and make this information public for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. This includes a detailed breakdown of the annual financial requirements for each student across the country. We need to know if I get to form one, how much does that child need to have for his or her education until the end of the year? We are still dealing with problems of the current system of bursary issuance; the favouritism, the nepotism and the politicisation. Sometimes, I feel like crying when I see The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1562848,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562848/?format=api",
"text_counter": 287,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "our mothers sitting on the ground, sitting on the soil, on the grass, waiting for a politician to finish their speech, so that they can be given Kshs2,000 to go pay school fees. We need to restore the dignity of our parents; our mothers and fathers, so that we do not have to make them sit on the ground for them to get these Kshs2,000 that they need to take their kids to school. That money should be sent to school so that education in secondary schools is free. We need to restore the dignity. The way we do not give politicians money for the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) or for the Social Health Authority (SHA), such that anybody who is having a cold here, anybody who has a broken leg, does not say, “I have money from the national Government to get treated.” They just go to the hospital, get treated, and the Government pays for that. That is what we are supposed to do with education; go to school and study, and the Government will pay. I do not understand why the Government gives you money to go pay the Government. This is the reason why I brought this Motion. Why does the Government give you money to go pay the Government? It is like I own a posho mill, I have unga everyday in my posho mill and instead of giving you unga, I give you money to come and buy from my posho mill. I give you Kshs50 and I tell you; “come and buy from my posho mill, rather than just giving you"
},
{
"id": 1562849,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562849/?format=api",
"text_counter": 288,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "unga"
},
{
"id": 1562850,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562850/?format=api",
"text_counter": 289,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "if I have to give unga. So, we need to restore the dignity and bring about transparency because there is no database. This is what we are asking the Ministry of Education, that we need a database. We need to know, if I think about my Ward where I come from, where I was born, called Ngewa, in Kiambu County. If I go to the systems, I need to know who was given how much by the MCA, MP, governor, women rep, the President or the Ministry. That way, we are able to be transparent and know who gets what. The Motion is proposing that the Ministry of Education audits all bursary funds issued by national Government and county governments. We need to understand how much goes in as bursary. We also need to consolidate all bursary allocation into a single pool. I want to be understood clearly because this might be misconstrued as if we are taking the bursary back to the national Government. No, that is not what we are doing. Consolidation means, if you know you have this amount of money from all the bursaries, then after we calculate the cost of education per child, this money is disbursed directly to schools as supplementary capitation. That is what this Motion is looking for; that we should give these monies to schools so that education, especially secondary, can be free. This will reduce administrative waste. Remember, every bursary fund has five to 10 per cent administrative cost. We need to enhance transparency, eliminate double funding, and ensure that most vulnerable students are prioritized. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am not the only one speaking about this. So many other leaders, recognized leaders, are speaking about it. The Chief Justice is on record, saying that this issue of bursary need to be discussed so that we reduce wastage. Even Sen. Osotsi, Sen. Chimera and the Speaker of the National Assembly are on record. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1562851,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1562851/?format=api",
"text_counter": 290,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Even the President himself mentioned that we need to look into this issue of bursary. More recently, there is an honorable Member in the National Assembly, hon. Passaris, who has brought a motion, which is more like what we are discussing here today. We also have the Leader of Minority Leader of the National Assembly, hon. Junet Mohammed, who has also brought a motion. For them, they are trying to look at a centralizing bursary fund, which is not what we are looking for here. What we are saying is it goes to schools directly. We do not want to create one kitty where a child in Taveta, Kiambu or Kisumu will be coming to Nairobi to apply. No, no. We should not go back to that one single kitty. What we are looking for is send the money to schools where the children are. One should not even apply for bursary. What for? We know you are needy. Education should be free in secondary school just the way it is free in primary. Is feasible? What is the legal and policy basis? I highlighted Article 53 of the Constitution that it is a right for a child to get education. It is in the Basic Education Act, Madam Speaker, that equity and access are guiding principles. Even the Public Finance Management Act---"
}
]
}