{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=541","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=539","results":[{"id":5391,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5391/?format=json","text_counter":387,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Mungatana","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":185,"legal_name":"Danson Buya Mungatana","slug":"danson-mungatana"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to start my brief contribution by thanking the Mover of this amendment Bill, hon. Eugene Wamalwa for sponsoring this Bill to the House. I also thank the Seconder, hon. Odhiambo-Mabona and all the previous speakers who have spoken before me. I fully agree with their sentiments. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to bring a different angle to this Bill in supporting it. This Bill basically wants to put a law in this House and to the country that 25 per cent of all business that belong to Government should go to people who are defined as youth by the Constitution. Given our little experience when we were younger, I personally worked in a professional law firm for a period of one month and then I decided to set up my own practice. It was impossible at that time to secure any work from any Government parastatals. It was impossible to go to banks of standing that had shares in Government; it was impossible even to approach Government departments because they would look at you and say: “You are too young for us to give you this kind of job” even though you were employed previously; you were actually the person handling that professional work. Everybody shuns and avoids you because they say that you lack experience of ten or 20 years. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is not only in legal practice that this happens. If you go to engineering, medical practice or any type of professional work, you will find that older people dominate the work that is supposed to go to the younger people. In fact, young people never get important Government briefs where they can improve themselves professionally. I, therefore, wish to support very strongly that the young people should be given 25 per cent of jobs that come from Government work. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the immediate impact that this law will have is that if there is a law firm, engineering firm or any professional body that has been denying young professionals an opportunity for partnership, that kind of thing will stop. If there is a firm of professionals which has deliberately been refusing to admit into partnerships young people, then they will lose some of the Government jobs that they have been getting. By the stroke of the signature of this Bill into law, we will have a few young Kenyans who will take up serious responsibilities within our economy. For us who have had to struggle through life because we never had these kind of opportunities, we want to say that we will leave Kenya a better country when we have this affirmative action. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am reminded that, actually, Article 55 of the new Constitution deliberately states that we should have affirmative action for the youth so that they can participate in economic activities. I think this Bill needs to be supported by all people who are of goodwill and are doing something or want to do something about the young people in Kenya who have not had opportunities to come up. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know contracts like murraming roads and cutting bushes by the roadside are done by older people. They have continually dominated these kinds of jobs. Even most projects of Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) are done by older people in our society. All these Government procurement rules have discriminated against the young people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I really want to urge this House and everybody else who will contribute that we must take a step forward. The step forward is for us to say with finality that now younger people must get into the economic activity of this country by passing this Bill. It must now be compulsory for this Government to do the same. This is a Bill that we need to pass yesterday. With those few remarks, I beg to support."},{"id":5392,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5392/?format=json","text_counter":388,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dr. Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Like my colleagues who have spoken before me, I would like to strongly support this Motion. This Motion is so important because yet, for a second time, the hon. Wamalwa has chosen to walk the talk. I am glad that Prof. Saitoti and Mr. Kenneth are here. These are formidable presidential candidates. But unlike these two presidential candidates, hon. Wamalwa has gone all out of his way to address legislation for ensuring that the youth are empowered. I want also to encourage all presidential candidates to support this Motion and participate in ensuring that through legislation, youth are empowered."},{"id":5393,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5393/?format=json","text_counter":389,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Kenneth","speaker_title":"The Assistant Minister, Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030","speaker":{"id":167,"legal_name":"Peter Kenneth","slug":"peter-kenneth"},"content":" On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. With due respect to my friend Dr. Khalwale, is he really in order to assume that the youth agenda belongs to only one Member of Parliament in our country when most of us have articulated and even put it even in our manifestos that it is a burning problem in Kenya that requires the entire House, the entire leadership of this country to actually address and deal with? Is he in order?"},{"id":5394,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5394/?format=json","text_counter":390,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dr. Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, indeed, I would be completely out of order if that was the case. But if what I have said has forced him to jump onto the Dispatch Box, it shows that we have achieved; we want presidential candidates to be responsive---"},{"id":5395,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5395/?format=json","text_counter":391,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. George Nyamweya","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"On a point of order, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have listened rather carefully to Dr. Khalwale. However, surely, there is no election which has been declared in Kenya where we can say we have candidates. Therefore, when he says “presidential candidates” is that not completely misleading the House and the country that there are presidential candidates when there are no such candidates? Maybe he could talk of aspirants. There are many of them. Some are yet to declare their ambition. Is he not misleading the House by referring to certain characters or human beings as presidential candidates when there is no election being conducted in Kenya?"},{"id":5396,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5396/?format=json","text_counter":392,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Prof. Kaloki","speaker_title":"The Temporary Deputy Speaker","speaker":{"id":62,"legal_name":"Philip Kyalo Kaloki","slug":"philip-kaloki"},"content":" Dr. Khalwale, are you misleading the House? Are these candidates or aspirants?"},{"id":5397,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5397/?format=json","text_counter":393,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dr. Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thanks for the correction from Mr. George Nyamweya. Indeed, Mr. Peter Kenneth, Prof. Saitoti and others - I respect them - are presidential aspirants. However, we at New FORD (K), have no doubt that our presidential candidate is Wamalwa. This is why we do not have to waste time thinking about aspirants. We have already provided him with whatever the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) desires. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was making a point of the need for the leadership of the country to ensure that through statutes, youth in this country are empowered. There is the debate which is raging about the Kazi kwa Vijana (KKV) project. If we had had a law like the one we are trying to craft, if we had the Boda Boda Enterprise Fund as had been promoted in an earlier Bill by Mr. Wamalwa--- If there were laws, instead of putting the KKV funds in the kind of projects that we are currently putting them in, we would be actually channeling them to the youth through that enterprise fund. There is no single town where we do not get a bicycle that serves as a"},{"id":5398,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5398/?format=json","text_counter":394,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"Boda Boda."},{"id":5399,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5399/?format=json","text_counter":395,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Dr. Khalwale","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":170,"legal_name":"Bonny Khalwale","slug":"bonny-khalwale"},"content":"Allow me to speak on the issue of corruption and procurement. I have found in my four years in Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the beginning of corruption is at procurement. It is such that if an investor must win a tender, he must set aside some funds which he will spend on the tender committee. Our poor youth have no such slash funds which they can keep aside for purposes of paying 10 per cent to the procurement committee, the tender committee and the balance to do the actual investment. It is important that this law passes because we are encouraging ministerial tender committees and district tender committees to ensure that at the stage of procurement and tendering, they should profile all companies. They profile companies so that they pick out the real merit for giving a company a job. For example, if the owner of a company is a very wealthy person and this person does not have the technical know-how of the job that he is applying for, even if he has the money to fund the project, he should get second consideration compared to a professional who is bidding for the same job. So, if this law is passed, it, therefore, means that a youth who is technically competent, but financially challenged will then have affirmative action that will enable him to win a job. In the process, we will be helping our youth to be empowered. This is nothing new. The Ghanaian Youth Empowerment Programme which is a world success--- In fact, it has contributed to Ghana moving from a low income to a medium sized economy. I want to thank the Mover of the Motion, Mr. Wamalwa that yes, we are now moving in the right direction. I hope that the Government will move with quick speed to make sure that assention is given to this Bill for it to become law, so that the youth can be empowered. With those many remarks, I beg to support."},{"id":5400,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/5400/?format=json","text_counter":396,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Mututho","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":97,"legal_name":"John Michael Njenga Mututho","slug":"john-mututho"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Bill. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate the Mover of this Motion, Mr. Wamalwa. Without going into the politics of who is the presidential candidate or aspirant, one thing is clear; if you happen to be in the bracket they call youth, that is between 18 and 35 years in Kenya, your fate is doomed, especially if your father was not a great chief or he is a Cabinet Minister. As we have always said, if you happen to be from Nakuru County where the last Cabinet Minister was appointed in 1966, then you have no chance. There will be no chiefs, District Commissioners, Provincial Commissioners or Permanent Secretaries to push things for you. Nothing will come from that particular area. So, you cannot really be able to push your agenda in procurement whatsoever. The only remedy to this is for us to look again at our legislative framework. I used to work at some point for United States Agency for International Development (USAID). One of the requirements then and it was in bold, was that a product must come from the free world. Free world did not include the Eastern Bloc at that particular time. That measure in itself enabled the people who were Americans and people who were friends of Americans like the United Kingdom and other places and a few African states to be able to sell certain goods and services running into billions of dollars because that was the legislative framework. One of the most prohibitive points under which youth is drawn out of business is what we call the performance bond. Performance bond is expressed under the Procurement Act as a percentage of what you really want to procure. It is usually between 2 to 10 per cent depending on the product that you want to do. Let us assume a Mr. Oteo would like to supply computers. He knows the best computers come from a factory in the United States of America or somewhere in China or wherever it is. He meets all the specifications, but for him to be able to tender, he needs to do that bid bond. Such ones can be waived competently by having your counter guarantee from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports or Youth Fund, for that particular matter. So, this young man can be registered as a supplier on that particular basis. The other point is that you shall have to go to the Technical Evaluation Committee which includes visiting your premises. The premises of a young man who has a problem affording for the day at about Kshs100 or Kshs200 will never qualify for a tender for Kshs1 million or Kshs100,000, forget even a tender for Kshs10 million. Those are provisos that can be adequately addressed. We can say that a young man of known character, domiciled to one youth group and based in a physical address here, operating from a café, that is good enough. This is so and so, not necessarily the son of a Chief so and so. He can be addressed that way and then be allowed to bid. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the reason we are putting this thing, and it is so important - I must thank Eugene Wamalwa again and again – is that, when the Government wants to procure goods and services worth about Kshs1 billion, it does not anticipate that the supplier is going to have Kshs1 billion in their account. It anticipates that they will be able to pay for the services to the tune of Kshs1 billion. We are creating a false impression that the big companies now then, have that capability to supply goods and do trade to a level of Kshs1 billion. We should be able to evaluate documents originating from a young man and allow the young man to get specifications from those factories because they will be the ultimate suppliers. They can then work out the instruments like the letters of credit that will encourage that young man to enter into that deal and we will achieve two advantages."}]}