Hon. Members, there will be a Communication from the Chair, but not at this particular point.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, I beg to give notice of the following Motion:-

THAT, aware that a majority of the residents of Kenya are youth under the age of 30 years whose numbers in the ranks of the unemployed are increasing every year after completion of primary and secondary school; further aware that the Government has invested a lot of money in them through free primary and secondary school education; also noting that the revenue collected by this economy is in excess of Kshs1 trillion, and that the country has immense opportunities available to create employment for the said youth, who contribute to the realization of Vision 2030, this House urges the Government to consider spending 0.1 per cent, or so, of its revenue to finance training in applied sciences in village polytechnics and institutes of technology within in the country through soft repayable loans to be channeled through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) similar to how the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) finances university education.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, pursuant to Standing Order No.44(2)(b), I wish to request a Statement from the Leader of the Majority Party concerning the progress in the implementation of the ambitious programmes and promises that have been

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Hon. Speaker, Sir, that is a very comprehensive report that should go to a Committee. Nevertheless, next week on Thursday I will present that comprehensive report to my good friend, Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo.

There are some hon. Members who have indicated that they want to seek statements. One of them on the list here is hon. George M. Wanjohi, but he has not handled the machine; I do not know whether he is in the House or not. Are you the hon. Member for Mathare Constituency?

Yes I am hon. Speaker.

And you do not have a card?

Yes.

That may speak volumes about you, is it not so? The hon. Member for Mathare Constituency got his card and in less than a week he is without it. Perhaps, that speaks volumes about your constituency. Maybe, you can seek the assistance of hon. Members to handle your constituency.

Thank you hon. Speaker. I wish to present a statement pursuant to Standing Order---

Are you presenting a statement?

Yes, it is statement!

Presenting it?

It is a request for a statement, hon. Speaker. Pursuant to Standing Order No. 44 (2) (c), I wish to request a statement from the Chairperson of the Committee on Lands regarding a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the Government of Kenya, which was represented by the Ministry of Local Government, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State for National Heritage and culture, the Town Clerk, Nairobi City Council, with regard to the reported rehabilitation and management of Nairobi City Park.

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Is there any indication from the Committee on Lands? Is hon. Mwiru not here? Does he have a vice-chair who may wish to speak on his behalf? Obviously what the hon. Member is seeking is something very comprehensive. Actually, it is not a question and answer thing. It is something that can take quite some time. Maybe, the Leader of Majority Party then, as you can see, your troops have decided to be doing business other than House business.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, I can see that we are going back to the time of the 10th Parliament when there was a Grand Coalition Government and Ministers were never in the House. But this is not the behaviour that we shall entertain. Chairpersons from the Jubilee side of the Coalition, I will make sure that we crack the whip. But this Statement is very urgent and I think I will communicate to the Chair of Committee on Lands and we will deliver it in three weeks.

Very well. I can see the hon. Member for Mathare Constituency nodding in concurrence. There are other hon. Members who put in requests for statements and I approved them, but I do not see their names on the paper that has the record. So, I do not know whether they are the ones who have now put in requests. The hon. Lemanken Aramat, you have pressed your button. Where are you? Has he withdrawn? Or, you were just playing with the machines. Then I can see the hon. Moses Kipkemboi Cheboi.

Hon. Speaker, there must be something wrong with the gadgets. I have not made any request.

The next one is the hon. Mwaura in that order. Just to be on the safe side, say you pressed it. Are you seeking a statement, hon. Mwaura or you are just being an earlier bird that catches the worm?

No, hon. Speaker, Sir.

I have since learnt that is what cleverer persons do. Then the next one is the hon. Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth. Is it similar or you---

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Hon. Speaker, I want to request a statement.

Okay. Go ahead.

Thank you hon. Speaker, Sir. Actually, I have two requests. Pursuant to Standing Order 44 (2) (c), I wish to request a statement from the Chairperson of the Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations regarding the operations of the Kenya Defence Forces deployed in Somalia. Hon. Speaker, last week the British Government was compelled through a suit to compensate Mau Mau veterans to the tune of Kshs2.6 billion for the harm visited on Kenyans during the state of emergency from 1952 to 1959. So that the Kenya Government is not compelled to settle similar claims in future arising from malpractices, if any, by our soldiers, the Chairperson should indicate if our forces in Somalia have engaged in any act of malpractice since the incursion began, and what action has been taken and assure this House that Kenyan forces in Somalia are not and will not engage in malpractices similar to what British colonial forces engaged in, in Kenya between 1952 and 1959.

On a point of order, hon. Speaker, Sir.

Yes, you have a point of order, Leader of Majority Party.

Hon. Speaker, with regard to the last statement that the hon. Member has sought, there are no Kenyan forces in Somalia. There is an AMISOM Force in Somalia. The Kenya soldiers in Somalia are under the umbrella of AMISOM and the UN authorities. So, I want that request for a statement to be clarified, that there are no KDF forces in Somalia. We have AMISOM forces from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya in the Republic of Somalia. So, that request for a statement from the Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations, I think by your indulgence, the hon. Member should clarify it.

In fact, I am now being informed that actually what the hon. Okoth is doing is sneaking in without prior approval of the Chair. This is because the request had not been seen and the Clerk’s office has clarified that. So, it is disallowed. Use the normal channels available to request statements. Do not just jump up and start saying--- I must see what it is. If there is need I will advise that you go this way and that way. For now it is disallowed but you can consult. Do not approach the Chair, but when I retreat from the Chair, you can come, we discuss and see how best it can be raised on the Floor of the House.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, this is an announcement following your Communication from the Chair sometime last week regarding the National Prayer Breakfast. It is only a reminder that the event will still be held on 20th June, 2013, next Thursday. The Members are requested to pick their invitation cards from the Reception Desk. For information, there are some forms being circulated to ask Members for assistance. All the Members of Parliament, both in the National Assembly and the Senate, are very much welcome to the event.

I hope Members have followed the announcement by hon. Wambugu about the National Prayer Breakfast day on Thursday, 20th June, 2013 at the

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Hon. Speaker, Sir, yes, indeed. This is a reminder of the National Prayer Breakfast day for all the Members of Parliament, in both the National Assembly and the Senate, to be held on 20th June, 2013, in the morning. The invitation cards for the Members of the National Assembly are to be picked at the Reception Desk, Main Parliament Building. Please, pick your cards there. Also, the Committee is circulating forms to the Members asking for assistance. This is an event wholly funded and sponsored by the Members of Parliament.

Are there Statements which have matured? The Members who may have sought Statements are at liberty to indicate whether their Statements may have matured and have not been delivered. Are there any Members whose Statements have matured and have not been given? Hon. Members who are coming in, you should take your seats because the Communication that I have is long. I do not want you to remain standing for too long. Please, walk in quickly.

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Hon. Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, in accordance with the provisions of Article 223 of the Constitution of Kenya, the reduction in withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund a sum of Kshs.19,605,399,382 representing the total net Estimates of the Recurrent and Development Expenditure made up of the following:-

(i) a sum not exceeding Kshs.13,267,488,318 be granted from the Consolidated Fund to meet the expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2013, in respect of Supplementary Estimates II of 2012/13 Financial Year (Recurrent) having regard to the proposed reduction of Kshs.3,752,372,182, therein appearing; and,

(ii) a sum not exceeding Kshs.4,711,241,884 be granted from the Consolidated Fund to meet the expenditure during the year ending 30th June, 2013 in respect of the Supplementary Estimates II of 2012/13 Financial Year (Development) having regard to the proposed reduction of Kshs.33,831,757,402 therein appearing.

Hon. Members are aware that in the last Parliament the House approved a Budget of Kshs.1.46 trillion for the Financial Year 2012/13 in June 2012. The Budget which was fully financed comprised of the following: Kshs.655.8 billion for Ministerial Recurrent Expenditure, Kshs.452.2 billion for Development Expenditure, Kshs.346 billion for Consolidated Fund Services and Kshs.5 billion for Civil Contingency Fund.

They have Budget implementation; the National Treasury received a request for additional funding in excess of Ksh165 billion. This was to cater for the emerging shortfalls in that period. These requests were rationalized and priorities considered for funding, and they were approved by the 10th Parliament. To make it more clear, the priority of areas that were allowed for funding under the additional request of Ksh165 billion included additional provision for salaries and allowances for teachers, doctors, nurses, university lecturers and staff, civil servants, and an additional funding for foreign service allowances, the County Government infrastructure, the rapid registration of persons, the Biometric Voter Registration kits that were used during the elections, civic

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Hon. Speaker, Sir, as I second this Motion it is good to state that this House passed the Supplementary Budget in January, 2013. The Government has, however, continued to face major challenges. That has been contributed to largely by a weak global economy that has in a way affected our tax collection agency, which has so far not been able to register good, or very encouraging performance in terms of revenue collection. This Motion, therefore, is seeking the authority of this House to allow the Executive to look for ways of meeting this unanticipated expenditure through the ways the Mover of this Motion has highlighted. This will not be achieved by raising taxes, but rather through reorganization and rationalization of the Budget by deferring non-priority expenditure to the next financial year. Therefore, as I support this Motion; it is good to note that some of these unanticipated expenditure includes the security operations that are very necessary. It is always very difficult to plan and anticipate security operations because sometimes unplanned things take place. That is why an extra Kshs5.2 billion was spent on security operations, especially this time when we have a kind of insecure environment in the entire country. You know our region is highly threatened by the Al Shabaab and other insurgents. You may also not be able to anticipate when floods will occur. In the last three months this country has received good rains. At times the negative happens. Floods that wreak havoc on our roads, bridges and low lying areas like Tana River were not anticipated when we approved the Supplementary Budget in January, 2013. It is good that several measures were taken. We had both food and non-food services. This Motion is seeking authority to incur this expenditure.

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There are people who have made requests. Are you on a point of order, hon. Ng’ongo?

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker, Sir. This Motion is not pursuant to Article 223 of the Constitution. I would, therefore, request that before we transact it, we should be sure that we are within the constitutional provision; the Estimates should, first, be referred to the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Why do I say so? If you read Article 223(2), on which this Motion is based, it is very clear that approval by Parliament of any spending under this Article should be sought within two months after the first withdraw of the money. If Parliament is not in session, then the problem should be solved two weeks after it reconvenes.

This will enable us ascertain that every item that the Government is asking us to approve expenditure for was incurred within two months, or if the House was not in session, approval was sought within two weeks; I know we are beyond this because we have been in session for more than two weeks. If the expenditure was incurred within two months, then we need a committee to scrutinise every item, so that this House does not violate the provisions of the Constitution. The Constitution dictates that we can only approve expenditure through Supplementary Estimates only if it was incurred within two

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Maybe, the Leader of the Majority Party, who is the Mover of the Motion, needs to clarify the issue raised by hon. Ng’ongo. If it was not in accordance with what hon. Ng’ongo has said then, obviously, the House may be wrong to proceed to give its approval. Even though, as you remember, hon. Ng’ongo, this particular Article 223 keeps on referring to Parliament; but you can see from it that it is the National Assembly which is supposed to give that approval. Even though the word used is “Parliament” sub-clauses (2), (3) and (4) are very clear that those approvals are supposed to be given by this House. Leader of the Majority Party, perhaps, you could address the point raised by hon. Ng’ongo.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, of course the reference to Parliament is something I would not want to dwell on, because when you talk of Parliament, then the Senate comes in. The word “parliament” has brought conflict between us and the Senate. Having said so, I presume that this is under Article 223(2), approval for which is supposed to given within two months after the first withdrawal of the money. However, Article 223(3) applies when Parliament was not in session. All this is happening because we had elections in March. Observance of the timelines provided for in the whole chapter on Public Finance, under which provisions on the Supplementary Appropriation fall, has been an issue. Of course, I have discussed this with the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee and we agreed. I am sure that he has a reply to give for this debate. If we give him chance as the Chairperson of that Committee, he will shed more light on this matter. So, what hon. Mbadi has said is valid under Article 223(2) and (3).

Please, go ahead, hon. Musyimi.

Thank you very much, hon. Speaker, Sir. I need the attention of the Leader of the Majority Party. I take note of what hon. Ng’ongo, who is a Member of my Committee, has said. Perhaps, hon. A.B. Duale can tell us whether the House stands disadvantaged, if we bring the Report of the Committee to this House on Tuesday, next week.

Hon. Members, I imagine that what the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee is requesting is perhaps agreeing with what hon. Ng’ongo was suggesting, that certain clarifications may need to be made and particularly – I wish hon. Ng’ongo was not being distracted – in Committee; it becomes much easier because I think the Budget and Appropriations Committee will then be able to guide this House in debating properly this Motion. This is because they will go through every expenditure with a toothcomb and, hopefully, tell the House when certain expenditures happened, and whether the explanations, if any given, fall within the requirements of the Constitution, particularly Article 223. That is why the Chairman, hon. Musyimi, is asking the Leader of the Majority Party whether the House would be disadvantaged if the report of the Committee were to be brought here on Tuesday next week. I think that is basically concurring with what hon. Ng’ongo was suggesting, if I understood him correctly; it was that we adjourn this debate and refer this matter to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, which then will help the House understand better this Motion. I appreciate that even when the notice of the Motion was given, several hon. Members did not seem to have picked the Printed Estimates on this particular Motion; perhaps, that may explain it.

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Hon. Speaker, Sir, I tabled the Supplementary Budget Estimates yesterday. I moved the Motion and this is a House of records; this Motion was prioritized in the House Business Committee, which you Chair. I do not think there will be harm if the Budget and Appropriations Committee assures the House that by Tuesday they will bring the report. The only fundamental issue is that with the approval of these Estimates, we need to prepare the Supplementary Estimates Appropriations Bill, which will also come before this House next week. But because we have a number of issues, once we have the Budget tomorrow, then next week we will be dealing with the Votes of Account. So, I concur with the Chair and hon. Ng’ongo that we can wait until Tuesday; we expect the report then from the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

Hon. Members, then I am assuming that you have looked at your Standing Orders. Since the Motion had already been moved and seconded, then either the Chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee or hon. Ng’ongo should move, under Standing Order No.96, for adjournment of debate on a Motion that has already been moved and seconded.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, given the discussion that has gone on this afternoon, I wish to request that the debate be now adjourned to future time. I do not know whether I need to say anything but let me just remind this House that there was a time Supplementary Budget Estimates were brought to the 10th Parliament and you remember they had a computer error. We do not want to get embarrassed again if there are such errors in this Supplementary Budget Estimates. Some could be very innocent errors, and if the Committee of the House can have time to scrutinize this Budget, then it would be useful and helpful. Finally, I just want to repeat that the use of the word “Parliament” is one of the things that we have been discussing. If you go to paragraph (4) of that Article, it clarifies that it is the National Assembly and you can see that the word “National Assembly” and “Parliament” are used interchangeably. So, this is perfectly within the docket of the National Assembly and does not need to be referred to any other House. I know now there is this problem of the Senate and the National Assembly; who is superior and who is not, even though the Constitution is very clear that none is superior. With those few remarks, I beg to move.

Obviously, there will be no need to allow for any dilatory motion.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, before I continue I wanted to say that I had not moved the Motion, although the Order Paper shows that I did so.

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It shows that it is resumption of debate interrupted on Wednesday morning. So you had not moved it?

No, Hon. Speaker, Sir.

It is correct that you had not moved it; go ahead and move it.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, aware that the National Youth Council (NYC) was established by the National Youth Council Act 2009; further aware that the Council was gazetted in November 2012; concerned that the Treasury is yet to release the required funds to establish the council secretariat as provided by Section 10 of the Act; noting that the Council is unable to perform its functions as stated in Section 4 of the Act due to lack of funds, thus disadvantaging the youth of this country, this House urges the Government to immediately allocate and release funds to the Council for it to discharge its mandate. The NYC is a statutory organ established pursuant to the Kenya National Youth Council, No.10 of 2009, to act as an advisory body, research and policy institution on youth affairs in the country. The Council, a corporate body, is primarily designed to be the official voice and negotiator for the youth of Kenya. The Council is tasked, among other things, to regulate and co-ordinate activities and initiatives relating to the youth, and being undertaken by youth groups, youth focus community based organizations, NGOs, civil society movements and other organizations. The idea of coming up with the NYC first came to be about two decades ago. The vibrant youth movements were inspired by the then active civil society seeking mainstreaming of youth in matters Government, and a general desire for youth participation and empowerment. There were several initiatives to convince the Government at different times to establish a National Youth Council (NYC), starting with the national youth conference in Limuru in March, 1997. That is NYC I, and then NYC II, again in Limuru in 1998 and later NYC III at KICC in Nairobi and finally NYC IV meeting in September, 2008 at the Bomas of Kenya. Hon. Speaker, Sir, the NYC Bill first made its way to Parliament in 2004 but it was not until 2008, after the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence (PEV) that the Bill was given priority through the National Accord that created the Coalition Government. Agenda Four of the National Accord and Reconciliation Agreement, solving youth issues is one of the long-term solutions there. One of the specific recommendations was developing and enacting the National Youth Council Bill to stem youth availability engagement in PEV in future amongst other benefits. Fortunately, within a year the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports sponsored the NYC Bill in Parliament and on 30th December, 2009 the former President, hon. Mwai Kibaki, assented it into law. Hon. Speaker, after the President assented to the Bill, problems for the NYC started. The Government through the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports at the time, lead by hon. Paul Otuoma tried to operationalise the NYC by carrying out NYC grassroots elections in May 2011. However, the exercise was marred by a lot of controversy and High Court petitions and the exercise was stopped and then it resumed again from November to December in 2012. Over 1000 NYC delegates from over 275---

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Just a second hon. Juma Zuleikha, the hon. Jonathan Lati Lelelit, you have indicated that you have an intervention. Is it a point of order?

On a point of order, hon. Speaker, Sir. While I do not want to undermine the debate on the NYC because it is really important, but when we adjourned the House today, we were debating the Motion on roads which is something that is very dear to some our constituents. I just wanted to know from the Chair whether that debate is still there. Thank you.

The issue has been brought to my attention; the Order Paper that I am using is the one that reads: “Wednesday June, 2013 at 2.30 p.m. and after Motion on Order No.8, the next Motion is the one being moved by the hon. Juma Zuleikha; that is according to the Order Paper that I have here. You may be having the Order Paper that was there at 9.00 a.m. Whatever may have happened, I think the Clerk informs me that it looks like there was a mistake. The Motion which was being debated when the House rose in the morning was not concluded and has not found its way here. But they had assumed that debate on that Motion would have been completed by the time the House was to rise at 12.30 p.m. That never happened and they had already prepared this Order Paper. I have since directed that that Motion be reinstated on the Order Paper for tomorrow. No, no, not tomorrow, but next week Tuesday. We know what is coming up tomorrow. So it is not possible. We cannot act in vain. Proceed, hon. Juma Zuleikha.

Thank you, hon. Speaker. I was saying that, after assenting into law of the NYC Act, 2009, the problems of the NYC started to emerge. After the Elections of May, 2011, the exercise was marred with controversy and High Court petition and then they resumed the exercise again end of 2012. Over 1000 NYC delegates from over 275 districts in Kenya met at the Kenya High School to elect the 16 youth to the NYC as required by the NYC Act. The council members were consequently gazetted vide Gazette Notice No.19047 on 21st December 2012. They are: - Clement Ayungo, Chairman; Fatuma Harrow Abubakar, Deputy Chairperson. Nesphory Nyange, Rose Komu, Vallene Yiaile, Arnold Maliba, Benson Kitoo Mutemi, Mary Achieng, Billy Graham Okumu, Jullie Njeri Waweru, Samuel Kipkurui Chepkwony, Rahow Abdi Jimale, Dishon Memo, Maganda Jackline, Paul Mugambi, Edwin Palapala. Hon. Speaker, Sir, since the Council was gazetted six months ago, the Government has not facilitated its operations at all. In fact, at times they have been told by members of the relevant Ministry that they should use money from their own pocket in the meantime to hold their meetings. Which money are they told to use? The youth as we all know are greatly disadvantage economically in this country. The NYC does not even have office space until now and neither do they have a secretariat. Hon. Speaker, these young leaders who have been elected by the youth all over the country are facing big challenges. Since the NYC is a great platform from the national level to the grassroots level, for the youth of this country to participate in their own development, they will contribute positively to the country’s development. This is platform where young people will come up with solutions for themselves, just the same way we keep saying that Africa should come up with solutions for Africa. It will go a

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Asante sana mhe. Spika. Ningependa kuunga mkono Hoja hii ilioko mbele ya Bunge hili letu, kama kijana wa miaka 31 ambaye anajivunia kuwa kijana ambaye anahisi kudhulumiwa. Tumefanya kazi kubwa kuhakikisha kwamba kuna halmashauri ya kitaifa kuhusu vijana, ambayo tulianza kuitetea tangu mwaka wa 2004 na ambayo ilipitishwa miaka minane baadaye; na haijawahi kupatiwa pesa na Serikali tukufu. Mhe. Spika, hili ni jambo la kushangaza kwa sababu ni jana tu Bunge hili liliweza kupitisha makadirio ya Serikali ya mwaka wa 2013/2014. Na hii halmashauri ni mojawapo ya taasisi za Serikali. Mhe. Spika, vijana walirauka na kupigania nafasi za uongozi kutoka mashinani hadi kiwango cha taifa wakati wa uchaguzi wa halmashauri hii. Uchaguzi ulipoitishwa na Waziri aliyekuwemo, kulikuwa na tetezi kubwa sana; kulikuwa na makabiliano.

Kuwapatia vijana nafasi ilikuwa ni njia moja ya kuwahusisha katika siasa lakini wakaonekana kama watu mboga uongozini. Lakini siyo hivyo. Hii halmashauri ya Kitaifa ya Vijana ni kama ile Maendeleo ya Wanawake. Inawapa vijana wasia mwafaka kujionyesha kwamba wao wana demokrasia na wanaweza kuwa na viongozi ambao watazungumza kwa niaba yao kwa sababu wamechaguliwa na vijana kama wao. Bw. Spika, kipengele cha nne cha sheria ambayo imetengeneza hili baraza imesema kinaga ubaga yale mambo ambayo litafanya. Kwa mfano, inasema kwamba baraza hili litakuwa likihusika katika kushirikisha miradi na mikakati ya kitaifa kwa vijana. Hili ni jambo muhimu kwa sababu watu wengi wamekuwa wakijaribu kuwasaidia vijana wetu, lakini hata Serikali haijui ni nani anayefanya lipi na wapi. Kwa hivyo, baraza hili litaweza kuwa na orodha ya miradi na mikakati na hata fedha ambazo zimetengewa vijana ndio tuwe na uiano kwamba tunaweza kuwasaidia vijana kama taifa.

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I will go to the requests made. It shows there is somebody by the name, the hon. David Kangogo Bowen. He walked in and left? I think we really must be serious. Next is hon. Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu.

Thank you, hon. Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion on the National Youth Council and for the Government to allocate and release funds to it for it to discharge its mandate. It is a very good and important initiative. I want to congratulate the hon. Member, hon. Zuleikha Hassan Juma for bringing this Motion. We talk about issues to do with the youth particularly when it comes to times of campaigns. The people we see running up and down to make our campaign messages to be felt are the youth but immediately after that, everything about them is forgotten. In fact, I believe the Mover of this Motion in her brief historical background and statement that she made, she missed one thing. This is that the election of the youth to these positions was being done as we approached the general elections and I believe that was one way of trying to mobilise the youth to be able to be used and then in the middle they were abandoned. In fact, some of us had a lot of problems with the youth because the moment they were told to come to Kasarani, others came and others got lost. There was a lot of chaos. So, I believe there must be time when we must put this in place – some kind of institutional arrangement which can cater for the youth. In fact, we keep on talking about approximations. Sometimes we say that the youth constitute 70 per cent of the population. Sometimes we talk about 75 per cent. Today, I am happy since I have heard

Mwaura talking about approaching a figure of 24 million out of the 40 million population that we have now, which is a large number. Considering the numbers

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Ahsante sana Mheshimiwa Spika. Nasimama kuunga mkono Hoja hii inayohusu vijana. Hii ni kwa sababu tukiweza kutimiza yale yaliyo katika hii Hoja tutakuwa tumewasaidia vijana wetu kwa vile wametufanyia kazi nzuri. Wakati wa kura za 2007 tuliambiwa kwamba vijana walifanya fujo. Tulirudi mashinani tukaongea nao. Wakati huu tulipiga kura na hapakutokea fujo yoyote. Hii itakuwa ni zawadi kubwa sana kwa watoto wetu. Hii Hoja itawarekebisha vijana kinyume na wanavyofikiria wengi. Wabunge wenzangu, huko Kwale vijana wangu walisema kwamba Wabunge wapewe pesa. Hii ni kwa sababu kila uchao vijana wako mlangoni. Asubuhi ukiamka unapata SMS zaidi ya 1000 kwenye simu, “Twataka kazi.” Tukipitisha hii Hoja, nafikiri hizo SMS hazitaonekana tena katika simu zetu. Wakati ilipotangazwa kwamba pesa za vijana zimetolewa ama kwa kweli zile pesa hazikuwa zimemlenga kijana. Zilikuwa zimelenga wengine wajitajirishe. Kwa nini hizi pesa zilipelekwa kwenye mabenki na hali wanajua wazi kwamba hakuna kijana Mkenya ambaye ana security ? Kijana hana title deed . Shamba ni la babake ama ndugu zake. Hizo pesa zimetajirisha wengine na vijana wetu wamebakia mtaani. Naiomba hii Serikali kupitia Rais Uhuru ambaye pia ni kijana ijitolee mhanga ili wazitoe zile pesa kutoka kwenye mikono ya mabwanyenye. Wafanye vile vile pesa za akina mama. Hizo pesa ziwekwe kwenye mikono ya Wabunge wa majimbo. Huyu mama ataweza kulinda wanawake kwa sababu anajua kugawa. Hawezi kumaliza chakula kwenye chungu; hubakisha akamwekea mwanawe. Hizo pesa zikiwa katika mikono yetu vijana wataweza kufanya miradi yao na tutakuwa pale kumwonyesha njia.

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Hon. Members, the next request to speak is from Benson Makali Mulu. However, before he makes his contribution I have a communication to make.

Hon. Members, Standing Order No.241 provides as follows: “The Cabinet Secretary responsible for finance shall appear before the Budget and Appropriations Committee for the purposes of making a public announcement of the budget policy highlights and revenue raising measures for the national Government.” Hon. Members, the House Business Committee (HBC) has since received a request from the Budget and Appropriations Committee seeking to be allowed to use the Chamber tomorrow 13th June, 2013. The Committee intends to hold a sitting to receive the budget highlights and revenue raising measures for the year 2013/2014 from the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury. The HBC considered the request and resolved to ask the House to adjourn tomorrow at 3.00 p.m. Hon. Members are therefore notified that pursuant to Standing Order No.31 tomorrow Thursday 13th June, 2013 the Chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee or his designee will move a Motion requesting the House to adjourn its sitting for the day. It is, therefore, expected that the House will adjourn at 3.00 p.m. to give way to this important national event. Thereafter, hon. Members are invited to attend the sitting of the Budget and Appropriations Committee in the Chamber. In this regard, hon. Members are also reminded to use the main public car park and the rear car park since the front courtyard will be reserved for a cocktail to be hosted by the Committee after the event. Hon. Members what that means is that the sitting after 3.00 p.m. tomorrow will not be a sitting of the House; rather it will be a sitting of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, but which every hon. Member is invited and expected to attend to listen to the Budget highlights and revenue raising measures that the Cabinet Secretary for Treasury will be making to the House and nation.

Hon. Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Motion because these issues are very close to my heart. This Motion is timely. We all know that the youth of this country are slightly over 70 per cent of our population. It is, therefore, important that they be supported. Since this Council was put in place after the elections it is unfortunate that no money has been released to them despite the fact that they have been ready to start their activities.

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Yes, hon. Junet.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity. I rise to support this Motion because one thing which needs to be addressed urgently in this country is the welfare of the youth. As we all know, the youth of this

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Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I wish to begin by congratulating the Mover of this Motion that is timely. It was about time that we intervened on behalf of the youth of this country to ensure that issues concerning the youth are taken seriously. If you look at the time that the Kenya National Youth Council Act was enacted, it was in 2009 and since then elections were held sometime last year, I remember. That was about 2012, three years later and until now the Council has not been operationalized. So I think it is important that we begin by first urging the Government and all concerned to take matters concerning the youth very seriously. Now that we have a very clear manifesto of the ruling party, the Jubilee Party, that has put youth issues at the forefront, it is time to walk the talk. It is time for the Jubilee Government to prove to the youth of this country that they meant exactly what they told them during the campaign period.

The NYC having been established if you remember and I think most hon. Members are aware, elections were held starting from sub-locational level to division level, district level, provincial level and finally national level. All these are structures that are very key for the growth and development of the youth in this country. The youth for a very long time have had no voice of their own; they did not have a formal structure that would have enabled them to meaningfully participate in the development and policy process of this country. I remember way back when I was working within the youth movement, we had an occasion where we managed to visit the Uganda Youth Council, a council that has been very active in the country and we learnt a few best practices on how the UYC worked. That is why we came back and started putting up the NYC Bill. Many of us seated here, I can see Hon. Oyugi, Hon. (Ms.) Wanga, were actively involved at the very inception in ensuring that we had a NYC. Now that it is there and many of us are already here in this House where we can meaningfully push for issues affecting young people, I think it calls upon us to come out and support issues affecting young people and ensuring that the Council becomes not just any other organ that has no power or resources to operate. We should ensure that all those structures that were formed from the sub-locational level become structures that make a difference to the young people of this country.

I also want to say that I have heard many hon. Members talk about the issue of unemployment in this country. It is very high but we need to now seriously focus on how to deal with unemployment. I personally had issues with a manifesto stating that we shall create one million jobs per year. Personally, I was keen on knowing how the one million jobs would be created. I think it is up to us, as hon. Members, to start looking for avenues of ensuring that those jobs are created. If we are saying that the youth fund has not

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Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. First, I would like to congratulate hon. Zuleikha for bringing this Motion.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, most of us are in this august House courtesy of the youth support. It is only good for us to support this Motion for youth empowerment. I remember I participated actively in facilitating the election of the youth from the grassroots level when they were electing officials to this National Youth Council. Surprisingly, the Government shelved this important function for our youth and did not give money to functionalize the NYC.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we look at some of our priorities and we tend to have our priorities upside down. If you remember the Post-election Violence (PEV) of 2007/2008, the people who participated actively were our youth just because this is a hungry lot of people who have been used by us politicians and then dumped immediately after we have ascended to power. It is important that this segment of the population is empowered and given the mandate to operationalise this council.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, if you look at the current budgetary estimates, there is no provision for this NYC. So, it just looks like the Government is still not serious about empowering the youth despite having come to power on the platform of going to empower the youth.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Just a minute, hon. Wanyonyi! Hon. Sambili, are you on a point of order? I have seen your intervention. Are you on a point of order or you wanted to contribute?

No, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Okay. Go on, hon. Wanyonyi.

Thank you. It will be good for us to have our youth empowered and we shall have eliminated one of their survival tactics; which is resorting to crime for survival. It is not by choice that the youth resort to crime but because they lack something to do. The youth is a very active group of people with a lot of energy which, if not properly tapped, shall be wasted in crime. Therefore, I support this Motion knowing very well that this country will only progress if we empower our youth who comprise about 65 per cent of our population. If we neglect this segment of our population we are courting danger. When the youth are hungry, the whole country can go on fire. I support this Motion and urge the Government to take this matter very seriously and empowers the youth. We, hon. Members of Parliament, should not sit back and wait; we must put the Government on toes to make sure that funds are made available to operationalise the NYC thereby empowering them to be relevant in our Government. Thank you. I support this Motion.

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Thank you hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. From the outset, I would like to thank hon. Juma Zuleikha for bringing this Motion. I think time has come for this country to take very seriously the youth issues. Honestly, I do not think we are serious. If in this year’s Budget we have not allocated money for the National Youth Council (NYC), then how will the youth have a forum to address their issues? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this august House needs to bring a supplementary budget which will cater for this important council for the youth. Otherwise, we will pass this Motion because I know no hon. Member is going to oppose it unless he does not know how important the youth are in this country. I will talk with hon. Juma Zuleikha and see how we can fix a supplementary budget so that we have this very important NYC benefiting. Having graduated from National Youth Service (NYS) recently, I am very happy to see that the youth of this country are being taken care of through this Motion. We all know the biggest problem in this country is unemployment. The moment you do not address unemployment, we are not going anywhere. No matter how many hospitals and roads we construct, time has come for us to make sure that our youth are taken care of. Otherwise, I do not see the need of having all those elections from the grassroots and when it reaches at the national level, nobody is taking care of the youth. If we have the NYC Motion passed, then we will have a forum where the youth can be organized and be taken care of Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the same thing applies to the money that we have heard about; Kshs6 billion shillings that was intended for runoff during the last election. If that money is going to be given to banks, it is the same as that of the National Youth Enterprise Development Fund which went unused because of the many bureaucracies in banks. We all know that our youth do not have securities to use in order to borrow money from banks. So, I do not see the need of putting this money through the banks whereby our youth and women cannot actually access it. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the same thing applies to insecurity. In this country we keep talking about the incidents that are happening in North Eastern, Western Kenya, Narok County and elsewhere in the country. It does not matter how much we have put into our security, if the issues of the youth are not taken care of, we might as well say that we are not ready to address these issues. This is because we all know that these incidents particularly the ones that are happening in Western Kenya – we are told and we even see them on TV, it is a group or gang. I am not very sure, but there is nobody who is 50 or 70 years old going around and killing people. I do not want to blame our youth but because they are idle and they are not attending school or tertiary institutions, anything is possible. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, most of you hon. Members know, we have just come from an election. The youth helped us to come to this House. So, any hon. Member who will not support the Motion for youth let him know that he will not make it to this House again.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this chance. It is with immense nostalgia that I rise to support this particular Motion. If you listened to the history of the National Youth Council, the Mover of this Motion alluded to

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Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I want to thank the Mover of the Motion for having brought a very timely Motion that this House needs to discuss and make some resolutions. I happen to have been one of the people at the grassroots who attended these elections. The hope of the young people when they were doing the elections was so high such that it is very sad that whatever they were fighting for has not been actualized. I am a Member of the Committee on Implementation and I will also indulge the Mover of the Motion to follow up as to whether money has indeed, been set aside for the Youth Council and establish why it has never been submitted or allocated for them to start working. Like some papers that we have just been given indicate, even last year not even a single coin was allocated to the youth. I am not a youth, but so many youths are always requesting for assistance. They assisted me to come to this august House and they have also endeavored to initiate some projects. I want to concur with my colleagues that the youth empowerment funds that are going to be given this year be given to our Women Representative colleagues and it can be channeled through the constituencies, so that we can assist the young people to continue to actualize their aspirations. Giving the money to banks is very sad. These banks have made it difficult for the youth to access these funds. I also want to agree that it is our responsibility to encourage the young people to determine their future through their own sweat and think in terms of starting small businesses at the grassroots level. It is true that the young people of this country have always been misused. For example, the people who were protesting yesterday outside Parliament, none of them was of my age. In fact, all of them were young people and they were protesting because, maybe, they do not have anything to do. So, if they are promised Kshs500 or Kshs1,000 to come and protest outside Parliament Buildings, they will do it. I saw a few lying on the sheep that they had brought at the gate. It was very sad to note that those young people are very intelligent. They have qualifications from universities. They have degrees. Other have even masters degrees but they are not engaged appropriately.

Secondly, the Jubilee Government, through its manifesto, has already made it very clear that they want to jump-start the welfare of the young people in this country and they have already made it very clear that the one million jobs they intend to create will be actualised by putting up a budget through the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. I want to say that if the young people can be given an opportunity to businesses, then they can lead good lives and offer very productive outputs and increase the production of this country.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is true that most of them again have not been able to get enough experience to do business. Maybe, it is also that National Youth Council that might be able to advise them on starting their businesses. They can begin some capacity building on how to manage businesses at the grassroots so that they do not misappropriate the funding that is going to be given to them. It is sad especially in

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Fatuma Ibrahim Ali. She is not here? Hon. Bishop Robert Mutua.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this particular Motion for a number of reasons. One, if we would like to realise Vision 2030, then it is not going to be realised by the people that are quite elderly. It is the young people that are really going to be able to get to the driver’s seat and drive Vision 2030 into reality. Secondly, the National Youth Council is the only council that can be able to articulate the issue of unemployment well because this country, for many years, has been preparing young people to become employees. I think it is about time we changed and begun preparing the young people to become employers. Innovative young people in Kenya are capable of doing wonders. We are talking about Konza City which is the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centre. Who does it belong to? It will relate better with young people. So, making the National Youth Council---

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Bishop, just give me a minute please. Hon. Sunjeev Kour, are you on a point of order?

Yes, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I am on a point of order. I would like to seek your guidance because I know there are so many Members of Parliament who would wish to contribute to this Motion but, since there are quite a number of people, I was wondering if you could restrict Members to speak for five minutes. Thank you.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): I would like to allow the Bishop to complete his contribution and then we will get the opinion of the Floor but, because I had given him his time, let him complete and then we will decide after his contribution.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for coming to my rescue. Yes, I was saying that the young people are supposed to be in the driver’s seat for the Konza City in terms of the ICT project of this nation. For that to happen, then the National Youth Council has to play a leading role and this is why it is quite important at this particular point in the history of this country for us to be seen to be getting our priorities right. The right way of getting our priorities right is to get good funding for the

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Members, we are now going to have contributions of five minutes per person.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I stand to support this Motion. It is because the youth form a critical mass of our population. A lot of the things happening in Kenya are done by the youth. They are the nation builders. They are an active and vibrant section of our society. Our youth have untapped immense energy. We witnessed that yesterday when they were being misused in an undignified manner during the protests. It is largely because the youth are idle. In the ASAL areas where we have cattle rustling, raids, highway banditry and so on, all those things thrive because our youth are idle. If we are talking about a healthy nation, development, equity, wealth creation, jobs for the youth, poverty alleviation and posterity, reduced crime, the Jubilee manifesto and dreams, realizing the Vision 2030 and

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On a point of order, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I just wanted to inquire from the Chair if, indeed, we have the right quorum to transact this business.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Members, I am made aware that we do not have quorum. I order that the Quorum Bell be rung.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Members we do now have quorum now.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I would like to sincerely thank the Mover of this Motion for the timely presentation of this Motion. It comes at a time when the young people of this country are readying themselves to take part in building our nation. It is unfortunate that such a discussion that affects the young people of this country can lack quorum. I want to thank hon. Members who are participating. The youth of a nation are the trustees of its posterity. We need to look at the young people of this country as the beacons of hope on which we will anchor the promises of the future, including Vision 2030. The youth of this country are yearning to be defined by something more than just over-quoted statistics and figures. They want to be defined by solutions. The youth of this country should not be looked at as a problem to be dealt with. They must be recognized as a force to be reckoned with. I stand here not just as a Member of Parliament, but also a young person who is here to represent the interests of young people. Article 95(1) of the Constitution says that the National Assembly represents the people of constituencies and special interests. Article 96 goes further to show that, indeed, the youth is one of those special interest groups. Even as we say this, we must realise and remember that 50 years ago, this country was delivered from the shackles of colonialism by young people. Again, today, we need young people to sort out the problems that are affecting this country. The

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Sakaja, your time is up.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I will appreciate is you allow me---

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Sakaja, I am sorry, your time is up and I cannot cut you off.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, without belabouring the points that I have raised, I support the Motion and thank the Mover for bringing it to the House.

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Yes, hon. Cyprian Kubai Iringo.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I would like to thank hon. Hassan Juma for bringing this Motion. I rise to support it. First and foremost, it is clear that the National Youth Council was established in 2009 and gazetted in 2012, after a spell of three years. After gazettement, the Council complied with all the requirements in order for it to be registered. The process was completed and it met all the provisions of the Act. It beats logic as to why the Treasury should still be holding that money, instead of giving it to the Council for the purpose of establishing a Secretariat, which should be moving round the country with a view of understanding the issues appertaining to the youth. The Ministry of Devolution and Planning has come up with a list showing how the money is going to be distributed to the youth. If you look at that list, you will see that the money is apportioned to various arms and aspects of the youth. However, I do not understand why the money should not be forwarded to the National Youth Council since they are the ones who know the needs of the youth. When they formed the Council, they knew the needs of the youth. I do not know who is going to apportion this money to the various categories of the youth, if it is not the National Youth Council. Therefore, the Secretariat should be supported so that it can establish a framework through which to apportion the money to the youth and ensure that it is used effectively. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have seen instances where the Ministry gave money to certain people, who did not know exactly what to do with it. That is why we ended up coming up with things like Kazi Kwa Vijana (KKV) programme. Under the KKV, children would be taken to the roadside, where they would just cut some bushes. They would then be told that they had done some work and get paid a few coins. The balance of the programme money would be spent mysteriously without being accounted for. Let us have projects and activities that are sustainable, and which can be quantified socially and economically as having benefited the youth. The only way to do this is for the Treasury to release the money for the operationalisation of the National Youth Council Secretariat, so that the money can be disseminated to the youth in our various communities. I support an idea which was brought here by an hon. Member---

(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Yes, Prof. Helen Sambili.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to strongly support this Motion. I want to state from the start that I am happy to have been the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports when the National Youth Council was established in 2009. I want to really appreciate the hon. Members who supported me, as the Minister in charge of youth affairs at that time, to move the Motion that eventually resulted in the establishment of the National Youth Council. I would like to single you out as one of the people who supported me that famous afternoon.

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Your time is up but I have the discretion and I will give you one minute to complete your contribution.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am really proud of you! So, I was going to suggest that, because I do not want to take all the time, we need to support this. The boda boda young people we have and many of them get accidents and suffer, can we support them? Can we give them helmets? Can we train them properly so that they do not suffer? Let us have driving schools in constituencies and let them be trained. Let them get helmets. Let us help them. They have potential.

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Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity. I must start by congratulating Hon. (Ms.) Juma for this. May I just say this: Neglect of the youth and youth unemployment is perhaps the greatest threat to development of this country? At the time of Independence, we said we had three enemies; ignorance, disease and poverty. I know over time we have added two; corruption and tribalism and unless we do something, we are going to have a sixth one which is neglect and unemployment amongst the youth. We seem like we are scared. We treat the issues of the youth as a problem. The youth are the greatest resource and potential for development of this country. See what they have done in the ICT. We have not really enabled, empowered and facilitated our youth to take part in the agricultural industry even in value addition. Those are areas if we look at, they can really employ the youth. As an hon. Member said, our youth are coming out to be employed. We have not facilitated and empowered them to be employers. This has led to great exploitation of our youth in politics. I do not have to say that because we know it. In drug trafficking, they are victims and couriers at the same time. In terrorism, you know what has happened to the young people and even in the formal industry, they are now being used as non-paid interns and volunteers. Even Government institutions in the health sector have young people working; trained, qualified young people working without payment because they are interns. I think we must stop this. The efforts we have made like the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) the Kazi kwa Vijana and the empowerment centers that we have put in place have really not worked. It is my contention that this is because we have not included youth participation and there can be no bigger participation of the youth than operationalising and putting funds in the NYC. Let us do that and we will see what the youth will do in mobilizing the youth fund and those empowerment centers and looking at areas where they can take part in the development of this country. We see in the Budget or the appropriate Ministry that a lot of money has been put in. I do not understand where you will put Kshs458 million for youth development if there is no funding for NYC. I think Kshs100 million to Kshs200 million of that money can be safely moved and put in the operationalisation of NYC. We have no option but to operationalise NYC. Even during the public hearings, this matter came up on and on and we promised Kshs6 billion. We must get money somewhere and operationalise it. I am also concerned that it is not clear that the youth agenda is now going to be a department and we are saying that we are going to streamline. Even if you want to streamline an issue, there must be a concrete well funded department that looks at that issue and in this case, it is the youth. Therefore, I have looked at this Budget and I am worried that youth issues will be lost. I think if we have this Council working, they will ensure that it is not lost. With those few remarks, I beg to support.

Thank you Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. I am really worried because I have received several messages from the youth in Samburu, telling me to stand up and support their course. It has becoming very difficult to speak in this House. I am not sure how many votes I have lost today. Hopefully, because we still have many years to go to elections, maybe, I will have recovered then.

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Ahsante sana mhe. Naibu Spika wa Muda. Nimesimama hapa kuunga mkono Hoja hii ambayo inazungumzia swala la baraza la vijana. Kwa hakika, ni masikitiko makubwa kuona katika nchi yetu mpaka sasa hivi, baada ya kuwa tumelipitisha baraza hili, hatujalipatia ufadhili wa kuweza kufanya utendaji kazi. Tunajua vijana katika nchi hii yetu Kenya ni zaidi ya asilimia 70. Hivyo basi, wao ndio wengi katika asilimia ya wakenya wote. Ni masikitiko kwamba mashirika yasiyo ya kiserikali yamechukua kipao mbele kuunganisha vijana kuliko sisi wenyewe ambao ndio tunatawala nchi yetu ya Kenya. Kwa mfano, kuna mashirika kama Youth Agenda ama Youth Assembly. Hayo yote ni mashirika ambayo yanapata ufadhili kwa mashirika yasio ya kiserikali. Yafaa sisi wakenya tuchukue jukumu la kuangalia vijana wetu. Kwanza kabisa, wakati tunapata baraza hili, ni sawa na kupata sauti ya vijana. Kupata sauti ya vijana, haitakuwa sauti, ikiwa haitakuwa na hazina ama fedha za kuwawezesha kutatua matatizo yao na changamoto zao ambazo zinawakumba katika maisha yao. Mhe. Naibu Spika wa Muda, tunajua ile hazina ya pesa za vijana ambayo kwa Kiingereza ni Youth Enterprise Development Fund. Fedha hizi zimekumbwa na changamoto nyingi kwa sababu wakati vijana wanapewa pesa hizo kupitia mikopo, wanatumia vibaya. Pia, kwa sababu hawana mbinu nzuri za kutumia vizuri katika upande wa biashara; hivyo basi pesa hizo hazirudi. Pesa hizi ni pesa ambazo zinatumiwa kwa njia ya mviringo; yaani kwa Kiingereza, revolving fund. Pesa ambazo utachukua na urejeshe na pia vijana wengine waweze kuzichukua. Mhe. Naibu Spika wa Muda, baraza hilo likiwa limepatiwa fedha na kuweza kujimudu, litaweza kuwafuatilia vijana hao ama vikundi vya vijana ambao wanachukua pesa kama hizo na kuweza kusaidia Serikali yetu katika mpango kama huo. Vile vile, tunajua hivi sasa hakuna Wizara ambayo inasimamia mambo kuhusu jinsia, watoto na hata vijana. Hivyo basi, Wizara kama ya michezo ikiweza kushirikiana na baraza kama hili, itaweza kutafuta vijana ambao wana talanta. Hivi sasa tuna vijana ambao wameingia katika michezo sana, kuna kama dada zetu kama Wahu Mathenge, Jua Kali, Fisherman na kadhalika. Hawa ni vijana wametoboa katika mambo ya uimbaji. Lakini masikitiko ni kwamba, uimbaji wao ama talanta hizo zinapotea bure na wala haziwafaidi. Hayo yote ni kwa sababu hawana chombo cha kuzungumzia. Changamoto zao ni kwamba hawana chombo cha kuweza kuwanyongoa uwezo katika talanta hizo wanazo. Mhe. Bi. Naibu Spika wa Muda, pia vijana wana changamoto katika dawa za kulevya, mvinyo, na pia sasa hivi tunaona vijana wanatumiwa katika ngono zisizo halali kama vile matukio ya juzi katika upande wa Mombasa ambapo dada zetu, ambao ni

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Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion considering the fact that the council was gazetted in 2012. It has been unable to perform its functions due to lack of funding. I would ask the Government to release the funds to the youth since most of them are unemployed.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I rise to support the Motion. First, I congratulate the Mover, hon. Zuleikha. Our youth are idle in our counties because of poverty and some of them have gone into crime. Some of them are even taking drugs. Our youths have become stubborn because they have no money. They have no funds to initiate projects. If we support this Motion and if the Government is for the youth as the Jubilee Government has been saying, they will be able to raise their families.

Some youths fear to even marry because they have no money to raise families. Therefore, we need to empower the youth through creating jobs for them. Through the Fund, they can get skills which will enable them to get jobs. This will build capacity in the youth and this will improve their standard of living. The Government has not put funds in TIVET which has been training the youth. We should make sure that the National Council for the Youth is given some funds, so that it can empower the youth.

The youths are being trained at the National Youth Service and the youth polytechnics, but those youths do not have funds to start projects. So, let us give the youth the capital to initiate projects, so that they can sustain themselves. We should stop saying that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. We should empower them right now. This is the time for the youth to be empowered. We train many youths at the National Youth Service and the Government should set up something for them to do. When they come out, they are trained but they have no capital to start small businesses. I support the Motion. I know that when it is passed and enacted, our youth will be empowered.

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Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also wish to thank the Mover of this Motion, hon. Zuleikha Juma, who has done a good job in bringing this Motion at the right time. As we all know, at this point in time, we are all being watched on television screens. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the youths who have stood by my fellow Members of Parliament. Our hearts go out to them because they really try very hard. I would like to bring some statistics before this House. Youths aged 15 to 24 years are highly infected with HIV/AIDS. How do they get it? This is a question that we need to be asking ourselves. Those are the issues that we need to be sorting out at this point in time. As much as I am commending and backing what each and every Member in this House has said, I would also like to urge the Government to be pro-active because our youths are pro-active. They are our real supporters. I was on the ground in Makadara and I met youths who are doing small things, in whatever they could, for the communities in the slums. There are very many people who have the means of helping the people, but they have never done it. My heart goes out to those youths who want to do so much and yet they cannot. This Motion is very timely because it is going to provide them with funds to start businesses. I was also part of a programme where we were teaching the youths how to write CVs, so that we could open doors for them to apply for jobs with dignity. I wanted them to stop standing outside gates and waiting for the human resource managers to come out and then they flag their CVs. That is something that we also need to consider. Perhaps, when the National Youth Council gets those funds, it might want to look into such programmes. Lastly, recently, I was at a school in Mukuru and the students there asked the right questions. They are intelligent people and we should give them the dignity that they deserve. I fully support this Motion.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also rise to support the Motion and congratulate hon. Zuleikha for bringing this Motion. As I support the Motion, I also want to note that this House has passed many laws that have not been implemented. The style of the Executive many times is to get Parliament to pass laws and then fail to give funding to effect the intentions of Parliament. The intention of this Parliament was to have a National Youth Council where the young people would contribute, participate, elect their own leaders and start to develop into a youth movement of sorts. As I support, I urge that this law is implemented. Otherwise, it will make a joke of the independence of Parliament to continuously pass laws which the Executive does not fund. I also support the funding of this law because in the past, there was the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2003, which was passed by this House, but was not implemented. So, if we have a pattern of passing laws for the marginalized which do not get implemented, then there will be a problem. I also support the marginalized groups as per Article 27 of the Constitution. Many of those groups participate in paying taxes and they, indeed, raise money for this country. So, it is not too much to ask that a Fund like this be formed to support the youth. In the end, as we support the Council, we should look at our Penal Code. We have a country that criminalizes loitering, walking with intent and

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Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Motion. First and foremost, I want to congratulate the Mover. As you are aware, 65 per cent of the population of this country consists of the youth and majority of them are not employed. I want also to inform the House that it is so unfortunate today that the youth agenda is being discussed as a Private Member’s Motion. As you are aware, the entire economy is driven by the youth and I want to thank the youth for the civil manner in which they have conducted themselves against all odds during the just concluded elections. I also want to thank them and particularly those in my constituency for the support they gave me. About 65 per cent of my supporters were the youth and I want to thank them very much.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, funds have not been factored in for the National Youth Council to operate and it has been established under a Parliamentary Act. I, therefore, wish to support the Motion and request the Chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee to, at least, factor in some money for those youth.

Thank you very much.

(Hon.(Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Daniel Kazungu Muzee.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I rise to support the Motion and thank sincerely hon. Juma for bringing this Motion to this House. Like many honourable Members who have just stated their views here, I sincerely hope that this Private Member’s Motion will become a Government Bill some day so that we can discuss, pass it and give hope to millions and millions of youth in this country. I am sitting here in this august House courtesy of many thousands of youths in Malindi and women who said this time round that: “You are young. You are not known in this part of the world but we will take you to the House to represent our views.”

A lot has been said about the youth agenda and I think the Jubilee Government has an unique opportunity to make the youth empowerment a reality sooner than later. As we know, during campaigns, some of us faced so many questions. I remember I was addressing a group of pastors down in Malindi and they asked me one question which was: “Young man, what are you going to do about this culture of dependency among the youth on handouts?” I know I must have said a couple of things to get away with the situation there. However, I think for us to focus on the National Youth Council and the youth agenda is one of the best ways to help our youth out there. They have ideas. They are willing to work. I know some of them are very poor in terms of financial capacity but they have ideas to take themselves and this country forward. If we are dreaming as a country to talk about double digit growth and maintaining that going forward, it is the youth of this country who will do that for us.

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh): Hon. Roselinda Soipan Tuya.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion very passionately and wish to congratulate Mheshimiwa Zuleikha for bringing this very important Motion to the Floor of this House. I am also glad to say that the Mover of this Motion has actually placed a very important task on the table of my Committee. I chair the Committee on Implementation and I can assure you that this is going to be an issue of priority that we are going to take up.

Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I support this Motion, I wish to say that matters of the youth are no longer just aspirations. They are no longer just wishes. Article 55 of our Constitution actually does recognise the youth - and this is the Bill of Rights - as a very important category of citizens who need special attention by the Government and this particular provision goes ahead to actually mandate the Government to do a number of things to pay special focus on the youth. Any continued neglect of the youth actually amounts to outright violation of our Constitution. It actually amounts to discrimination on the basis of age which is outlawed in our Constitution.

We know very well from statistics that the youth of this country are faced with multiple problems; top of which is unemployment. About 70 per cent of unemployed Kenyans are young people and we still have an education system which is not market oriented. So, you find that 90 per cent of that 70 per cent of youth who are unemployed actually have some form of education but which is not sufficient to make them marketable or to make them get jobs that they can support themselves with in the job market of this country.

The other category of youth that actually need special attention are the pastoralists. We know that majority of the youth of this country are not educated and it is because of lack of an opportunity to get sufficient education to be able to get a formal job. This is a category of youth and I can speak authoritatively for the county I come

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh: Your time is up, hon. Tuya! Hon. Manga!

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, You have saved my evening because as I was sitting here, I got a call from my youths in Kuria who were telling me that I must rise and support them. I am surprised to read this Paper which has been circulated. It shows that this Council having been created by an Act of Parliament, has not got even a single cent. I want to thank Mheshimiwa Juma for bringing this Motion, although it has come a little bit late. She should have brought it before we went to deal with the budget issues. However, we can still chip in something in the Supplementary Budget. This is a very important organ. The youth know what they want. It is through Council that people can organize training programmes that are appropriate for themselves. In this country, we have misused the youth. We do that during the campaigns and then we forget them after the campaigns are over. This is a very bad thing. We really want to support them by putting some resources in their organizations. The President promised that the money that was to be used for a re-run will be given to the women and the youth. How is that going to be organized? Who is going to do that? It is through this Council that they can organize themselves on how to use that money. Therefore, it is important that we support the youth not just by words and small tips. We need to empower them to organize themselves. With those few remarks, I beg to support this Motion.

Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to support this Motion strongly. If you look at this country’s history in terms of formulating policies and legislation, I think we are very strong and we will score very high. There are many great legislations and policies lying everywhere but we are very weak in implementing them. Under the circumstances, regarding this Motion, Kenya has fallen short of the implementation performance. This National Youth Council is supposed to implement the

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(Hon. (Ms.) Shebesh: Hon. Zuleikha Hassan Juma, you Motion continues on the next day. It is on the Order Paper. It will have 18 minutes. There is a lot of interest on this Motion. I apologize to those who have not been able to speak.

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