By NJERI RUGENE, nrugene@ke.nationmedia.com and ANTONY KITIMO, akitimo@ke.nationmedia.com

Parliament is to form a team to deal with thorny issues of population explosion and development in the country. If proposals made by MPs attending a conference to discuss a draft masterplan on ways of making Kenyans live longer are implemented, the proposed parliamentary committee will spearhead population issues.

The two-day workshop at Mombasa's Continental Resort and Serena Beach was to pick MPs' input into the draft population policy for national development. The lawmakers discussed targets that enable the average number of years that Kenyans can live to rise from 57 to 60 in a few years. National resources

The goal of the document, put together by the Planning ministry, is to attain high quality of life for Kenyans by matching population growth and national resources. By 2009, life expectancy - the average number of years people born at the same time can expect to live - stood at 57 years. The Planning ministry intends to draw up the policy after the expiry of Sessional Paper No 1 of 2000 on the National Population Policy for Sustainable Development.

Minister Wycliffe Oparanya has called for urgent measures to control population growth, warning that the government would be unable to provide core services if the number of people continued to increase at the current rate. But during their discussions at the Mombasa forum, MPs were split on whether controlling population should be the answer to provision of quality life for the people.

Those arguing against population control as a priority said that the country needed to concentrate on economic growth instead and deal with challenges such as infrastructure and provision of quality education. While agreeing with MPs on the need to focus on quality education, Vision 2030 boss Mugo Kibati said it was important to match growth rate to the country's resources. Yesterday, the MPs also resolved to support education reforms.

Assistant minister Alfred Khangati called for a review of the education curriculum so that emphasis was on technical education, which would ensure employment for the youths on leaving school. The Kanduyi MP suggested that the Kazi kwa Vijana programme be scrapped and the funds be used for more productive projects and industries to provide jobs and long-term solutions to the economy. House Speaker Kenneth Marende said: â€Å"Individual members of Parliament in their own capacity as leaders should spread the gospel of a well-managed population for quality living all the times across the country.''

He added that the challenges could only be overcome if there is the political will and a leadership â€Å"that has the moral character and courage to honour its word, otherwise Vision 2030 will be rubbished as a mere paper''. Assistant minister Josphat Nanok questioned why the proposed population policy did not feature the methodology used in the last population census that was controversial.