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{
    "id": 682770,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/682770/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 589,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musimba",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1804,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Mweu Musimba",
        "slug": "patrick-mweu-musimba"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for this opportunity. This is a very important amendment Bill for this Republic and, indeed, the region because Kenya will emerge as a power house for the aviation industry with capability to have direct flights to the US, and more importantly to countries within East and Central Africa. Our neighbours, Ethiopia have been dominating that space. What I want to say because the previous speakers have enumerated a lot on the amendment Bill is on the security aspect. A nation cannot thrive if our ports are not secure because everybody will have paramount feelings on what we experienced in Dubai the other day when one of their jets crashed at Dubai International Airport. You could see many passengers evacuated. This only led to further confidence in flying Emirates because you felt a great sense of safety. That is what this Bill is proposing in terms of empowering the KCAA Director-General to have control over safety issues. It is, indeed, important because it will ensure a lot of revenue flows in terms of tax contribution through the charges levied on passengers and landing fees. There is no point of having landing fees if you do not have a lot of traffic. The able Chair, Hon. Kamanda, said that Atlanta receives a million passengers a day. There is a possibility of transforming the JKIA and, indeed, other airports like Moi International Airport in Mombasa to that level. In basic economics, the more the people use a service, the cheaper the flights. It is, indeed, possible to zero rate Nairobi as a transit destination where people even from Namibia--- I heard our able Member talk about the miraa incidences and their failure to access Namibia. This would go a long way. Coming back to security, it is important to know who is flying over our airspace, what could happen and what the competency of the captains on board is as it brings us to a really big stage more so, for training. Today, internationally, there is a glut of 300,000 pilots. This is increasing because as China and nations in the Far East boom economically, those destinations open up to business people and leisure travel. As such, the countries which will emerge as huge powerhouses are those which have human capital competence like Kenya where our people can transform and become pilots. We have Hon. (Capt.) Wambugu who was a pioneer in this industry and continues to plough back to the people of Mathioya by creating training opportunities for students in the aviation industry. Kenya needs to actively play this role. I look forward to when the KCAA will set up their flights school because we will leave a huge mark in the global game. In terms of the Bill moving forward, we are taking Kenya to the 21st Century in terms of aviation and reaping the opportunities that are there for Kenya with regard to earnings. We all The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}