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{
    "id": 1074297,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1074297/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Republic of Kenya on road network and generally on infrastructure. We have also seen the launch of the new port in Lamu. There are those who think that Kenya is trying to compete with Tanzania in a negative manner. Competition is allowed even within countries that form part of a Commonwealth. Even within the European Union, you will find nations competing as a result of their comparative advantages. So, the Port of Lamu should not be seen as taking anything away from Tanzania. Indeed, if we have greater traffic along the Eastern Coast of Africa, then that will be of benefit to all the nations that lie along that coast such as Kenya, Tanzania, and other countries that are fed by those ports. We have seen the kind of resolve and initiative the President of the United Republic of Tanzania has advanced when it comes to issues of natural oil and gas and the agreements that she has signed with the Republic of Uganda. We are sure that we are going to have a very progressive foreign policy coming out of Tanzania that will also power and spur the East African Community (EAC). For those who have promoted the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), one of the things they have not spoken about is the fact that Kenya wants to make regional integration a constitutional obligation, rather than just an issue of treaties and meetings of Heads of States and foreign affairs Ministers. That shows the kind of seriousness Kenya attaches to regional integration. As a Senator from a county that borders two other countries, because Homa Bay borders Uganda and to an extend we border Tanzania, that is why sometimes we have all these conflicts where our fishermen get arrested by the police and soldiers from Uganda or sometimes by maritime officers from Tanzania. If regional integration becomes a constitutional obligation, we are assured that the shared resource, that is Lake Victoria, will be utilised in a far much more productive manner that will see to it that the fishermen in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania derive value from that God-given gift. As it is now, we have been fighting over small portions of that lake. That lake is big enough to feed all of us. In fact, Lake Victoria is big enough to meet the dietary, protein and fish requirements for the entire East African region and we will not have to import fish from China and other countries. I hope that even Tanzania, on the other hand, will have certain constitutional imperatives. I know they will be struggling to amend their Constitution which is a stage that Kenya is also going through. If Kenya makes regional integration a constitutional imperative, then there will be no president who will come to office in Kenya and deny funding for the EAC organs such as the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) as it is right now. Those who have gone to Arusha of late will tell you that if you go to the EALA, at some point in time, you will find that employees are not paid their salaries for periods going to three or four months, including our representatives to that august House. It is because of lack of seriousness and a framework in member countries that do not prioritise the EAC and the spirit of regional integration. We live in the age of Brexit and I do not think that we have gotten to the phase where we want to exit from the EAC because the benefits that accrue from being"
}