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{
    "id": 1077093,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1077093/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mandera South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ali Adan",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13418,
        "legal_name": "Adan Hajj Ali",
        "slug": "adan-haji-ali"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. At the outset, I wish to support this Motion on the Budget Estimates for Financial Year 2021/2022. At the same time, I also commend the Chairperson and the entire membership of the Budget and Appropriations Committee for a well-done Report which has, in many parts, incorporated and taken into account most of the recommendations that we had made as a Committee. During the review of the Estimates for the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development and the State Department for Co-operatives that we oversee, the Committee noted that various trade and related functions or activities whose key performance targets are within the purview of the State Department for Trade are scattered all over other Ministries. It is our considered view that those functions, which are spread in other Ministries, for example, the Ministry of Defence in terms of the International Trade function which is currently domiciled in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Elimination of Restrictive Trade Practices and the Micro-finance Sector which is under the Treasury, be moved to the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development. That was the prayer of the Committee. We feel that when we consolidate those services under the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Enterprise Development, we will be able to do justice to those functions. From the Report, we noted that the Committee approved our proposal for reallocation to realign some Recurrent Expenditures with the Development Expenditures. A number of key requests for additional funding were also heeded to by the Committee and we thank them very much for heeding to our advice and helping us to support, for example, establish value addition centres and the country’s participation in the Dubai Expo of 2021, which is coming in October. The Committee heeded our advice and reallocated funds to resource these State Departments adequately to be able to meet their expectations. I would like to extend a request to the Chairperson, even after we pass this Motion, to continue supporting areas we feel will impact this nation. There are State Departments which have the potential to impact the EPA that was signed recently. In order to have safeguard measures, we need to resource the Anti-Counterfeit Authority adequately. So, we ask the Committee to be more considerate as we move forward. We also have the Kenya Trade Remedies Authority, which is supposed to arbitrate in the event we have issues with our trading partners, like what was just signed and assented to. For a long time, the trade industry sector, which is critical in facilitating the generation of revenue, has always been under-funded. It has been allocated a meager 0.4 per cent of the total national budget and yet, this sector is expected to drive the economy and spur other economic opportunities like job creation and poverty alleviation. We urge the Treasury, going forward, to increase resource allocation to the Ministry of Industrialization and Enterprise Development so that it is able to perform its functions to unlock the opportunities that Kenya has. 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."
}