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{
"id": 1115184,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1115184/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Pokot South, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. David Pkosing",
"speaker": {
"id": 2662,
"legal_name": "Losiakou David Pkosing",
"slug": "losiakou-david-pkosing"
},
"content": "would like to inform the House as follows with regard to the road upon which we arrived where we are to have this agreement on the Floor of the House. I want to begin with the Kenya /South Africa Agreement. The Bilateral Air Service Agreement between Kenya and South Africa was negotiated and initiated on 15th October, 2008. It is some time back. Of course then, people understand the procedure of these negotiations before they arrive on the Floor of the House. I do not know where some of us were in 2008. Of course, we were in this country in Nairobi. It was operationalised by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the same date. That is why now you can see the South African Airlines landing in Nairobi. It is because of that Agreement; but it is not fully done until when we do what we are asking the House to do today as a Committee. The Agreement was subsequently approved by the Cabinet during the 5th Cabinet meeting, as it is required by the Constitution and the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, held on Thursday, 21st November, 2019. I am emphasising Article 2. The Agreement provides for multiple designations of airlines, unlimited number of frequencies, no restriction on aircraft capacity and an open and liberal route schedule. Exercise of the 5th freedom traffic rights is subject to approval by the respective aeronautical institutions. When we talk about that, of course we are talking about in Kenya, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). These are the people to give those rights. That is the process upon which the Kenya-South Africa Bilateral Air Service Agreement was arrived or reached at. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, allow me to quickly go to the one by Kenya and Botswana. This Agreement between Kenya and Botswana was reviewed and signed on 23rd July, 2019, in Nairobi during the state visit to Kenya by the President of the Republic of Botswana on the 22nd and 24th July, 2019. The Agreement was subsequently approved by the Cabinet during the 5th Cabinet meeting held on Thursday, 21st November, 2019. As it is emphasised by Article 2 of the Agreement, it provides for multiple designations of airlines and unlimited number of frequencies. Many people might not understand the meaning of frequencies. It is not the air wave frequency; it is landing. This is so that people can understand what we mean by that. That is jargon within the transport sector. It is landing so that people do not think that we are doing airwaves in this. The Agreement also provides no restrictions on aircraft capacity and an open and liberal route schedule. As I said earlier, exercise of the 5th freedom traffic rights is subject to approval by the respective aeronautical authorities, like for our case the KCAA. Having said that, it is now very clear what the Agreement is asking for. It is very clear how it arrived here. It went through all that. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, allow me to say that this Agreement reaching on the Floor of the House, and we are asking you to ratify it and agree with the Report, followed the requirement of Article 118 of the Constitution, which of course details on whether there was public participation. Yes, we did public participation and that is why we arrived on that. In terms of law, did it satisfy the requirement of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, particularly Sub-section 8? Yes. What demonstrates that in accordance with that law is that it is accompanied by a memorandum from the Cabinet, which is also attached to this Report. That is exactly what we are asking and more other details are in this Report. Why are we doing this? What are we, as a Committee, asking the House to do for us? Both agreements are completely within the interest of our Republic of Kenya. Why? The House might recall that in 2017 and 2018, my Committee brought a report in this House. We proposed to restructure how we do aviation in this country, of course from the Executive. This is because we wanted and we still want to make Nairobi and particularly the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport 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."
}