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"id": 1115244,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kibwezi West, Independent",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Patrick Musimba",
"speaker": {
"id": 1804,
"legal_name": "Patrick Mweu Musimba",
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity. First and foremost, I congratulate the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing, Hon. Pkosing for the energy he has so far displayed as he steers one of the most critical facets of our economy, which is connectivity, to ensure that we grow our presence in the League of Nations. It is imperative that we rekindle the renaissance dream of Africa that our predecessors like Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, the late Jomo Kenyatta and Haile Selassie had about the African Continent. Indeed, that can only be achieved by lessening the distance between ourselves as countries. Kenya has taken a big stride in terms of opening up its borders. We see countries that are friendly to us, like China, USA and the European Union, partnering with us to open last-mile engagements into new market policies, taking our goods and services, and connecting our people by opening up the road networks. Our ports are equally the same. When it comes to air transport, it is such a critical pointer towards our connectivity and oneness as a people so that we tap the best that is within our borders in Africa. During last year’s Jamhuri Day Celebrations, His Excellency the President opened up and said that any country in Africa is a reciprocal partner in that in whatever engagement, Kenya would treat them in the same way they treat us. This has been true to countries like Botswana, Lesotho and smaller countries within the greater Southern African Development Community (SADC) area. Even for the Republic of South Africa, which our colleague was talking about, we used to enjoy a situation where we did not need visas to get into that country. The air spaces of our countries need to be opened up to ensure that we can trade and be one people, so that I do not have to think about a lag time of three days or one week to decide to travel across. When it comes to bilateral agreements, we have to go further. This is to our able Committee led by Hon. Pkosing. Whenever we get agreements or routes given as rights to our country, they can be auctioned or made available to local airlines which display a will to tackle those routes so that we do not have lapses like what happened between 2009 and 2021. Flights should continue even when the bottom line or finances of an airline dwindle or are affected in one way or another. The loss of our aircrafts which were given away in order to rationalise the balance sheet of Kenya Airways would have been given to other local airlines like Fly Renegade Air and Silver Stone Air, among others. The airline industry in Kenya is quite robust and you can see this from our airspace. We have budding entrepreneurs and a balance sheet that is able to support airlines which can handle this business. The innovation of getting smaller aircrafts like Embraer has brought down the cost of doing short haul routes. I think this is an investment which can be made by many of our local carriers to share and keep the presence of Kenya in such routes around African. What do we gain from that? There is a lot of commerce which goes up and down. Botswana is key in the beef industry and this can be a learning point to enrich areas like Timau or Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas which would be great in beef production. In return, they can enjoy our beaches because they are largely a land-locked country. 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."
}