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{
    "id": 1133842,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1133842/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 77,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kangema, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Clement Kigano",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13358,
        "legal_name": "Clement Muturi Kigano",
        "slug": "clement-muturi-kigano"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to give brief comments on the State of the Nation Address and to second the Whip of the Majority Party on this Motion. At the outset, I wish to herald and laud His Excellency the President for getting time to expound Government’s able consideration or the concern through that interaction on the social contract. In this respect, we as a Committee, commend His Excellency for complying with the constitutional imperatives under Article 132. He has done that fully, throughout his tenure of office. That demonstrates fidelity to the Constitution. This was demonstrated when I saw the two other Arms of Government represented by Mr. Kinyua for the Executive, and the Chief Justice for the Judiciary. That demonstrates a unity of purpose and that the Government has nothing to hide. It was commendable on the part of the President to attribute just about one-third of his Speech to the COVID-19 pandemonium. This was right. All the measures that have been taken against COVID-19 have been stated by the Whip of the Majority Party. I also commend His Excellency on the way he elaborated the massive infrastructure developments, particularly roads, and a new initiative on the Port of Lamu to enable it compete with Shanghai and Rotterdam, and other transit ports. There is something that has not emerged quite well. It is the benefit to be derived from the new jetty on Lake Victoria. We were informed that barges are now the in thing. This is what developed the Germany Ruhr River, the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, and other ports. The barges ferry goods from far flung areas. To now have a jetty in Kisumu, being used by barges to transport oil to Port Bell in Uganda, alleviates the time spent. Equally, the new berths that have been put up in Mombasa will affect the turn-around of ships at the Port of Mombasa and alleviate the demurrage that the country is incurring. The 10,500 kilometres of road that have been constructed by His Excellency’s Government over eight years are not a small effort when compared to the roads that were constructed by the British Government and the three previous governments. When put together, those governments constructed about the same length of roads. It is commendable that the agriculture sector, particularly the coffee, tea and sugar sectors were also considered. Enormous investments were made in those sectors to reform them to be conducive to farmers. On the benefits of the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), I would like to remind the House that we developed Botswana into the fourth-highest beef producing country in the world. Botswana was developed by the KMC and that is why their commission is called the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) just like the KMC. We developed them and they are now the fourth-highest beef producing country in the world. We are still lagging behind. We are not even admitted to the European Union. Our meat cannot be accessed. However, with this new investment in KMC, we are now ready and we know we will be able to access other markets. 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."
}