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{
    "id": 1192502,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1192502/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "they meet national and international standards. We let them go through with this guise that we are protecting the Jua Kali sector. That is why this continued talk of the bottom-up economic model and hustler mentality will not liberate the mind of the downtrodden and those at the bottom of the pyramid, because they are being made victims. They are looked at like people who are forgotten. They are not being motivated to move away from the bottom of the pyramid. Hon. Temporary Speaker, before I came to Parliament, I was working at the university. When a student is at the bottom of the score sheet, what do you do? You do not start sympathising with him, but you invest in him with extra-curriculum work, remedial units, or you take him to a mentorship programme. You do not keep on sympathising with him so that he remains there and becomes an election or a political tool. As much as we support this Motion, it needs to be re-drafted in such a way that we start to get the informality out of the informal sector. We need to move them to the formal sector, so that whatever they innovate can be imported or exported to the United States of America (USA), Uganda or elsewhere, but not just consumed by the local community that only understands it. I know that the State Department of Industry or Trade has the One County Product Programme. By its design, you are confining a product to be produced, marketed and consumed in that particular sector or geographical area. That is why I urge the new Government - the Kenya Kwanza Government or whatever it calls itself - to literally liberate Kenyans from the informality. Let them move to the next level. We have adequate funding, for instance, there is the Uwezo Fund. The national body in charge of research and funding is available to provide funding to deepen research so that we can produce goods and services that meet international standards. The way this Motion is drafted, it is going to be a talk shop. The new Government will settle in, play with the minds of the people, sympathise with them, work on emotions, and leave them there. President Uhuru Kenyatta and President Mwai Kibaki found the informal sector and left it the way it is. None of the wheelbarrows produced in this country have ever been exported to the USA or China. For how many years are we going to talk about a sector that has refused to grow because the policies that are being perpetuated are not development-oriented, but are meant to subjugate them to where they are so that they become a political tool? As much as we talk about this Motion, we need to call upon the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and other quality assurances to make sure that they refuse to give a stamp of quality of these substandard goods and services that are unable to be sold beyond the boundaries of Kenya. We have reached a point where this country has very well-educated people who can innovate and think. All that we need is investment in this sector. The Kenyan Numerical Machine Complex cannot be referred to as j ua kali . The equipment they have are as good as of any other industry. Why can people involved in basic innovation not take their manufactured products and designs to the Kenyan Numerical Machining Complex so that they can get the seal of approval and can be marketed outside this country? We have some of the best ICT gurus in this country. That is why they keep on hacking phones. That is why they keep on hacking banks to steal money. That is why they keep on hacking the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) server. They are the Jose Camargos and their accomplices who hack to steal votes that were supposed to go to Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga. Why can they not get beyond this point instead of doing something that is wrong? Why can they not use those skills to improve the processes so that we can go to the next level? Yes, I support the Motion, but we need to urge the Government to get out of informality and bring these people into the formal sector so that they can understand what it means to produce competitive goods and services. With those few remarks, I support the Motion by Hon. Beatrice Elachi. 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."
}