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{
    "id": 1192506,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1192506/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
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    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. My name is Hon. (Dr) Shadrack Mwiti, the Member for South Imenti. First, I will start by congratulating, in absentia, the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. I also congratulate fellow Hon. Members for making it to this great House. I thank the people of South Imenti. I promise that I will serve them with all my energy and make sure that I fulfil what I promised. South Imenti is a constituency previously represented by Hon. Members such as Hon. Kabere M'mbijiwe, who was the Minister for Health. He did a lot for South Imenti, both in promoting agriculture as well as healthcare. South Imenti was previously represented by the former Minister of Constitutional Affairs, the former Senator and Governor of Meru County, Hon. Kiraitu Murungi. He did a lot for South Imenti. Our current Deputy Speaker of the Senate, Hon. Kathuri Murungi, has previously represented South Imenti. I have taken over from him to represent South Imenti. I promise the people of South Imenti that I will do my best and serve them, anchoring on the foundation laid by previous Members. I will serve the people of South Imenti. In my work plan, I promise to improve agriculture that is the main activity in South Imenti. Livestock rearing is a great activity in South Imenti where there is high production of milk. Education is a key factor that we are promoting with the people of South Imenti. I am also going to address universal healthcare and marketing of their produce. As I said earlier, South Imenti is an agricultural constituency. It has a lot of farm produce, both bananas and horticulture. They require a lot of marketing out of the country and within the region. As I indicated to the people of South Imenti, I am going to do my best in promoting youth and the women empowerment. That remains a key agenda in my work plan. I promise my people of South Imenti that my promises are going to be fulfilled. Regarding the Motion in the House on the establishment of a unified national policy on SMEs, it is in the House at the right time. This is what Kenya is looking at. The SMEs face several challenges such as accessibility of markets, both locally and internationally. The sector will grow when we remove these challenges. The SMEs require financing because they do not access loans. They also require quality standards and ISO certification in a bid to access cross border trade. There are limitations of trade between Kenya and neighbouring countries. The limited industrial knowledge base is a key factor that has limited the growth of SMEs. We need to do the best to unify the national policy on SMEs mainly by upgrading current markets both locally and internationally. We should also expose the sector to trade, nationally and in trade fairs. We will not forget their funding especially by the Hustler Fund, which is highly expected to improve this sector. By training, we are going to do something on packaging and branding the equipment. The expected outcome on implementation is that we are going to have diversification of various products. New markets and efficiency exist after application of new technology, retraining and remodelling, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak. The House has a collective responsibility to steer legislative affairs of this honourable House in funding, restructuring and marketing SME products. I support this Motion brought by Hon. Elachi."
}