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{
    "id": 1226156,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1226156/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 342,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Limuru, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Eng) John Kiragu",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute. At the outset, I support the Report. I note that the1975 Cotonou Agreement gave directions of how the treaty should move but we see another one of the year 2000, the Lomé Convention, which gave the treaty another 20 years and I can see that it has been renegotiated to end this June, 2023. It is good to have this treaty but when you look at Africa and Caribbean states, you find that these are countries that have been colonised, have undergone slavery and sometimes sitting with our former masters to help us to chart our future is sometimes not the best thing to do. I realise that in fact, in the same period, the Asian countries have moved and have left us behind. They have liberated themselves, grown economically and I see that one of the key things in this treaty was to eradicate poverty. If you look at the 20 years, I do not think much has happened. We are in partnership with some of the strongest countries in Europe. The countries that for some years have impoverished the African countries, taken our minerals and have given us some democracy and leadership that has not helped the African countries. I believe that, as a continent, and particularly with our brothers in the Caribbean, we must ask ourselves what it is that we need to put into our leadership so that we can truly get independence economically. We appreciate the effort and the assistance that has been given to us as the developing countries but there is a problem because the assistance that has been given does not seem to help the nations that are in this agreement to make a breakthrough. Mine is to say that it is okay to have this treaty and it is okay for people to meet, but there must be positive things that come out of these treaties. For the Africans and the Caribbean to again be taken through another phase where we lose our moral position, particularly on the matter of LGBTQIA+, it is not acceptable. We know how to lead ourselves. We have suffered long enough and we have no time now to cry over colonialism or slavery. What we need to do is to look forward and look at the East Asia and see how they have been able to liberate themselves. Some of them were colonised almost at the same time with us, but they have left us behind and we should not be spending so much time on discussions and submitting ourselves to moral standards of others. We must chart our way forward. I believe when we meet in these international forums, we must not lose sight of who we are and must also work to make sure that we chart a new direction to liberate Africa. Thank you."
}