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{
    "id": 1231763,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1231763/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 152,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Onyonka",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13592,
        "legal_name": "Onyonka Richard Momoima",
        "slug": "onyonka-richard-momoima"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I would like to be among the Members of this House that are seized of this issue. Hon. Cherarkey, in as much as I sometimes wonder whether you were a bad child to your parents, I am sometimes impressed with your intelligence and capability to prick our conscience. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the reality our country faces now is that we must be honest with ourselves. The problem of China Square is not just that building. The problem with China Square is that you have Chinese traders who are able to bring materials which are actually underpriced and therefore, they are able to attract customers to their shops as if Nairobi does not have any other shop that sells what they sell. If we remember, there was a time when it was raised by the newspapers, about four months ago. I do not think the current Government was in place. It was stated that the Chinese companies had actually not paid close to Kshs400 billion for goods imported to Kenya. This problem is much more complex. I would like the Committee that would be assigned this responsibility to go deep into what the issues are about our country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you ask many of us in this House whether we know what Kenya exports to China, even if it is tea, we cannot tell what the statistics are. We cannot tell you what we export from Kenya to such a point that we have got an ability right now where Kenya is a perennial importer of Chinese goods. If you look at the difference in terms of trade imbalance, it is embarrassing. China has a population of 1.2 billion people, with a budget of about USD10 trillion, yet you find ordinary casual Chinese individuals, who do not have any expertise, coming to our country, roasting maize and walk around as if they are executives of some companies, yet what they do is selling mitumba. The conscience of our Parliament and that of this House must be pricked, so that we come up with solutions on what to do with this issue of imbalances of trade between the Super Powers and our country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."
}