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{
    "id": 1285749,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1285749/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 171,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "will still end up paying a lot of money and that pain will still go to the citizens. We have to be clear. Maybe we should have had those arrangements basing it on the Kenya Shilling. I will be happy if this gentleman would come up with policies that would propel our Kenya Shilling to be a currency that we can negotiate in the East African community. I was in Arusha the other day and I needed to deposit some Kenya Shillings in my bank in Kenya. I was very happy because I walked into Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) in Arusha and I could deposit Kenya Shillings and they reflect immediately. It is the same in Rwanda and Uganda where KCB is. In fact, if you trade - I happen to be a trader among the East African countries- the financial institutions in those countries will tell you that it is easier for me to pay you in Kenya Shillings than in dollars. It is about time that we now change our thinking and not continue being slaves of hard currencies. Today, when I look at the Kenya Shilling to USD1, it is Kshs150. Very soon, it will be Kshs200. Suppose we borrow the policies that are being applied by countries like Ethiopia and Burundi then localize it? We do not necessarily have to go the way they go, but we can also localize it so that we can protect our currency. I hope that this House will approve the new Governor of Central Bank. We will be able to now think outside the box. We can no longer continue to try and build this economy with a cut and paste or with a textbook description of how you build an economy. We have to now start thinking outside the box and ask ourselves what works for us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you go to a country like Tanzania today. The Dairy Board of Tanzania has got quotas. They say if you want to export milk to Tanzania, you can only be given a license for up to six months, you have to pay some money for each consignment and they put a maximum of litres that you can export to Tanzania. That is all advised by the Central Bank in terms of protecting their farmers so that whatever the farmers have becomes valuable and meaningful. We are treading in very dangerous grounds at the moment in terms of trying to save this economy. Politics aside, we talk about issues of the bottom up and of different types of economics. The truth of the matter is our people are suffering. Our currency is one of the things that I hope the new Central Bank Governor would sit and think throughout on how we are going to protect our people. Everything we are buying now when it comes to the issue of fuel relies on the dollar. So, when we buy fuel at a price of about Kshs200 and 54 per cent of that is in taxes, you think Kenyans will still afford the 46 per cent? No, they cannot. It becomes very expensive. However, if the Kenya Shilling was stable, people would be able to deal with it. We have such an industrious economy and a resilient population. So, with good monetary policies, we will move this country into futuristic thinking. Mr. Speaker, Sir, finally, we may end up having to amend the Constitution because the Constitution says in Article 231 that the Central Bank Governor cannot be directed by anybody. I hope that we can be able to amend either the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and also the Constitution, just like Article 153 of the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}