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{
    "id": 1349627,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1349627/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 681,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Parliament of similar nature, though larger in size, albeit representing a much smaller population of about 450 million people. This one represents over a billion people with 250 memberships. The EU Parliament has around 705 or something closer. I was drawing the parallels as I listened to the Speaker engage with our President on the things that the EU Parliament can do, what issues they have a vote on and which they do not. You all know about this conversation. I kept on reminiscing and thinking of PAP. When this Parliament was set up and it is even captured in this report, it was the dream of our founders, that we have a Parliament that will help us speak with one voice as a people of Africa and confront the issues that face us and the challenges that bedevil this continent. That we shall be able to reason together, as the Bible advises us in moments of challenge, to chart out policies that will uplift our people from raw abject poverty into nations of great progress. Unfortunately, that dream is still deferred. I want to appreciate the work that has been done by our colleagues who have gone there over the years. I see this urge that is even captured in the spirit of this report to try and push the plenary session of the African Union (AU) to give additional, statutory and legislative powers to this particular institution. Until such a time that we agree even on one simple issue--- The unfortunate thing is that you will struggle to find a single policy item across the African continent which is a great tragedy. If it is transportation, what holds in one region does not hold in another. All these imaginary divisions between the francophones, the anglophones, the southern Africans and the East Africans. There is a vacancy for the Chairperson of the African Union. We sincerely wish that in the next extraordinary session of the African Union, the people who come out to convince us, as African nations, to vote for them to take chairmanship and lead this institution to believe in Pan-Africanism. They should challenge all 52 African states to sign protocols to trade policies. The first resolution and way forward in this report is calling upon parliaments that still need to ratify the African continent free trade area agreement to raise awareness. I celebrate this first instrument. If we were to sign on and agree to the trade policies enshrined in the multilateral agreements signed at the African Union in 2020 when the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) came into practice, then we would have something to celebrate. Traveling across Africa the way it is today should be relatively inexpensive. Also, it should be relatively inexpensive to communicate in Africa. Calling people in far-flung parts of this world is cheaper, but reaching our neighbors within the same continent becomes expensive. Our President believes in the call and vision of Pan-Africanism. Early last year, part of the first thing this administration did because we are Pan-African at heart was flagging a tea consignment to Ghana under the ACFTA agreement. We want to strengthen trade between African countries. However, this tea left Kenyatta International 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 and AudioServices, Senate."
}