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{
    "id": 1349628,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1349628/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 682,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Convention Centre (KICC) in October and got to Accra, Ghana, three months later, in January, 2023. However, because of the barriers and boundaries, many goods we buy from fellow African countries are not value-added within the continent. People take tea from Kenya, blend it in Dubai, and ship it back to West Africa. Jobs have been created in other parts of the world. The greater value of that commodity is gained in those parts of the world where this happens. Secretary-General Wamkele Keabetswe Mene has tried to convince our presidents each time there is a meeting of the African Union to make trade and movement of goods manufactured in Africa seamless. This is because of the challenges Africans go through in the border posts. This is also part of the ACFTA protocols. These are challenges I see this report trying to address. Unfortunately, my good friend Sen. Mungatana, it is until you guys at the Pan African Parliament are given the full legislative mandate of what a continental parliament should be. When you sit in South Africa and make those legislations, they apply to all the Member states. Then we can celebrate and say that we have a Pan-African Parliament. It is my hope and prayer that during our time and season in leadership, we shall make this dream a reality so that our future generations do not have to live with the curse of these colonial boundaries that continue to entangle and make Africans strangers to each other. I must celebrate the decision made by this administration to make it possible for all Africans to visit Africa without being asked for visas. It is embarrassing to ask for visas from fellow Africans to visit their own country. I am happy Kenya joined the other four countries, Benin, Seychelles and Rwanda who have done it ahead of us. This is why their tourism numbers are prospering. We need to do this before the end of this year, the way the President told me, so that other Africans can visit. Also, the rest of the continent can catch up with this policy. We should remove this business of asking for visas from fellow Africans. Sen. Mungatana, you have your work cut out. As I know you are beaming with pride and have all good intentions, we must work hard to ensure we give the PAP the full legislative mandate to legislate on basic common issues like trade that cut across the African people. The single currency for Africa is complicated and we can think about it later. However, certain things are administrative that no country loses when we integrate and become better. I wish I had raised these statistics. I attended one of the ministerial engagements here in Kenya when we hosted the extraordinary session of the Ministers of Trade across Africa. It was in August of this year. The statistics were laid out in the open for us. If Africa was to trade amongst itself, we could grow our trade volumes by over 50 per cent. If we were to trade amongst ourselves without the unnecessary barriers, we put on each other. Businesses would grow unilaterally. I appreciate the work this team is doing and hope you will carry on with this dream and vision. Speak to our heads of state when they have their gathering in Addis for AU every February until they appreciate the need for us to strengthen the PAP to be in line with the dream of our founding fathers. 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."
}