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{
    "id": 136644,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/136644/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Yinda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 154,
        "legal_name": "Edwin Ochieng Yinda",
        "slug": "edwin-yinda"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this Ministry and the Minister for Transport. Being a Member of the Committee, the Chairman has already covered many areas which are in the Report that has already been laid on the Table. One area I want to add on to this is that the Ministry asked for quite a substantial amount of money which it did not get. As a Committee, we would like to support the Ministry and ask the Treasury to avail more money to the Ministry. As it has already been mentioned, the Ministry of Transport is an infrastructural Ministry and the development of this country largely depends on it. Coming to the Port of Mombasa, the Ministry would definitely need more money for the modernization of the equipment at the port and the deepening of the channels and the berths so that the bigger ships that, at the moment, are evading calling the Port of Mombasa could call there. The biggest problem here is that we are not alone. We are in competition with many other countries. The longer we take before we bring Mombasa to an acceptable level where the post- panamax vessels can call, the more we will lose. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, as we speak, Tanzania is trying to do all she can so that she can capture all the traffic that will be calling the Port of Mombasa. Djibouti is already ahead of us and as the Minister said, if we are not careful, we will end up being a feeder port where only small vessels will be calling. So, the need for the Ministry is real and the need for more money is real. We would like to support the Ministry for this. So, the Treasury should do all they can to get money and pass it on to the Ministry, that would be the right thing we would recommend. A second port in Lamu is a development that should have been here yesterday and not today. This development will open other parts of this country like the north eastern and of course, it will tap into our trade with Southern Sudan and also Southern Ethiopia. We are not alone in this. There are other countries which are eying this market. If we do not move fast enough, we will lose out. The Dongo Kundu Project and more so the free port situation in Mombasa should be supported. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}