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{
    "id": 1461360,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1461360/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Wanjiku Muhia",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. In a nutshell, I spoke of the institutions visited and enumerated several observations by the Committee. The one I would want to repeat, because I see the House is quite full today, is communication challenges. We have the Northern Corridor and the Central Corridor. We experience communication challenges anytime we are in the Central Corridor. It is too expensive. We hope that partner states in the Central Corridor will fasten or fast track the policy so that communication can be very easy in the entire region. The other issue that I may want to highlight is the air transport. We know travelling to Dar es Salaam is more expensive than travelling to Dubai because air taxes are not yet harmonised. As I conclude, the Committee also observed that political conflicts witnessed between some partner states have negative effects to business in the Community. We, therefore, call for mitigation at the summit level on, for example, the Migingo issue – which has been a thorn in the flesh for many years between the republics of Uganda and Kenya. If this issue can be harmonised at the summit level, business can thrive. We also seek a legal framework for the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) as per the Act of 2017 to be fast-tracked. We also ask, in the spirit of integration and for efficiency of the lake resources that have served the three partner states, that they be shared in a harmonious way so that every country can benefit without a lot of struggles, particularly the Migingo issue. With those observations, I will now go to the recommendations by the Committee. The Committee recommends that for these challenges to be addressed, we ask the Council of Ministers in Kenya to lobby the other Council of Ministers in matters of finances by finding a suitable financing mechanism because the remittance mode is not tenable anymore. The Committee recommends that one of the avenues that can be established could be what happens in African Union and European Union – by, possibly, imposing a levy on all imports and exports within the region or even think bigger whereby the countries contribute in accordance to their GDP but, like in the European Union, the countries that contribute more to have veto powers. The Council of Ministers may consider the goodwill exhibited by the late former President of the Republic of Kenya, Hon. Mwai Kibaki – may his soul rest in peace – who at one time played the big brother role and bailed out the Republic of Burundi. We could consider bailing out the republics of South Sudan and Burundi. Partner states with bigger economic capacities may play the big brother role and possibly bail out the two countries. We also ask the Council of Ministers to consider reinstating the budget of the Community. I have served in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) before. I have information that every partner state contributed close to $8 million. During COVID-19, this money was reduced to US$7 million but the original amount has not been reinstated ever since. The East African Community has been increasing its institutions. Therefore, there is need to reinstate the original contribution figure per member state. The Council of Ministers could consider halting the creation of more institutions or reinstating the original contribution. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}