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{
"id": 1477923,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1477923/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
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"speaker": {
"id": 407,
"legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
"slug": "ledama-olekina"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, request this House that out of the respect for the Senators who represented this House in the joint Committee with the National Assembly, to approve the appointment of this gentleman to serve, let us give him the opportunity to prove himself. His Curriculum Vitae (CV) is remarkable on what he has done. The Board gave this task to an independent institution to carry out this recruitment, but were not satisfied and then the Board came back and decided to carry out a second process where they found this gentleman was suitable and presented that name. I would like to beseech my colleagues to look at what has been presented to us. There are many avenues. In future, if there are Kenyans who will feel that there was discrimination, they can pursue other avenues to seek justice. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, every appointing authority, a board or an institution out there is given the mandate to recruit Kenyans to serve. Let us limit ourselves to speaking about Kenya and not speaking about tribal affiliations. That is painful. When some of us start talking about that, the tears that will ooze from my eyes can fill a cup. This is because, for years and decades, our communities have been discriminated against. However, to punish an individual because his name has been forwarded will be going overboard. I support the nomination of this candidate and hope we give him an opportunity to serve. There are serious issues with competition and businesses. One of the biggest ones we are grappling with right now is Safaricom's desire to compete with a company whose value is only 0.03 per cent of its own. We need to determine whether Safaricom, our baby, can be given preferential treatment. Let us protect it. There are various ways that we can protect our institutions. So, I hope that when this gentleman takes over as the new Director General, he can look at areas where businesses can be promoted. We have had these issues with milk, and I speak because I am also a milk farmer. I wear another hat. Of course, my dear brother, here is my customer. We have farmers, and when we compete with neighboring countries, we have to balance. We have to look at it and say, if we bring in a lot of milk into this country, what are the unintended consequences when it comes to the issue of the farmers? The task ahead is humongous. I want to recommend that this gentleman should not sit in the boardroom, but traverse this country called Kenya when he takes over his position. The first stop should be Marsabit County, where we could speak to our brothers in Marsabit, tell them he is the Director General of the Competition Authority, and ask them how he would assist them. The next stop should be Narok County. He should tell us what he will do for us and give us an opportunity to thrive. We need to push forward industrialisation in this country. We need to ensure that the policies we pass here will encourage our farmers to grow. One of the things that hurts me is that when the Finance Bill was thrown out, today, milk farmers import milk cans, and the Kenya Revenue Authority is already charging them 35 per cent duty on those milk cans. It was effected from 1st July. In reality, that Finance Bill was defeated. We must be diligent and carry out our proper due diligence on the policies we pass here. Are they being implemented illegally, 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."
}