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{
    "id": 1481065,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1481065/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 61,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Musalia Mudavadi",
    "speaker_title": "The Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 84,
        "legal_name": "Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi",
        "slug": "musalia-mudavadi"
    },
    "content": "conversation. I will be appealing to Members to give it very good thought when the Sessional Paper is availed for this conversation. I want to quickly point out on the question of how many consulates we can open. We would have liked to have more, but we are constrained financially, the reason we are still operating with the Los Angeles (LA) as the consulate in the United States. If resources permit in future, we can indeed increase the number of consulates. On the issue of voting, this is a conversation that we should jointly have with the Independent, Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Issues of voter registration and access is a domain that falls within the IEBC. We, at Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, would be more of a facilitator, but we cannot try to usurp the role of the IEBC in terms of voter registration. We should be the centres, but we can have a conversation at the appropriate time. I wish to make a correction. Indeed, I may have indicated the LA consulate and the New York consulate. Maybe I did not communicate well. This was raised by Sen. Osotsi. I wish to state that indeed, we have a permanent Mission in New York, which is the busiest station. As you say, we have an authorised establishment of 18 who are in place, save for four. Perhaps that is an addition of supplementary information that I will make available to show that the permanent mission is well-staffed and there are people in station. On the Foreign Service Assets, the properties that we own and do not own is a very important issue. Rental payments in foreign countries is a very big burden, it consumes quite a lot of money in some of the stations. I am pleased to announce to the Kenyans, through the Senate, that as we speak, Kenya bought a whole floor next to the United Nations Headquarters. That is where the Permanent Mission is now domiciled. That is where the chancellery is. We have taken care of that particular item. We missed our chances then. Uganda bought theirs way back during the time of Idi Amin Dada. We cannot say that we can afford to have the resources to buy a new building or a building today in New York, but we have money to secure a whole floor that is now occupied by the Mission. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in terms of our global assets, in New York, we have some properties as well in other stations. We are developing a strategy on how to realize the value of our global assets which includes the development of the various properties. We want to see how we can seek different financing mechanisms either through Public- Private-Partnership (PPP) or joint programmes with even some of our Kenyan financial institutions to develop the assets that we have in different countries. This is a detail we will share in the Sessional Paper that we shall be presenting to you. I cannot speak for the American Immigration Policy. They have their policy. We can only raise concerns on some of the issues and perhaps seek some negotiations, but we cannot impose our will on the American immigration policy. I have personally had my own experiences. The ambassador can become very clear and tell you that the State Department for Immigration is independent and handles its issues separately. So, it takes much more but, we are negotiating the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (STIPA) with the United States, and the 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."
}