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"id": 188031,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
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"legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I also take this opportunity to thank the Minister for moving this Motion. I want to also associate myself with the views of hon. colleagues who have spoken before me. I want to support this Motion but with some reservations. These are very strong reservations. The reason I chose to lean on the side of supporting this Motion is that the benefits are obvious. This is what hon. colleagues have dwelt on. We know that the Great Lakes Region--- In fact, the Minister in moving this Motion stated that the growth capacity of the region in the great lakes is growing at 5.6 per cent per annum. The port is the main support system for this economy but we are not expanding at the rate that is required. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, he told us that this is a loan that is acquired under what he called STEP or Special Terms for Economic Partnerships. Therefore, we have the 10 years grace period, 40 years repayment period and 0.2 per cent interest. These are excellent terms that we recommend. The obvious benefits of this project require us to support this Motion. However, as I have always argued in this House before, everything that is good can be made better. This is where my reservations are. I want the Ministry to take this in the spirit in which we need to take these matters. There has been an attitude that everything and anything that is foreign is good. So, everything and anything that is proposed from outside this country is better than what is inside this country. I wonder why the Ministry of Finance did not consider--- When it was considering the financial facility and the instrument that was developed for the Safaricom Initial Public Offer (IPO), they targeted to raise Kshs50 billion. However, what was raised from this country; Kshs150 billion was three times that amount. This is three times the amount that was targeted. What am I talking about here is a loan facility that is going to commit this country for the next 40 years. It is Kshs16.18 billion only and yet the other day, after the sale of the Safaricom IPO we were struggling with refunding Kshs100 billion back to the Kenyan public. What are we doing? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the Minister was moving this Motion he said that already they had committed and what they are doing now is just being transparent. We need to support him because this is a good thing. They had committed because exchange notes had already been passed between the Governments of Kenya and Japan. The Japanese International Corporation Bank had already signed with the KPA. Therefore, an Executive action had already been taken and we are now giving it Parliamentary sanction. We will support them but could they please have a paradigm shift in their thinking? There is money in this country and we need to get it. The people of this country need to own these equipment that is the heritage of this nation. We do not need to mortgage ourselves out to individuals, corporations, banks or whatever money that comes from outside this country. Let us look at what we did with the Rift Valley Railways (RVR)! We gave extremely good concessions to a South African Company. When they came over, what did they do? The Chief Executive Officer is paid Kshs7 million. The next thing, people are not paid their salaries! Are we saying that if the Ministry of Finance took time to develop an instrument and invited Kenyans to put in their money, we would not have raised the billions of shillings that were required to start off the RVR Project? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I argue that even for the Port of Mombasa, we could have raised this money. We need to have a paradigm shift towards this issue. We need a complete attitude change in the Ministry of Finance right from the top to the bottom. This is because even other Kenyans are the same. If you go to Nairobi to purchase a suit, as long as it is Kenyan made, you think that it is not useful. You have to go to Paris where you will be sold the same suit at four times the cost. The Ministry of Finance needs to take the lead. We need to have a change and it has to start right at the top, that is, the Executive in this country. July 24, 2008 PARLIMENTARY DEBATES 2107 Yesterday, we watched on television the Chief Executive Officer of Coca Cola from USA. He came into Kenya and he was received at State House. That is a good thing. But what news did he have for us? It was reported that he was investing Kshs600 million in the country through a new plant. Here, we have the biggest taxpayer; the East African Breweries Limited, which gives the highest cheque to the Exchequer, in fact, last year, they got the award for the top contributor. They gave out one cheque worth Kshs18 billion. In September, they are putting up a plant worth Kshs2.4 billion. That matter is in the Press. They have not been invited to high places. I think it is only the Minister for Finance who called them at the beginning of the year to ask them for the cheque. The attitude that is prevailing in this country is that everything a Mzungu comes with is good, but we are not good enough ourselves. We need a paradigm shift. This Parliament needs to say it. We need to go on record that we do not want to mortgage the heritage of this country. Let this be the last time we are saying that this port is going to borrow money--- We can raise this Kshs16 billion. It is just for the Ministry of Finance to tell us, \"We have arranged this and that. Could you, please, bring your Kshs20,000 so that we can buy shares and own the heritage of this country.\" Let me turn to the Privatisation Commission of Kenya. It should help Kenyans to own the resources of this country. We need to think afresh. We do not need to think like our Independence fathers. This is the problem because policy makers are living in the Independence times. They used to think that everything from London is good. They even take their suits to the laundry in London to be washed. I want to invite the Minister for Finance to have a paradigm shift. We need to own these things. We have children! Those policy makers are retiring and their children are already in secondary school, or in the university or they are already working. They are going! What shall we then give our children? We are still giving birth! When our children grow up, Kenya Airways will be gone. There will be no airport. The Port of Mombasa will not be there because it would have been taken by other people. The game parks will be gone and all the roads shall have been concessioned and yet they will still be paying loans. That attitude must change. I hope that the Acting Minister for Finance will lead us in that direction. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support this Motion, but with those very strong reservations."
}