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"id": 205880,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/205880/?format=api",
"text_counter": 158,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kituyi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Trade and Industry",
"speaker": {
"id": 293,
"legal_name": "Mukhisa Kituyi",
"slug": "mukhisa-kituyi"
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"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. My friend and colleague had forgotten a little detail of asking somebody to second his Vote. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second the Motion as presented and, in the process, wish to make a few remarks of my own. First of all, I would like to thank the Minister for giving a very substantial attention to issues that have been yearning for our attention for the past decade, at least. It is not good enough to go back to history to see the price we are paying for inadequate attention to transport infrastructure; the inadequate attention to the ports and the airports of this country, and the extent to which they are inhibiting attaining an even higher momentum in our national growth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, while I applaud the Minister for the efforts he is making to turn around the Port of Mombasa, to open the Port of Lamu properly, to extend new routes into the interior to Southern Sudan and Ethiopia, to expand Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, I have two or three requests that I would like to make. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, first of all, the Port of Mombasa has been leaning too much on promise. Most other projects that were being designed for mega-growth at the start of the Kibaki Administration have gone through substantial steps towards being realised. But the Port of Mombasa, apart from tinkering on the margins of improvement and replacements of equipment, the grand vision of turning around that Port into a major hub for this region still awaits to be done. It is not just about what is to be done to the Port itself, although that is also part of the issue, but it is also about the infrastructure around the Port. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, those of us who are involved in multi-lateral negotiations of services trade know that one of the critical hubs through which this country can benefit is the multi- model transport infrastructure linking the Port of Mombasa, the railway network and the road network. Unfortunately, the original enthusiasm some of us had about the Rift Valley Railways Company concessioning the railway is starting to dissipate. We can understand that it takes some time to mobilise things and get started. But if you consult with any consumers of the railway service, they will tell you that there has been a net decline in the services offered by the Kenya Railways Corporation. Of course, privatisation has its promise of efficiency. But private management does not, in itself, per se, become a mantra to all problems of management. We have seen what happened after the privatisation of the railways in Britain. It took a lot of time before they appreciated and confessed that it never worked. I hope the Minister and his officers could be bold on that railway project. If it is not working, we should stop it before it becomes a major fraud. That is because the potential of a railway line to ease the burden on the road--- The potential of a railway line to move major capital equipment in this country is much bigger than the desire to protect egos about a project gone wrong! I have been excited about the prospects of the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In the lengthy period that we debated this, I have had instances that, in the development of the airport, we have two kinds of mindsets. There is what I call \"the slum improvement mentality\" and the \"the slum replacement mentality\". Do you want to tinker on the margins and make it 3650 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 4, 2007 slightly better and slowly try to make it even better or, do you want a totally new approach to what you want to do? That airport has served us very well, from the vision of those who designed it in the early 1970s. But my sense of the coming super-liners, the new infrastructure of international air travel and the possibilities that you can build this airport as a hub for Africa and filter through Kenya Airways for different destinations, calls for a totally different design rather than knocking some walls and extending some bays around that 1972 airport. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to my mind, I would have liked the current work going on at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to be part of preparing it to be a hub not only for African flights, but for inter-continental flights. I would have liked to see other slightly different dedicated facilities that will be attractive and will offer additional services that will make that airport generally the hub of travel around Africa. Similarly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I applaud the amount of investment that the Government has lately put into other small airports. I am very happy about the fact that, Wajir Airport is about to be re-opened as a proper airport after the work that has been done there. I am happy about the expansion of Kisumu Airport, which has been long overdue. I am also happy about the work on the construction of a cool storage at the airport in Eldoret, which will go a long way in enhancing horticultural exports for those of us who come from that part of the country. But I urge that, apart from the larger airports, there is value in re-doing the existing small airstrips because of the contribution they can make. Many other smaller airstrips that used to be very important for communication--- For example, there is one in Bungoma Town, one in Kitale Town and quite a few others around the country, which go unattended, even as we pay attention to some of the bigger ones. It will be nice to see how much we can ease, particularly passenger traffic, from some of the larger regional airports if you could just re-do and extend the runways at some of the airstrips in the country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the honourable Minister talked about the negotiations that are going on with the Kuwaitis, about the Lamu projects. It is true that this country has reached a stage when it should be bold enough to make major decisions for mega projects. Lamu has needed this to happen for a long time, maybe, just for its geographical location. It is critically important, if we have to win the scramble for Southern Sudan, that we offer the lowest cost access to that part of the world. So, it is exciting for me. But, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to request that we hasten with caution. A person who has a lot of money and is an expert in building ports, is not necessarily the best suited for building resort towns. He is not necessarily the best suited for building railways. So, there has to be a possibility for desegregating different components of that major programme, if we are to reduce the possibility of inter-sectorial inefficiencies being transferred to sectors where they are not particularly competent, mainly because of the resources that are at their disposal. But having said that, I encourage engagement and boldly look at the establishment of a new route to the sea for Ethiopia and Southern Sudan. We need to open up the interior of this country, particularly the pastoralist areas, for what they can send to the rest of the world and for what can be taken, not to mention, of course, that the ease of movement will free up the gypsum and limestone resources of Kitui, Mwingi and Garissa to the behemoth that is growing; the insatiable markets for cement and related products in the region. Back to Mombasa, the other day, I witnessed an investor who was going into the operation of a free port in Dongo Kundu. It is a project that has been waiting to happen. But, once again, I say: \"Let us hasten with caution.\" Unless a foreign investor has a unique competence and a demonstrated performance - like the Port of Dubai or others - we should be reluctant about types that come and purport to have money, and then we give them a free hand. They can just slow the things that we consider critically important for this country. We should be bold enough to dare do September 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3651 things, but we should be cautious enough to say \"no\" some of the times, if the coating is not reflecting on the track record of the investor who wants to go in. Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Ministry is responsible for negotiating landing rights for different international airlines in bilateral agreements and also to assist Kenya Airways. It has done a very good job. I share their sense that we have to give priority to liberalizing African skies. I am very glad that we have agreed on the liberalization of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) skies. But I am very, very hesitant to generously liberalizing access to our airspace by Emirates Airline. That is because it is highly subsidized by the states. If their attempts to start having flights into Mombasa are allowed, they are going to hurt the national interests. Hasten with caution. Give them only as much as we can take from them. With those remarks, I beg to second."
}