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{
    "id": 205887,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/205887/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Maore",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 284,
        "legal_name": "Richard Maoka Maore",
        "slug": "maoka-maore"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am talking about the Departmental Committee on Energy, Communications and Public Works. They left us more confused than we were before they attended the Committee meeting. We are wondering what kind of due diligence was done to invite these fellows into the concessioning of the railway. Since they took over, they do not seen to have the money, capacity, resources or ability to revamp and revive the Kenya Railways as we wanted. If you go to the Port of Mombasa, you will see that there is so much congestion of containers. This is because our road capacity and the transport outlet required is not there. We still have a few question marks over that issue. We commend the re-opening and repairs of the Wajir Airport. I happen to have been a major beneficiary because of the miraa trade with Somalia. I really condemned the idea of the Government stopping aircraft from taking miraa to Somalia through the Wilson Airport because of insecurity. They should have known what to do instead of closing the airport. Maybe they were trying to serve the American interests with regard to the stories of terrorism, among others. The other issue concerns the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). Between June and July, the Director-General was supposed to have retired. There has not been any movement. The Director-General of the KCAA should retire because he has finished his two terms. There should be no attempts or excuses to extend, quietly or irregularly, the tenure of someone who has served the two-term limit as per the Act which was passed by this House. I also agree with the Seconder of the Motion about the issue of the free-trade zone. I am surprised that the Minister has referred to it as one of the achievements. What we have near Dongo Kundu is a shopping mall. Someone has opened a yard of maybe 100 by 40 feet and we are calling it a free-trade zone. That will also require a policy change on how we will harmonise between the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Kenya Ports Authority, and all the whole regime about the free trade zone. Is it duty free? What happens when you buy goods there and they find their way into the market? We need some guidelines to regulate that. The other issue the Minister talked about is the Kenya Maritime Authority. We passed the Kenya Maritime Authority Act in this House. However, we cannot operationalize the Kenya Maritime Authority before passing the Merchant Shipping Bill. We have, as a Committee, gone though the Bill very many times. We do not know why the Government has not prioritised the passing of this Bill. Under what law will the Kenya Maritime Authority operate? If we do not pass the Merchant Shipping Bill, which has over 500 clauses, which would be sections if it was an Act, how do we expect to operate without it? The Ninth Parliament has the red light. How and when do we intend to pass it? With all these issues being raised, we have a major Ministry with many issues pending. The Ministry has not benefitted from putting the same issues into a Sessional Paper, bringing them to this House and have them passed so that they can be implemented. We do not want the idea of implementing issues and then they seek post-facto authority. That is the best the September 4, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3653 Treasury can do. Sometimes, they comply with those issues since some of them are politically- prudent. Generally, they are not in the interest of the country. With regard to the issue of the Kenya Airports Authority and the money it generates, I have heard the Minister say that they are generating 90 per cent of the money--- But when you look at the issues raised when they proposed to expand the airport, you will see that we were getting US$100 million from the World Bank. That is how the issue of consultancy came in and the Canadians took it. They have increased the cost of consultancy. The Minister said that they are going to fund the expansion of the airport from their own resources. What happened? I hope that when he is responding, he will tell the House what happened to the funding from the World Bank. Have they pulled out? Why are they funding 90 per cent of the expansion programme from local collections? With those few remarks, I beg to support this Vote."
}