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"id": 206582,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Bahari",
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"legal_name": "Abdul Bahari Ali Jillo",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the Vote of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I want to join my colleagues in supporting this Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the risk of repeating myself, I would like to join my colleagues and re-visit the issue of appointments. It is very critical that this Ministry is left alone by politicians, so that it appoints professionals. Of late, it has been very common that whenever there is pressure on the Government, they reward politicians with appointments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This exposes us very badly because employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs interact with the rest of the world. We should take this very seriously because they are the face of Kenya out there. They represent Kenya, therefore, once they see the ambassador that is the image of this country that they have. Some of these people have never heard about Kenya. Perhaps, they know about the Maasai Mara National Park more than Kenya. When they meet our ambassadors and find them not competent, they will form an image of this country. Therefore, for better image of this country, this issue needs to be taken seriously. The Minister needs to take it up and ensure that professionals are appointed. If that is not done, then the professionals in the Ministry will be wondering why they are there, yet, they cannot rise through the ranks to become ambassadors and some fellows from nowhere are parachuted to those appointments. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to revisit the issue of trade in the missions. Since this Government took over, there have been many visits from businessmen from other countries to this place. If one was to make a follow up and try and tell us what we have achieved from those visits it would very little, because in many of the missions, there are no trade officers. With the kind of political appointments of ambassadors that we have had, then you realise that those fellows come here, make proposals but nobody makes a follow up. At the end of the day, it is just an empty shell. There is literally nothing. There are also a lot of business opportunities for Kenya out in those countries where we have missions. We are yet to see any ambassador who has taken it very seriously and ensured that Kenya benefited from those opportunities. So, if you want to do good business, it starts with the appointment of individuals who are competent to handle their assignments. In particular, in foreign missions you need individuals who are multi-skilled in terms of professionalism; fellows who can interact at that high level and at the same time be multi-disciplinary in their approach; at least, they need basic skills in common disciplines. So, I think the Ministry, in their performance contracting, August 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3573 should give a lot of weight to this, because unless they do that, I do not think these issues will be taken seriously. The issue of tourism is very key. They need to promote tourism and come up with tangible results. The problem in this country is that people just want to hold conferences, they are in meetings throughout and you cannot see them. When you ask at the end of the year, what the tangible things are that have come out of those meetings and conferences, there is very little. So, there should be some quantifiable benefits from some of these meetings and trips that we make to and out of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have looked at the Printed Development Estimates of this Ministry. It is very important that the issue of ownership of offices and residences abroad be taken seriously, because we are not there in those countries temporarily. We must go out of our way and ensure that we own the offices and residences wherever we are. In the past, we have behaved as if we are temporary, as if we are just there only for a short time. We keep on paying rent throughout, and this is extremely costly. Even from what has been approved here, it is like they have such a big shortfall that they just decided to give the missions peanuts. It is like Kshs10 million across the board. Normally when that kind of a thing happens, it is a clear indication that they did not get sufficient funds, and what has happened is basically just to satisfy some basic needs. So, the issue is very critical in our missions, and it is high time the Treasury looked into it with the seriousness it deserves. I want to touch on the issue of Kenyans abroad. It has become evident that we do not have proper records of Kenyans who are outside in other countries; they are not known by our missions outside there. We must find a formula of ensuring that Kenyans register with our missions abroad. I know we cannot force them to do that. I know this issue has come up here before, but we must motivate them to come and register with us. What is it that they find--- When human beings find that there is something beneficial to them, they will go for it. Many of these Kenyans have a lot of potential. They are lecturers in universities, they are doing businesses abroad; they are engaging in serious economic activities in their lives. They end up remitting a lot of money, to the tune of Kshs50 billion, to this country every year. That is what it stands at as of today. So, they make a very significant contribution, and we must be able to give them service in return. We should not take this for granted, and say that because they are Kenyans, they will definitely remit some funds here, and we ignore the fact that they are very crucial. So, the Ministry must put together, at least, something that is going to motivate Kenyans who are out there by way of giving them services. For example, all the information they want should be easily available from the missions. The missions should go out to bring them together, so that they feel as part and parcel of this country when they are out there. Because they have been ignored, you will hardly see many of them at the missions, unless there is a serious problem. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}