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{
    "id": 206605,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/206605/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in supporting my Ministry's Vote, I just want to touch on what point that I feel needs attention. I can see the Minister for Immigration and Registration of Persons. One of the problems in our Ministry has to do with the management of visas. The Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons in my humble view needs to revolutionise and change with times. Look at West Africa, the entire region from Cameroon to August 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3583 Dakar, there is only one visa issuance centre in Lagos. So, a person who wants to come to Kenya from Dakar or Cameroon has to go to Lagos to look for a visa. They are advised to come back after 14 days before the visas are issued. We have had cases where investors who come into the country from the Middle East, say Saudi Arabia; an Arab investor with a list of ten to 15 support staff, and the moment the immigration attaches in the missions see a nationality of a Palestinian or a Syrian, they automatically say, that this one cannot go and yet, those are the brains behind the investor. We need better and innovative ways of issuing our visas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, what Dubai has done with Emirates Airline and Qatar with Qatar Airline is that, anywhere where their airline goes and they have no mission, the airline manages their visa regime. We are talking of opening our doors and gates to investors. Every other person who comes here and spends US$10 is value added to our economy. Anybody who comes here and spends 2 Euros is value added to our economy. We should have, and I think we have internal mechanisms to know if a person from Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Lagos or wherever is, is a bad person or not. Let us open our doors if we want to develop and achieve our Vision 2030. You cannot develop by closing yourself in. I want to urge the Minister and the Government, now that the Vice-President is here, to find a way of relaxing the issuance of visas to people who want to come to this country, because this is a competitive world. If a Middle Eastern tourist wants to come here and see a lion, the lion is also in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia. If we do not issue the visa, they will go to another country. That is revenue lost. This is a problem we encounter day in, day out. My Minister and I, have spoken to Kenya Airways. They are more than willing to partner with the Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons in the issuance of visas. I want to urge and humbly do so that we are denying ourselves a lot of advantages by closing our doors to visitors. The rest of the issues that I will not touch on, my Minister will deal with in his reply. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}