HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 206607,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/206607/?format=api",
"text_counter": 185,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Tuju",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 345,
"legal_name": "Raphael Tuju",
"slug": "raphael-tuju"
},
"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to take this opportunity to thank hon. Members for the very constructive comments that they have made on this debate. I want, especially, to thank most of the hon. Members who appealed to the Minister for Finance, that the Ministry deserves to be better funded than it has been so far. I hope that the Ministry for Finance is represented and that they took note. I want to start by responding to hon. Members' concerns about the gender balance in the Ministry with respect to ambassadors. I do not blame the hon. Members who felt that there is low representation of ladies with respect to appointments in the Ministry. I just want to list some of them just to bring the level of comfort of hon. Members that, indeed, we have addressed the issue of gender equity in the appointment of ambassadors. For example, the ambassadors who are ladies include the Ambassador to Namibia in Windhoek, Beijing in China, Islamabad in Pakistan, Geneva, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Ottawa, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and the recent Ambassador to Netherlands who just resigned is a lady. I can assure you that any other appointments that may be coming in the near future will put into consideration the issue of gender. We do have certain High Commissions where also the 3584 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 29, 2007 ambassadors are ladies. These include, the Ambassador in Pretoria South Africa. Our Charge de Affaires at the moment in New Delhi, who effectively heads the mission is a lady. So, if there is any species who are endangered in the diplomatic service, then I think men's number is going down really fast and we need to probably put into place measures to protect the male species. I would also like to mention missions where the deputy heads are ladies. These include the Deputy Head at the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), UN- Habitat, Kuala Lumpar, Windhoek, Harare, Kigali, Tokyo and Abuja. At the headquarters, the head of Europe, Commonwealth and International jobs office in diaspora is a lady, the national co- ordinator of the Great Lakes Region is a lady. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the headquarters, there are also several ladies who are heads or deputy heads of divisions. This applies to the Inter Oil Corporation (IOC) in America, Asia, Austro-Asia and the Horn of Africa. So, really whichever way you look at it, we do have a very good ratio of females to males. The overall ratio of females to males in the Ministry is 43 to 57 which is way above the 30 per cent Government policy on gender balance. So, we are 13 percentage points above what is recommended as the minimum balance as far as the ratios are concerned. So, I would like to assure the hon. Members that I have at least stated the facts in that particular score and hope they will appreciate what has been done. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also the other issue of the United Nations (UN) office in Nairobi. It is important for us, as a country, to appreciate that it has a major impact on Kenya's economy. Its clients at Gigiri contribute in excess of US$350 million to the economy, second only to the tea industry as a source of foreign exchange. Due to the UN office in Nairobi, 300,000 conference visitors come to Kenya each year which boosts the aggregate spending in the economy. The UN office in Nairobi has also helped the country in various ways, including technical assistance and research, training of interns, donations to schools and so forth. The UN office in Nairobi's position in Kenya is really a reflection of the fact that this country has enjoyed a lot of stability and peace in this part of Africa. This has enabled the UN to perform its mandate in our region. Indeed, the UN office in Nairobi is among the four top offices of the UN in the whole world and the only one in a developing country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, several hon. Members contributed and I do accept the fact that, probably, we do not have many Kenyans at the level of Deputy Secretary and Assistant Secretary. I would like to be able to mention to you that this is something which I have personally taken up with the UN Secretary-General during his recent visit to Kenya. I have even written to him personally to try to secure certain positions for Kenyans given the fact that we are a major host. However, I think it will be important for Kenyans to appreciate that in the whole world, the country which has got the biggest number of staff working for the UN system is the United States of America (USA) with 2,000. Number two is Kenya with about 700 and number three is Ethiopia with about 400 to 500. So, in the whole world, Kenya has the second highest number of people working in the UN system. So, while we agitate for higher positions in the UN, we should appreciate that in the whole world, this country to have the second highest number of people working in the UN, the fourth or third biggest headquarters of the UN and for it to host the only UN headquarters in a developing country, I think we should also appreciate what we have got from the UN system rather than all the time accusing it for not giving us certain positions. So, while we should agitate for higher positions, we should appreciate what we already have. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, hon. Members also made comments on the issue of our relations with our immediate next door neighbours. We take very seriously our relations with our next door neighbours, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and the countries in the East African Community (EAC) region and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region. The COMESA bloc is the single biggest trading bloc that Kenya trades with. We account for close to or around 40 per cent of the trade in the COMESA region. In terms of the most important August 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3585 country with respect to our trade in the world, Uganda is the most important country with which we trade. However, it is important for us to appreciate that if you take a country like Ethiopia, for example, we have negligible trade relations with it. They have a population of over 70 million people. Compare that with the population of Uganda which is in the 28 million to 30 million bracket. Indeed, a lot of northern Uganda does not do too much trade with us. So, we realise just how important Ethiopia as a country can be. It is a good and important trading partner which may even overtake Uganda in a very short time if we open the road which goes up north to our Kenya- Ethiopia border. So, I would like to assure hon. Members that we take very seriously our relationship with the countries next door to us. Part of the paradigm shift is that we give more importance to those countries which are around us because we do enjoy certain comparative advantages in our trade with these countries because we have more to export to them than we have to export to European countries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to finally go into the area of answering the question which was raised by an hon. Member with respect to our relationship with Somalia, USA and other countries. First, let us appreciate that the problem of terrorism is not confined to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In fact, the problem of terrorism is an international problem. As we relate with countries in our region, we take particular care when we deal with the issue of terrorism. We are very sensitive to the issue of terrorism. This country has been a victim of terrorism twice in 1998 and 2002. Each time this happened, it affected our economy and tourism sector and Kenyans died. So, it is not something that we can talk about to score debating points. However, what is important to appreciate is the fact that when it comes to the issue of dealing with terrorism in this country, it is this Government that had the spine to stand up and say no to the Anti-Terrorism Bill where we felt that it was going to amount to negative profiling of certain sections of our society. Indeed, I can say that again knowing very well that some of those people who were seated across this House even tried to use the issue of the Anti-Terrorism Bill to endear themselves to some of the Americans that they are trying to bash here. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we want to relate with the United States of America (USA) within the context of honesty, and not within the context of trying to score cheap debating points. We were able to tell our American colleagues that with respect to the Anti-Terrorism Bill, we have problems with it. Therefore, we were not even going to table it in the House, as long as it created the impression that we were going to profile some of our citizens in the wrong way. So, we had the spine to do that; they do not have the spine, and they should be the last people to be lecturing us on that particular issue. I want to wind up, so that we can proceed into the Committee of the Whole House. I really appreciate the comments from hon. Members. I have taken note of the constructive criticism. I am not going into defence, and to try and explain everything that was raised. We take the criticism in good spirit. We know that, as a country, we have to work for the good of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know that the problem of Somalia is complex. We have been accused, in this House, for not having been at the centre of what is happening in Somalia at the moment, but I can repeat on the Floor of this House that Kenya will not be sending troops to Somalia. If that is what somebody feels amounts to more engagement, I can be able to tell him or her that we are not going to be engaging with Somalia to the extent of sending Kenyan troops there. Our approach in diplomacy is negotiation, negotiation and negotiation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, an hon. Member said that we should even boycott the current peace talks that are taking place in Somalia. If we boycott them, then what? We must encourage negotiation, even if only a few people go to the negotiating table, we will start with those ones. Others may decide to come one or two years down the line, but the negotiation must be an on-going process. It is not a happening. It is not an incident. It is a process. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to thank hon. Members most sincerely for their 3586 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 29, 2007 very constructive comments. I beg to move."
}