HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 206826,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/206826/?format=api",
"text_counter": 142,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Lesrima",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 178,
"legal_name": "Simon Saimanga Lesirma",
"slug": "simon-lesirma"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I want to support the budget of this Ministry and congratulate them for getting an opportunity to present their Vote, after a number of years. This is an important Ministry which has been given very little money; the equivalent of what has been allocated to the Special Branch Department. You know my problems with that Department. They deserve more money because of the new focus on economic diplomacy. Let me also congratulate the Ministry for being very gender-sensitive. There were discussions earlier on about the Ministry not being gender-sensitive. I think the Minister should just August 28, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3503 ignore that. There were times when we had female Permanent Secretaries in that Ministry. However, all they did was to destroy the careers of their female colleagues and other male ambassadors. Therefore, I must congratulate the Minister because if those women are not here, they are out there flying flags as ambassadors. I am sure that the men sitting here are envying the women who are out there as ambassadors. We must congratulate the Ministry and the Government for being gender-sensitive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to employ trade attaches who are familiar with trade issues. If possible, we need to employ people who have been involved in trade. When we sent a very young trade attache to Washington, we should know that he cannot have access to the multinationals or to the high echelons of the American Government. We should get very highly-qualified personnel to the extent that, perhaps, the trade attache should be at the same level, if not slightly lower, than the ambassador. He should be facilitated to move around to promote trade issues for Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad that the Government is providing housing for our ambassadors in critical stations such as Brussels. The Kenyan Ambassador in Brussels has performed an excellent job in terms of promoting the European Union/Kenya Trade activities. This also applies to the Kenyan Ambassador in the Hague. It is commendable to realise that the Government is going to provide housing there. I want to support the idea that we should recognise those countries that give us high economic returns. Our exports to Uganda amount to Kshs43 billion. Uganda is a very important station, and so is Tanzania. We need to reciprocate. Our people are dominating employment positions in Uganda and Tanzania, particularly in the hotel industry. Our people are chief executives in industry or sectors and even in banking. It is natural for human beings to feel a little jealous sometimes because Kenyans are dominating all sectors in those countries. We need to be a little bit sensitive to the needs of Tanzanians and Ugandans. When they are here, we should facilitate them to access work permits easily. We should also be generous in facilitating whatever Ugandans require. They give Kenyans not only trade opportunities but many Kenyans are also holding key positions in those countries. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to congratulate this Minister for focusing on the East. We do not owe an explanation to anybody as to why we are going to the East. We should also focus on our immediate neighbours like the Republic of Congo. I visited Congo Brazaville three years ago as a Member of Parliament/ACP-EU and we were rather disturbed to learn that the chicken and milk consumed there are imported from France. When we went to Congo Kinshasa, we were told that there is a Kenyan Trade Attache there but we were not able to locate him. We think that those opportunities should be exploited, especially now that Kenya Airways has expanded routes to that region. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lack of funds cannot be attributed to the Ministry. It is not the Ministry's fault that they are not adequately catered for. Treasury should recognise this as a very important Ministry. More so, it is the manner of disbursing the funds once the Budget has been passed. There has been occasion when there are delays in sending money to the relevant embassies, to the extent that the staff are not able to pay school fees for their children abroad. Sometimes the staff stay for three to four months without getting salaries and this is very embarrassing. I want to be excused if the situation has been corrected but it is very bad to have our staff out there starving or their children not being able to go to school due to delays in disbursements. They should get first priority. Finally, I want to, again, congratulate the Ministry for the new policy of acquiring assets all over the world. I recall that in one Embassy in Geneva in 1993, they were paying at Kshs750,000 per month. That is a colossal sum! It is also a shame that 22 years after re-opening our Embassy in 3504 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 28, 2007 Dar es-Salaam, funds have not been provided for to put facilities for the Embassy. I think it is commendable to see that, that is being taken into account. I would like to say that as we open an Embassy in Abuja, we should not forget that we will always require presence in Lagos. There are so many of our people who transit through Lagos and Abuja is a little out of the way and it is not open during weekends. With those few remarks, I beg to support this Vote."
}