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"id": 208533,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Midiwo",
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"id": 184,
"legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it would be good for this country if the Government seeks Parliamentary approval before it privatises any State corporation. We, as the representatives of the people, need to put our true sense on it. We need to give a thumbs-up as the representatives of our people, so that we know that their interests are properly taken care of. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are many things which are done the wrong way as far as monopoly is concerned. Take for example the media. The biggest debate around this country now is whether or not, Parliament and the Government are attempting to gag the media. 3190 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 15, 2007 Personally, I think we have come too far to gag the media. However, we need to have a law, so that one person does not own everything in the media. The problem is that some of these people are so crude. They do not have any educational background to run a media house. They use our good editors to do bad stories which hurt the credibility of this country. So, it is the media owners, not the editors or reporters, who are a problem. We need to have a law; like there is in every civilised society, which says how much somebody can own. You cannot own a radio station, television station and a newspaper as an individual. That does not happen anywhere around the world, particularly if it is the same market! We, as a country, need to check what is happening around us, so that there is no monopoly in any one sector. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in this country our people are hurt by monopoly. Take the case of the East Africa Breweries (EAB). Yes, it is the biggest taxpayer to the Exchequer. However, it cannot let any other company, particularly the indigenous ones, do business in this country. Castle Breweries tried, but they were bought out by the EAB. In fact, I have been told that when Castle Breweries opened, the EAB had over 200 salespeople, now they have 40. This is because they do not have competition. Every time, they increase prices and reduce the quality of what our people consume. We cannot let the EAB do that! We cannot let monopoly hurt our people to that extent. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last year, during debate on the Finance Bill, there was the issue of the much coveted company called Keroche Breweries. Recently we, as members of the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade, visited this company. We thought the Government should finance the company because it is employing Kenyans and doing a fantastic job. However, the EAB called hon. Members of the Committee to intimidate them, so that they could bring a law here to close down Keroche Breweries. We cannot have the \"big brothers\" intimidating smaller companies! The same thing happened between the British American Tobacco (BAT) and Mastermind Tobacco Ltd. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, they want to convert the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade into a tool of frustrating other companies. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}