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{
"id": 208536,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/208536/?format=api",
"text_counter": 176,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 226,
"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
"slug": "wangari-maathai"
},
"content": "So, you have Kenyans working day and night. The middlemen are then sent to--- I guess those are the first men who benefit from the monopolies of trade practices that make sure that, while they continue to amass a lot of wealth, the farmers, themselves, continue to be extremely poor. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, how else does one explain that, in a country like this, where 60 per cent of the people are poor--- According to the United Nations, 60 per cent of our people cannot make a dollar a day and yet, in this same country, banks make more profit than many other countries, including their own! How can that happen? People make more money in poverty- stricken countries than they make in rich countries! It is because trade practices in our country favour the rich and a few individuals. They leave the majority of our people as victims of exploitation. I think it is laws like those that really need to be addressed, if we truly and sincerely want to reduce poverty in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is for the same reasons that this region of Africa is 3192 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 15, 2007 deeply indebted to Western countries and other developed countries in general. That is because when we went to World Bank--- When we went to multi-lateral sources of funds, we borrowed money, which was a trade practice. But it is a trade practice that actually allowed us to borrow money that will be paid by generations to come! When we try to campaign and have those debts cancelled, I have been amazed that some countries, including our own, have not been in favour of those debts being cancelled. That is because of the conditions that were put there by organisations such as the World Bank. That would, of course, mean that they would have to borrow what they can pay. They would also have to make less profit and use that money more accountably, so that they do not accumulate such debts that we cannot pay, and have to pass them to our future generations. So, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I really want to say that I support this Motion. But even as we craft the law, I would like us, as leaders, to understand that, if this country continues to be as poor as it is, and if this region continues to be as poor as it is, the people who get blamed are the leaders. It is only the leaders that can introduce trade practices that will protect their people and stop the exploitation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few words, I beg to support."
}