HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 216738,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216738/?format=api",
"text_counter": 146,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. M'Mukindia",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 271,
"legal_name": "Kirugi Joseph Laiboni M'Mukindia",
"slug": "kirugi-mmukindia"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I was saying that I want to join my colleagues in congratulating the Minister for delivering this year's Budget, which, in my opinion, is very ambitious. I think Kenyans, and Kenya as a whole, must be ambitious. If we have to achieve any goal, it is better to aim at the stars. Even if we do not reach there, we may well land on the moon. But if we do not aim for stars, we will end up remaining pedestrians. For that 2080 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 reason, I wish to thank the Minister, and the Government as a whole, for trying to visualise the Vision 2030 and making the first or what I may call tentative steps towards achieving that Vision 2030, which is envisaged to ensure that, at least, we get rid of poverty and we become a middle income country in about 15 to 20 years. While the goal has been defined broadly, the actual path to achieving that goal has not been defined very, very clearly. In my opinion, having set the goal of 2030, then there must be some concrete steps which need to be taken in all sectors of our economy to try to achieve this. I believe there has been a bit of development or clarity of purpose and implementation, maybe, in the ICT sector. If you look at the other areas such as agriculture and manufacturing, I am not sure that there are concrete steps towards achieving this Vision 2030. I think a lot more work needs to be done in that area. We must ensure that we define the steps that we need to take in concrete terms and the amount of investment required to achieve those concrete steps towards achieving the goal of a middle income country by 2030. The target of trying to achieve a growth rate of 10 per cent from 2008 onwards is a good goal. But how do you achieve that goal? What are the concrete steps that are going to be taken in order for us to get there? While I commend the Minister for an ambitious vision and coming up with the steps to get there, a lot more work needs to be done. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister also highlighted areas that he thinks work needs to be done on. I do commend him for trying to improve the quality of infrastructure. That is the expansion of roads. We shall need reliable supply of energy to ensure that we do not hold back development. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have mentioned the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development where I think there are some clarity of minds, perhaps, because the Ministry of Information and Communications is very clear in what they want to achieve. I do not know whether other ministries are clear in their minds as to what they want to achieve in their own development agenda to achieve the Vision 2030. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also think that, in the educational side, there has been a right movement. However, I am disappointed personally that we have not put sufficient capital investment in our vocational schools and polytechnics. It will not be possible or feasible to achieve the goal that we have set for ourselves of achieving the Vision 2030 if we do not train our people on the technical side. Here, we are very poor as of now. There is a huge shortage in this country of engineers and technicians. There is not enough money being spent to improve and expand our vocational training institutions, polytechnics as well as the engineering departments in our various universities. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was also disappointed to note that while the Minister removed taxes on the construction of universities, he did not do something similar regarding technical colleges. We know there are very many entrepreneurs in this country who are willing to set up technical colleges where we really have a shortage of manpower and we shall continue to have a shortage of manpower. The Minister should extend those tax benefits to colleges as well as secondary schools. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also note that the Minister has set aside funds to pay off pyrethrum and coffee farmers. Pyrethrum has been a major issue over many years and we hope that the farmers will be paid fairly soon to ensure that they go back to farming pyrethrum. Pyrethrum, as you know, is a major industry. In the past, it has been discriminated through taxation. While we have exempted the tax on imported synthetic pyrethrin from abroad, we have actually taxed our own extracts. That does not make any sense. It looks ludicrous when we are trying to industrialise, achieve the Vision 2030 and create employment, at the same time, we are taxing our own farmers, while exempting tax on imported pyrethrin. Therefore, the new move by the Minister is welcome and I hope it is put in place urgently. June 27, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2081 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) and Women Enterprise Development Fund (WEDF) again is welcome. However, while that is ongoing, we must accept the fact that not all youths are potential entrepreneurs. I would say out of a population of 100, only about 20 per cent are entrepreneur-minded, that is both men and women. For that reason, 80 per cent of our youth will continue to depend on direct employment. Now, where does this one come from? The problem we have, as we are all aware of, is that of unemployment leading to insecurity, crime and drug abuse, et cetera . We have to address this issue head on. I was disappointed that the Minister did not elaborate on how to solve this problem or how to begin to solve it. I would have expected very specific and explicit statement from the Minister that, for example, all Government contracts must have a labour content of 40 per cent. We must begin somewhere. If we want to build a road from Maai-Mahiu to Lanet at Kshs1 billion, then 40 per cent of that money must go to labour-related payments. That way, we will be able to employ the youth in that area. If we were to make that statement very clear, and make it a contractual obligation by whoever is given the contract, then we may as well begin to address the issue of unemployment amongst our youth. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, I would want to encourage the Minister, and the Ministry as a whole, to look into this issue as a matter of urgency and re-address it and ensure that our roads, bridges, airports, ports, dams, building construction and so on and so forth, where Government contracts are concerned, the labour content is explicitly specified and that amount of money goes to the unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled youths, or people in that area. This is not a new idea. This is exactly what South Korea did in the 1980s. We know that China has been building roads by hand. We know that Indian women still build roads by hand. So, it is nothing new. It is not that it is rocket science or anything. The question is: Are our people at the Treasury and in the various Ministries willing to work hard enough to ensure that they isolate what things can be done with machinery and what things can be done using hands? That way, we can engage our youth and keep them out of trouble. To me, the labour content of Government contracts is a major issue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the manufacturing sector, the Minister mentioned that he is going to remove taxes from certain levels of housing, especially where housing is going to affect low income people. That is very welcome. However, I am aware that if you want to revolutionise manufacturing, the Minister could have gone further in the area of housing. If you look at a house, you will see that it has everything, from furniture to doors to cement and to everything else. If we were to target that area and say: Let us concentrate on whatever affects housing, we may be able to support our manufacturing sector and ensure that our houses actually become cheap. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}