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"id": 227022,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/227022/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Angwenyi",
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"legal_name": "Jimmy Nuru Ondieki Angwenyi",
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"content": "were patented by somebody in Japan. Today, I understand that our kitenges are being patented in England. Yet, England is a member of ACP-EU. Why can that organisation not advise and persuade England not to patent our kitenge ? The lady who designed kitenge lives in Mombasa. She can earn something instead of transferring those earning to an Englishwoman who has not done any work towards the development of kitenge . Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a few years ago, we got STABEX funds from the European Union (EU). They were supposed to provide road network and rural electrification in areas that produced export for the European market. Some of those areas included Kericho, Thika, Nandi, most of Western Province and Kisii. But not a single penny of that amount went to those areas! Most of it - and I do not want to sound parochial - ended up in Murang'a and some parts of Kiambu. It was Kshs6 billion worth of aid. It was meant for all the areas in this country that made exports to the European Union. That is why we must address the issue of equitable distribution of resources in this country. I always hear year in, year out - that such and such area must get water, boarding school, relief food, seeds and fertilisers. But I have never heard, even for a single day, the people of Kitutu Chache receiving any funding from any of those issues. Last year, we were unable to get seeds and fertiliser on time. This year too, we were unable to get seeds and fertiliser on time. April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 561 Instead of the Government waiting to supply us with relief food, it should have given seeds and fertiliser to those poor women who wake up at 5.00 a.m. in the morning and work until 5.00 p.m. in the evening, before they go to the hills to fetch water. So, what I am saying is that some of those organisations should try to enhance the livelihood of Kenyans. That is the only benefit we can get from that type of organisation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you realise that the WTO is about to collapse. It is going to collapse mainly because of two trading blocks; the United States of America (USA) which has refused to stop subsidising its farmers and the European Union which has refused to stop subsidising its exports. The EU, for example, is part of the ACP-EU. If it were to agree tomorrow that they will not subsidise their agricultural production, we would compete. Our sugar would be able to compete with their sugar. Our carrots would be able to compete with their carrots. Our fruits would compete with their fruits. In fact, we could even be more competitive. That is when we can have world trade. But when it appears that any trade agreement is going to benefit the developing world, those developed countries go against it. That is why they want us to address trade issues that benefit them. Recently, we realised that when this Government bent towards the East, the British were not amused. They do not want to support this country because they said we were leaning towards China. But when the President made a visit to the Peoples Republic of China - and I think he should make two or three more visits - aid started flowing into this country. That is because we showed them that we want to be independent. But we need to take that independent position for the benefit of our people, and not for the benefit of the people of England, France or Germany. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, we can benefit from ACP-EU in the area of energy. As you know, in this country, the proportion of people who have access to electricity is less than 15 per cent. That is mainly in urban centres. I know that two years ago, the Germany Government set aside 500 million Euros to support renewable energy. I hope our representatives to the ACP-EU can negotiate for us to access that funding. That way, we can have small hydro- electric power stations in our countryside. We can support sugar producing factories to produce energy. We can also support the exploitation of our geothermal energy. That way, Mr. ole Ntimama and all his people in their manyattas can have cheap power. In fact, they can be provided with power free of charge. Without going haywire, I think the Maasai, as Mr. ole Ntimama lamented here, have got a short end of this country. All the settlement schemes in this country - and I conducted a research on that about ten years ago - have been established in Maasailand. But there is not a single Maasai settlement scheme in this country. There is nothing we have given to those people. Why can we not get Messrs. ole Ntimama, ole Ntutu and ole Metito to some room and tell them: \"We have taken so much of your ranches. How much shall we give you to satisfy you and your people?\" If this Government can do that, the Maasai can provide a lot of revenue earning avenues for this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}