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{
"id": 227045,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/227045/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
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"speaker": {
"id": 195,
"legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
"slug": "raila-odinga"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have continued to scratch the surface of that very great potential. We have got comparative advantage in that particular industry. We keep on looking at what we call \"sun and sand tourists\", and those tourists who come to look at our wild animals in the country. We have not looked at the other potential that we have, such as cultural and eco-tourism. We have not tried to tap the potential that we have in those other areas. We also have the advantage of commercial tourism. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, look at Dubai! If you visit Dubai, it is just a piece of desert. When you are landing in Dubai, you just see sand. There is nothing much in Dubai. Yet, in that kind of very hostile geographical environment, they have managed to create conditions that attract 10 million tourists every year. Those are people who go to Dubai to do shopping. The Government of Dubai estimates that every person who goes to Dubai spends an average of US$1,000 for visa processing, local transport, accommodation and food. That has nothing to do with the other profit they will get as a result of shopping. If you relate that to 10 million tourists, that translates to US$10 billion per annum! That is what Dubai gets from that kind of tourism. With that kind of money, the Government of Dubai does not need assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The goods that people go to buy in Dubai are not manufactured there. Those goods are manufactured in Japan, China, Taiwan, Europe and so on. Nobody has realised that we can create a \"Dubai\" in our country, especially in Mombasa. Commercialising the Port of Mombasa, privatising it and making it a free port can create a mini Dubai here. I have gone to the extent of doing research in that particular area. I know that it can be done. We can expand the Port of Mombasa up to an area called Dongo Kundu. When I was the Minister for Roads and Public Works, I even came up with a proposal for a Likoni by- pass, for the purposes of creating that free port. If we did so, the Nigerians, Cameroonians and people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who travel aboard Kenya Airways to go and shop in Dubai, would not need to go there. Kenya Airways is doing a roaring business transporting Nigerians from Lagos to Dubai because they allow more luggage than Air Emirates. These people need not go to Dubai. Kenya Airways can be flying them from Lagos directly to Mombasa. If we did so, we would create regional tourism. This is the kind of tourism that does not depend on travel advisories from the US State Department which we are subjected to all the times. We always hear them say Kenya is an unsafe destination and that Americans who come here do so at their own risk. We would be able to have tourists from the region of Africa coming to Mombasa April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 571 City. These tourists do not need to be told not to go to Kenya because it is unsafe. We will be able to get at least 2 million more tourists. However, nobody is thinking out of the box here. People just keep on looking at what has been done in the past. With this kind of volume of tourists, we will be able to expand hotels. A lot of job opportunities will be created. The 500,000 job opportunities that this Government has been unable to create will be created that way. This is free advice. I know that they are unable to do it, but we will do it when we come to power next year. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we, as a country, must take the critical steps to move towards industrialisation. We must move this country away from poverty and take it to where the founding fathers of this nation wanted it to be. We find that the vision of the founding father of this nation is to be found in our national anthem. The first stanza of our national anthem says:- \"Bless this our land and nation, Justice be our shield and defender, May we dwell in unity, peace and liberty Plenty be found within our borders\". That vision is one of a developed, prosperous and democratic country. That is the Kenyan dream that has eluded us for all these years since we became independent. This is because we have been ruled by mediocrity since Independence. That is the reason why we have not been able to attain the Kenyan dream. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, ethnicity has been the order of the day in our country. A country that is torn along ethnic lines is a country that is at war with itself and it cannot expect to develop. That is why we need visionary leadership like Mwalimu Nyerere did in Tanzania by creating better values that Tanzanians could aspire to. He managed to unite those spread ethnic communities. Tanzania has got more tribes than Kenya. However, Mwalimu Nyerere united them in one strong united nation called Tanzania. If you go to Tanzania and ask somebody: \"Wewe nikabila gani?, he will tell you: \"Wewe ni Mkenya. Hapa Tanzania hatuulizi hivyo. Hapa tunaulizaunatoka jimbo gani\" . We must move away from looking at each other as coming from this or that other tribe, and create a united Kenyan nation. Unless we do so, the Kenya we all desire and want will not emerge. We must create the Kenyan personality by uniting our people. That is the only way we will be able to do away with things like ethnic clashes. How can people continue fighting, killing each other as it is now happening in Mount Elgon? It is a pity that Kenyans are killing each other, 43 years after Independence. Basically, this is because of poor leadership and bad governance. I want to see a united Kenya where we respect each other. I want to be part of that Kenya. I would like to see that Kenya emerge before I die. If that happens, I will be the happiest person in my grave. With those few remarks, I support."
}