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"id": 227048,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/227048/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Obwocha",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Planning and National Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 356,
"legal_name": "Henry Onyancha Obwocha",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I beg to support the Report of the 6th Session of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly and the 12th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. I have a few comments to make on this Report. I commend the hon. Members for producing this Report because many of our hon. Members go out to attend various meetings and yet we do not see their reports. I want to challenge the hon. Members of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), where I was an hon. Member once and we laid a report here. Since the hon. Members were re-nominated and others filled our positions, I have never seen a report being laid on the Table of this House. It must be told to hon. Members that when they go out for these meetings, it is not leisure they are going to look for. They represent the Kenya National Assembly. They must come back with reports. We must know what is happening. Under the African, Caribbean and the Pacific, there are certain issues that are eminent. For example, the sugar quota for Kenya is only 5,000 metric tonnes, while Mauritius has 490,000 metric tonnes. These are the issues the hon. Members should raise there. Recently, some of the islands in the Caribbean, for example, Saint Kips and Navies, surrendered 15,900 metric tonnes. We tried to get them to Africa, but we could not. There is even 40,000 metric tonnes that is coming from Trinidad and Tobago. Certain issues that should be articulated by these hon. Members should come out clearly in their reports. There is going to be a meeting in Fiji at the end of this month and I hope we will be able to bargain as Members of the African/Caribbean and the Pacific. One issue that comes out from this Report is about tourism. This is extremely important because we know that in our country, tourism plays a major role in terms of income generation. We want to commend the people of this country for turning around the tourism sector. Many of us who went even to Mombasa at the end of last year for Christmas and new year holidays, could not even get accommodation in hotels. I had to change hotels twice to be able survive until 1st January, 576 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 11, 2007 2007. This means that the sector has been turned around by our people. However, we need to address the issue of the road infrastructure to our parks. An hon. Member like the old man from Narok who was contributing here was in charge of the Narok County Council. What did he do with the millions of shillings they were collecting in terms of revenue, to improve the road infrastructure in Narok? Now he has turned around and he is complaining about what the Government has not done, and yet he was the one who was controlling that revenue. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the forest cover of this country is only 2 per cent when 85 per cent of the Congo is covered by forest. What a pathetic situation! Our rivers are drying up and we cannot get any water. I have even challenged my own people in Kisii to address the issue of the gum trees that they have planted in water catchment areas. This is not a simple issue. We, as leaders, must address this issue. Goal No.7 of the Millennium Development Goals is about environmental sustenance, access to water and better environment. In fact, even the vision we are crafting for this country, other than being a just society, we need to have a clean and secure environment. That is how Kenya can develop. It should economically develop at 10 per cent. Socially, we need to have a just and clean environment, and politically an issue-based, people-centred and democratic system and not these characters who are preaching tribalism. We should not have these characters who are preaching about tribalism. One of the fellows who was contributing here---"
}