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"id": 228526,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228526/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Awori",
"speaker_title": "The Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 290,
"legal_name": "Moody Arthur Awori",
"slug": "moody-awori"
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"content": "sector. They have done so, because of the good environment that the Government has put in place. We are aware that this Government has already put in place a machinery to construct a very large market at Muthurwa, where hawkers will be able to carry out their trade. It is these hawkers who will continue to employ many people. The fifth largest economy in the world is Italy and it has depended considerably on informal sector. Even the second highest economy in the world, Japan, also depends a great deal on the informal sector, where a husband and a wife, do produce parts that will go into a whole vehicle and so forth. This is the trend that Mwai Kibaki's Government is following to ensure that the informal sector is strengthened. Indeed, measures have been put in place to make sure that members of the informal sector access credit.It has been stated that the Common Market for Eastern and South African (COMESA) agreement will come to an end in March, 2008. This Government is going to look into this issue so that guidelines can be made to ensure that we do not get sugar-cane farmers out of business. It is our right and responsibility to do so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, regarding the strengthening of the economy in the horticultural sector, many times we have read in the newspapers that there are many farmers who are thinking of re-locating to other countries. We are going to ensure that various reasons why they think of doing so are dealt with. For instance, the high cost of energy. The Ministry of Energy is working hard to ensure that we do find other sources of energy, like wind power from Marsabit and other places so that the cost can come down. We know what the Government is doing to support the various strategic crops like coffee and tea, whereby the quality has been improved so that it is very much sought after. Of course, we are encouraging adding value so that we may get more for our products than we have hitherto been getting. For a long time, we have been selling raw coffee. We have really been donors to the rich countries because we sell to them at about Kshs50 per kilo and they sell it back to us at about Kshs200 per kilo. That is something that the Government is looking into and encouraging the producers. I am happy to note that the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and Sasini Tea are already adding value and, therefore, getting more money from over-seas on our primary products. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Government has helped to popularise this country overseas, whereby tourism, over the period that this Government has been in place, has risen from as low as 700,000 tourists to as much as 1.8 million tourists. I am sure the Minister for Tourism and Wildlife who is here, in his contribution, must have reminded people how much money this Government has received from tourism. An hon. Member brought up the issue of the East African Co-operation. It is very imperative that all of us must be united in ensuring that the Co-operation does not fail. It is Kenya that is the biggest beneficiary in the East African Co-operation and, therefore, we have to give a lead so that we keep it intact in order to attain a political union in the way of the East African Federation. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President put a lot of emphasis on development programmes for the youth of this country. We know that mechanisms to translate the Kshs1 billion Youth Enterprise Development Fund are on course. Last week, I assisted to launch a project to get the youths themselves to find an idea of how they can create entrepreneurship, so that they, in turn, will be able to employ people and stop being dependent. They will, in turn, not be tempted to get into crime. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President did mention about ASAL areas. We have a document that will soon be presented to the Cabinet to ensure that we turn ASAL areas, particularly the North Eastern Province, into a productive area. We have plans of putting April 3, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 327 infrastructure in place. We would like to make water available. We intend to supply electricity and make the area attractive, so that our people can benefit. We do not want a situation where there are some people in Mandera who, when they meet you coming back to Nairobi, tell you to greet the people of Kenya. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, insecurity is an issue that has been discussed here extensively. Where there is insecurity, strong measures must be taken. It is important that our security officers actually work as hard as possible. Yesterday, the President, when presiding over the graduation of Administration Police, said that the Government will continue to increase the number of police officers. I want to commend the police officers throughout the country, some of whom have lost their lives. They are working hard to ensure that our country is secure. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that even when the headlines are about the violence in Mount Elgon District, mechanisms have been put in place to discuss the issues. Some of these issues are cultural, while others are due to scarce resources. But I think, with all of us united to ensure that we have a secure country, we shall be able to bring back security to that area. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the President brought up the question of gender. He issued directives that henceforth 30 per cent of all employment into the public sector must be women. We are already translating that into action. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the question of patriotism is extremely important. I was very happy, indeed, to see true patriotism on the 24th of last month when this country staged, probably, the most successful sports meet anywhere in the world. During that event, Kenyans united to cheer their representatives. If we can do that on one day, why can we not do it in two days or in a month or even all the time? This is something that we can do if we subordinated our personal interests to the interests of the country. With those remarks, I beg to move."
}