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{
"id": 228616,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/228616/?format=api",
"text_counter": 86,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Kagwe",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Information and Communications",
"speaker": {
"id": 229,
"legal_name": "Mutahi Kagwe",
"slug": "mutahi-kagwe"
},
"content": " Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I rise to congratulate the President on a very well thought out and presented Speech. The areas I would like to concentrate on the President's Speech revolve around the fact that the President acknowledged that Kenya will be a knowledge-based and service economy. It will also be Information and Communications Technology (ICT) compliant, so to speak. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on a number of the other issues that the President spoke about, particularly on the issue of the Constitution, we must not lose sight of a phenomena known as the self-fulfilling phenomena. In this phenomena, one rejects something as in the President actually presented a Constitution to Kenyans, which was rejected, so that we can say that the President never fulfilled his promise of giving Kenyans a Constitution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if, indeed, Kenyans do not get these constitutional amendments that we are talking about, it will not be the fault of the President. It will be the fault of hon. Members sitting in this House today. Therefore, let us take responsibility instead of assigning blame at any one time. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the President spoke about the work that we are doing on ICT. I would like to bring it to the attention of the hon. Members of this House that the President was correct; that, indeed, we want to create jobs in out-sourcing. It is very important and I would urge my colleagues in this House to understand the concept of out-sourcing. This is because, later on, people will claim that only some areas have started out-sourcing businesses when others have not. This will be simply because people did not pay attention to the issues that we are trying to do. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I speak today, a ship has docked at the Port of Mombasa and has completed the submarine survey. As I speak today, the fibre cable has gone past Eldoret, heading for Malaba. As I speak today, we are short-listing the companies that will be given contracts for terrestrial cabling. We are also talking about the creation of opportunities for thousands of Kenyans. I propose that in the near future, my Ministry would be calling the hon. Members of Parliament for a seminar on this issue of out-sourcing, so that they can understand the opportunities that exist for their constituents. Mr. Speaker, Sir, after we have done the terrestrial cabling in the country, what it actually means is that somebody sitting in Kakamega, Kisumu Rural or Mukurweini Constituency can actually start a company that can service another company in America. Therefore, people do not have to come to Nairobi to get jobs. Indeed, the opportunities for out-sourcing will be bigger in the rural areas where the cost of living is lower than in the urban areas. Therefore, that is why my Ministry is planning to have a seminar with hon. Members of Parliament, so that they can go out there and sensitise people. By the same token, I also urge my colleagues that in order for their constituents to take March 29, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 251 advantage of these opportunities, it is important to invest in computer laboratories. I urge my colleagues to spend some money, particularly the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), to create computer laboratories in the secondary schools. This is because even when we get these opportunities, they will only come for those who will be trained. The people who will be trained are those who will be computer literate and those who will understand what the out-sourcing business is all about."
}